Canadian Book Seminar in Seoul, South Korea

07/16/2010

Hosted by the Embassy of Canada in Seoul, South Korea

The Canadian Embassy in Seoul, South Korea will hold its 7th Canadian Book Seminar on September 15-16, 2010. The seminar is designed to promote Canadian titles and to encourage the purchase of rights to Korean copyright managers and agencies.  The event will be an “open-house” style event, providing representatives of Korean publishing companies with as much time as they like browsing through Canadian titles. Following the event, Korean publishers that have expressed interest in specific titles/publishers will be put directly in touch with their Canadian counterpart to discuss possible collaboration and business opportunities.

This year’s seminar will focus on the following types of books:

Children’s literature, a key market for foreign publishers and a past focus of the Embassy. Children’s books continue to be one of the best performing markets for foreign publishers in Korea, given the country’s focus on education. New titles will be of particular interest to key Korean contacts, in particular those targeted at:

Preschool children: as always, picture books are widely popular.  In terms of illustration, publishers and consumers prefer pastel and oil painting colors;

Children in Grades 1-6: non-fiction titles that reinforce basic concepts that these students would learn in the classroom, in areas such as language arts, mathematics, science, economics, history, administration, social studies, common sense and even topics like wisdom of life are of interest. Those containing relevant illustrations and pictures will be of greater interest.

Literature for young readers (Grades 7-9) is a new and growing trend in Korea that continues to expand as younger readers age.  Though the current market share is rather small, there is a growing demand for fiction that tells touching and instructive stories about family, school, self-discovery and overcoming hardships and challenges. The market for genres such as science fiction, fantasy and romance is somewhat limited in Korea (with the exception of international best-sellers).

English as a Second Language (ESL) Materials, including textbooks and other materials used in schools and private learning institutes, a massive market in Korea. There is also significant demand for English learning series with different levels; and

In addition, award winning titles (including some adult titles) will be of particular interest to Korean contacts.

While French titles are more than welcome, given the limited ability of Korean publishers to read French, an English or Korean summary of the story line included with the book will be helpful to attract interest. Those materials will be very helpful for Korean publishers to have easy access to French books due to the language barriers.

If you are interested in showcasing your titles to Korean copyright managers and publishing companies, please ensure that your materials (including any related promotional materials) are delivered to the Livres Canada Books office no later than August 18, 2010:

Tricia McCraney
Coordinator, Communications and Marketing
Livres Canada Books
1 Nicholas Street, Suite 504
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 7B7
Tel: (613) 562-2324 ext. 228

At the same time, we would ask that you also send an email confirming your participation to Ms. Hye-shin Kang at the Embassy of Canada: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).  Please do not hesitate to be in contact with Ms. Kang should you have any questions.

The Embassy would like to thank the Livres Canada Books for its support of this initiative.