‘Me’ is 2019’s top publishing trend
“Solely about me” was the key theme for the 2019 publishing market, with several essay collections on that theme becoming best sellers this year, according to the biggest bookstore chain.Summing up the trends of the publishing market this year, Kyobo Book Center said 2019 could be characterized by “increased attention to oneself.”
“The reading trend focusing on ‘oneself’ translated into a tendency to personally choose the reading list and focus on personal tastes, as well as into the sustained popularity of the essay genre in the era of social network services that spawned an emotional hunger,” Kyobo said in its summary of the 2019 publishing market.
According to the Kyobo analysis, 22 of the top 100 books in 2019 were in the essay genre, including the top three best-sellers. Novelist Kim Young-ha’s essay “Reasons for Travel” topped the 2019 sales charts, followed by essays by Buddhist Jogye Order Rev. Haemin, “Things that Grow Brighter When It Gets Quieter.”
Kim Soo-hyun’s book of essays “I Decided to be Me” came in third place.
The annual sales charts by two other book distributors, Yes24 and Interpark, were also topped by the travel essays by Kim, according to the booksellers.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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