'Self-Development, J-Contents, ChatGPT, Maheun'... Key Publishing Trends in the First Half of the Year

'Lessons of Seino' #1 for 13 Consecutive Weeks

'Self-help books', 'J-contents', 'ChatGPT', 'Forties and Fifties'

These are the trending keywords in bookstores for the first half of this year, as compiled by the bookstore Yes24. In particular, sales of self-help books stood out. The self-help category, which saw a 6% increase in sales in 2022, recorded a significant growth rate of 35.6% in the first half of this year. Notable titles included ‘The Teachings of Seino’, which ranked first on the comprehensive bestseller list for 13 consecutive weeks, ‘Kim Mi-kyung’s Forties Class’ (2nd), ‘The One Thing’ (5th), and ‘The Backward Walker’ (12th). The largest proportion of buyers were in their 30s and 40s, accounting for 63.5%, followed by those in their 50s at 21.7%. The gender ratio was 4:6, with female readers slightly outnumbering males.

The success of the animation ‘Slam Dunk’ also influenced sales of the original books. The ‘Slam Dunk Expanded Edition Set’ sold 10,000 sets in the first quarter alone. Within the top 50 bestsellers for the first half of the year, 20 volumes of the ‘Slam Dunk Expanded Edition’ were included. An increase in female readers was also notable. Before the movie release, the main buyers were men in their 40s (33.9%), but after the release, women in their 20s (24.5%) and 30s (20.0%) became the largest purchasing groups.

Riding the popularity of the theatrical animation ‘Suzume’s Locking Up’, the original book gained significant attention and ranked in the top 10 bestsellers for the first half of the year. The animation ‘My Favorite Child’ also recorded sales approximately 12 times higher than the previous week following its first broadcast on April 12.

In the first half of the year, there was a notable surge in publications about the conversational AI chatbot 'ChatGPT'. An average of 24 books were published monthly, with 55 new titles released in April alone. ‘The Real ChatGPT Usage Guide’ ranked first in the IT mobile category for eight consecutive weeks from the first week of April to the fourth week of May after its mid-March release.

In February, when interest in ChatGPT was high, sales of books related to 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'Semiconductors' increased by 76.9% and 39.5%, respectively. The representative book ‘K Battery Revolution’ remained within the top 10 in the economic management category for 12 weeks from mid-February to the second week of May, ranking 7th overall in the first half of the year and first in the economic management category.

With the advent of the 100-year life era, publications with the keyword 'Forties and Fifties', focusing on new beginnings for people in their 40s and 50s, were active. A total of 36 books with the 'Forties and Fifties' keyword were published in the first half of the year, the highest number in the past three years, and sales increased by 312.9% compared to the first half of last year. The books ‘Kim Mi-kyung’s Forties Class’ and ‘If I Could Live My Life Again’ ranked 2nd and 3rd on the bestseller list for the first half of the year. Actual purchase proportions for readers in their 40s were 71.0% for ‘Kim Mi-kyung’s Forties Class’ and 49.9% for ‘If I Could Live My Life Again’.

Additionally, existing bestsellers such as ‘Nietzsche to Read in Your Forties’, ‘The Analects to Read in Your Fifties’, and ‘Lee O-ryeong’s Last Lesson’?all humanities and liberal arts books?continued to enjoy steady popularity, contributing to a 1.4% sales growth in the humanities category for the first half of the year.