[비즈한국] News of author Han Kang winning the Nobel Prize in Literature has been a hot topic day after day. In bookstores, works by Han, such as "We Do Not Part" and "The Vegetarian," are selling like hotcakes, raising expectations for a revival in the book market. While interest in literature is rising thanks to the Nobel Prize craze, Kyobo Book Centre, the industry leader, is shutting down its creative platforms—a gateway for aspiring writers—drawing attention to the reasons behind this decision.
Kyobo Book Centre’s creator support platform, "Weather of Creation" (Changjak-ui Nalssi), will end its service on December 31 of this year. New member registrations are currently disabled, and the registration of new works will stop starting at the end of October. Opened in May 2022, Weather of Creation was a platform designed to discover and support new writers. Anyone, not just established authors, could write and get a chance to debut. Writers could receive reader feedback and creative reports, and if their work was recognized, they could sign official serialization contracts or have their work published as books. They also gained opportunities to expand their content into dramas or movies through intellectual property (IP). As of July 30, the number of works serialized on Weather of Creation reached 14,807, with 10,453 writers.
It is not just "Weather of Creation" that is disappearing. Kyobo Book Centre has also begun the process of phasing out "TalkSoda," a platform specializing in web novels and webtoons launched in April 2017, by integrating it into its Kyobo eBook service. TalkSoda was scheduled to officially close at the end of September, but due to delays in migrating content, it will close at the end of this year.
Kyobo Book Centre explained that it is reorganizing its creative platforms to focus on similar business areas. A Kyobo Book Centre official stated, "We are consistently discovering new writers and works through avenues such as writing contests. We are also continuing the work of creating other content from the IPs of high-quality works," adding, "We have existing businesses like the literary publishing brand 'Bookda' and the sentence-collecting platform 'Readlog,' so we are moving in a direction to strengthen those." In addition to creative platforms, Kyobo Book Centre conducts the "Story Grand Prix," a novel contest, and provides training for aspiring writers through its IP business, "Story."
Following Kyobo Book Centre, the internet bookstore Aladin launched the creative platform "To-be-continued" in January 2023. To-be-continued handles creative works in various formats, including not only web novels but also webtoons, essays, illustrations, and photography. It receives 20,000 works per month and has over 10,000 writers. To-be-continued aims to be a free-form platform that does not develop specific IPs or intervene in the works. Not only amateurs but also established authors such as Jang Kang-myung serialize their work and engage with readers there.
Reading platform Millie's Library397660 also opened a genre-blind creative platform, "Millie Road," in May 2023. Having started as an ebook subscription platform, Millie's Library now runs its own publishing house (Originals) to publish paper books. Popular works on Millie Road can be officially serialized, and excellent works are turned into other content or published as books. About 5,500 works were posted on Millie Road over the past year (October 2023 to September 2024).
The industry began actively scouting for works because the web novel market is growing even as the reading population declines. As of 2022, the web novel market is estimated to be worth over 1 trillion won, and the growth is clear even looking only at the sales of ebook distributors, excluding big tech companies. According to data from the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea, web novel sales from ebook distributors surged from 33.3 billion won in 2015 to 319.4 billion won in 2022. During the same period, sales of genre literature excluding web novels only increased from 57.4 billion won to 149.3 billion won, while sales in general fields grew from 35.1 billion won to 91.5 billion won.
These creative platforms are attractive to aspiring writers because they offer a relatively easy path to both debuting and getting published. From the bookstore's perspective, it is beneficial as they can secure exclusive works and promising IP. Aladin has signed contracts with publishing houses to release exclusive IPs through To-be-continued, such as "Mom Entered College" (written by Jakga1) and "Mom's Own Room" (written by Kim Grae). Millie's Library, through its own publishing house, has released works as paper books, such as "Why Do I Keep Blaming Myself" (written by Heo Gyu-hyung) and "Lost Items Have Returned" (written by Kim Hye-jeong).
Nevertheless, some analysts say Kyobo Book Centre's move to close the business was "foreseeable." This is because creative platforms dominated by amateur web novels struggle to secure readers in the long term. Lee Yung-hee, a cultural researcher and novelist, pointed out, "The problem is that they didn't consider the reader's experience," adding, "Bookstore creative platforms focus on increasing convenience for writers and helping them debut, but they lack sufficient incentives to attract readers."
He said, "Creative platforms are filled with writing from countless amateurs who jumped in seeking profit or a debut opportunity. High-quality works among them end up getting published as books anyway, and in a situation where there are already many web novel platforms, there is no reason for readers to visit amateur platforms. The fact that reader standards have risen compared to the past is also a factor," adding, "Many publisher webzines and subscription platforms have disappeared because they ultimately failed to create a culture for readers. Whether by incorporating gaming elements or raising the quality of serialized content, they must think from the reader's perspective to maintain an amateur creative platform."
Profitability issues are also pointed out. Since most amateur creative platforms allow users to read works for free, those operating the platforms have no choice but to rely on secondary revenue. For example, Aladin takes a commission of about 10% on To-be-continued, and while it can secure exclusive IP, it is a structure where the platform itself finds it difficult to generate significant profit.
The cultural researcher advised, "Unless a 'blockbuster' work emerges, creative platforms only invest money with no clear way to earn it back. At best, it's helpful for bookstores because they can gain data that professional writers can utilize," adding, "As there are already warnings about a 'bubble' in the web novel market, they must focus on genuinely communicating with readers to maintain the business."