Eighth annual Canadian Book Seminar draws interest from Korean publishers

The eighth annual Canadian Book Seminar was held at the Embassy of Canada in Seoul on September 8, 2011. This year 16 Canadian publishers participated with approximately 280 titles on display, featuring books for pre-schoolers, young readers, ESL materials, and some adult titles. The Seminar started with a presentation which dealt with 2010 award-winning titles, bestselling books, and best writers, including a summary of each title introduced. The seminar received very positive responses from the Korean visitors. They were satisfied with the information provided which introduced them to Canadian books and writers not known in the local market. A reception immediately followed the presentation. Throughout the event, visitors were able to browse through the various Canadian titles on display.

Invitations were extended to Korean publishers, buyers and copyright agencies. Twenty-five Korean contacts attended, representing 13 different publishing companies, including two copyright agencies and one buyer. The total number of Canadian participants and Korean visitors declined compared to last year’s event, likely due to the recent economic recession.

During the event, 14 Canadian publishers received special attention from seven Korean publishing companies. The Embassy facilitated contact between the Korean companies and the Canadian publishers for further direct discussion on potential collaboration.

Through discussions with Korean contacts during the seminar, I obtained a sense of local market trends for both children’s and adult’s books:

Children’s Books

In general, the trends for children’s books in the local market remain unchanged from last year, meaning that children’s books should keep focusing on:

1. Preschool children - Picture books with various coloured illustrations (pastel and oil painting colours with detailed expression)
2. Children (grades 1-6) - Non-fiction titles that reinforce basic concepts that these students would learn in the classroom. The preference is for interesting stories with some cartoons or illustrations rather than textbook style exposition. Recently, series in science, mathematics, history, the human body, jobs, etc., are becoming more popular because the series are very comprehensive and generate interest in the sequels. Single books receive less attention from consumers unless there are promotional notations like “award-winning title,” “bestseller,” etc.
3. Young readers (grades 7-9) - Touching and instructive stories about family, school, self-discovery and overcoming hardships and challenges. Teenage romance is not attractive at all to the readers.
4. ESL Material - New learning methods or different approaches of teaching guidance.

Adult Books

The adult book market is not easy to access because consumers have a wide range of tastes and the general trends are quick to change. This is in stark contrast to the children’s book market where consumer’s preferences are very clear. There are no major changes in the trends for adult books this year:

1. Books on the global economy, management or those that are integrated into other industries such as art management, preferably written by scholars or professors.
2. Books on self-development / self-help based on experiences of professionals such as philosophers, artists, psychologists, or professors. Consumers prefer the easy books in forms of essay written by professionals to those with difficult contents.
3. Books on everyday life including environment, interior design, and health issues (healing properties of various foods/ treatments) are increasingly in demand.
4. Psychological thriller - The current demand is small but they are starting to get readers’ attention since European psychological thrillers have been introduced to the market.

The Embassy would like to thank all Canadian participants, as well as the Livres Canada Books for their support of the seminar.

Hyeshin Kang
Trade Commissioner
Commercial-Economic Section
Embassy of Canada (Seoul)
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Nicolas Levesque | 11/15/2011 | Events, Export, Rights

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