How bestsellers have changed during COVID-19 pandemic

The top five bestselling books of 2020 from online bookshop Interpark include from left: “The Having,” “John Lee's Habits to Build Wealth,” “The Property of Money,” “Almond and The Cakewalk Series” and “Stock Market Investing.” Courtesy of Interpark

By Kwon Mee-yoo

As people spend more time at home amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, they are turning to books, which brought some changes to this year's book sales trends.

The unprecedented situation impacted how readers choose what book to read. Three major Korean booksellers interpreted the interest readers took in education and investment as a response to difficult times as they try to navigate a path towards an uncertain future caused by the pandemic.

Kyobo Book Centre, the largest bookstore chain in Korea, identified five key themes related to the popular books of 2020: Pandemic, Aloneness, Contactless, Stock Market and Education.

Online bookstore Yes24's summarized the year in five hashtags: #WithCorona, #Homeschooling, #AgeofInvestmentTechnique, #HybridCulture and #MediaSeller.

Another online bookseller Interpark provided similar sales keywords: Coronavirus, Nowadays Bookstore, Technique of Wealth, 'Homestaurant,' and 'Screen-seller.'

Coronavirus was a hot theme in the publishing industry. In February, a major COVID-19 outbreak hit Korea and people looked up information about this through books. Typically, about 20 books about infectious disease, virus or pandemic were released a year. However, the number spiked this year, going up to 392, ranging from economic and science books to politics and children's books.

This year's bestselling book from all three bookstores was "The Having: The Secret Art of Feeling and Growing Rich" by Lee Suh-yoon and Hong Joo-yun, reflecting people's interest in generating economic stability.

Kim Seung-ho's "The Nature of Money" and Meritz Asset Management CEO John Lee's "John Lee's Habits to Build Wealth" were highly placed in the annual bestselling books list.

"Under the influence of the pandemic, independent proprietors took a blow in business and workers have also been worried about possible restructuring. Due to such insecurity, people sought books about money management such as stock investment," an official of Interpark Books said.

As people spent more time home, cookbooks and interior decorating gained popularity. Readers also tried to take new hobbies through books. "Park Mak Recipe" by YouTube star Park Mak-rye ― also known as Korean Grandma ― and "Home Cooked Meals Recommended by Paik Jong-won" by the author of the same name were popular among cookbooks.

To minimize the spread of COVID-19, schools shifted to online classes and books related to homeschooling also increased in sales.

Both traditional broadcast media and online platform YouTube has a great impact on book sales. Books featured in tvN's "Nowadays Bookstore: I will read books," which ran from September 2019 to April 2020, are still selling well after the show finished in spring. Science author Carl Sagan's book "Cosmos" and Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" were again in the spotlight after appearing on the book talk show.

Original novels of dramas or films also received much attention. "School Nurse Ahn Eun-young" by Chung Se-rang was adapted into "The School Nurse Files" by Netflix and "When the Weather Is Fine" by Lee Do-woo became a JTBC drama of the same name.

Son Won-pyeong's novel "Almond" ranked the highest in the list as literature. The 2017 novel made its way back to the bestseller chart a few years after its publication as K-pop sensation BTS was seen reading it in reality show "In the SOOP BTS." "Almond" has been translated into various languages and published in over 10 countries and was named Amazon Best Book of May 2020.