Reasons Behind the Warning Signs of a Hit for the Free December Publishing Catalog Service

Create Book Promotion Materials in Just a Few Clicks, Free of Charge
Cold Publishing Industry, Concerns Over Soft Landing... Business Leadership and Publication Circulation Tracking Also Variables

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo Mideum] The Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency (KPIPA) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which operates the Integrated Publishing Distribution Network (IPDN), plans to officially launch a promotional catalog production service this December. However, warning signs regarding its success are spreading.

According to KPIPA on the 31st, the catalog service is a function that compiles published book contents, keywords, and themes according to desired criteria to create promotional materials. Book promotional materials can be produced with just a few clicks. The service is free of charge. However, the publishing industry questions the effectiveness of a series of measures to increase participation rates, citing inconvenience in use as a reason.

The IPDN was established from 2019 to 2021 with a total investment of 5.3 billion KRW to enable real-time tracking of book production, distribution, and sales information. Approximately 2 billion KRW will be additionally invested annually in the future. Originally initiated at the request of the publishing industry, conflicts deepened when the government appointed KPIPA as the operator instead of entrusting the operation rights to the private sector as the publishing industry had expected.

Currently, 2,907 publishers are registered in the IPDN, accounting for about 2.26% of all publishers registered with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (128,858 publishers). The nominal reason the publishing industry hesitates to participate is the inconvenience of use.

Book catalog screen within the integrated publishing distribution network system.

The complaint is that the amount of information to be entered is too large and detailed. In fact, there was a time when the data to be input reached about 90 items. However, now the number of data items to be entered has been reduced to about 23, as ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) are obtained from the National Library of Korea and book metadata is received from major bookstores such as Kyobo Book Centre.

Since many still find this cumbersome, KPIPA plans to directly input 1.4 million book data records accumulated through its own projects from 2003 to 2021. This segment DB input support project is scheduled to be completed by February next year.

A KPIPA official said, “The completion of the segment DB input support project in February next year will be a turning point. We expect publisher participation to increase,” adding, “To enhance credibility, it will be possible to receive reports in KPIPA’s computerized report format.”

However, there is also analysis that a smooth landing will be difficult due to the power struggle between KPIPA and the publishing industry. An executive A from a major publishing company, who requested anonymity, explained, “The inconvenience can be fixed, but that is not the real issue. The publishing industry wants to form its own consortium to operate the IPDN and have the government provide support, but they are upset because the government insists on direct operation.”

So why does the government insist on direct operation? Executive A said, “If you extract domestic publication data, more than half would be foreign books. Many publishers report false sales numbers to agencies. But if the IPDN accurately aggregates that data, they can no longer deceive. This is a major advantage of the IPDN but also a big reason why publishers are reluctant.”

He added, “For a smooth landing, publisher demands should be gradually accepted within feasible limits, and efforts should be made to reduce the burden of persuading individual publishers by targeting bookstores and libraries.” He also cautiously mentioned that the domestic sales volume tracking is not significantly different from that of foreign books.

Meanwhile, the Korea Publishers Association announced last month that it would withdraw from advisory roles related to the construction and operation of the IPDN, citing limited opportunities for private sector leadership.