Average Book Price Reaches Nearly 20,000 Won Last Year
Up 4.8% from Previous Year
Over 80,000 Registered Publishers
Most New Titles in Literature, Significant Growth in Philosophy Books
Last year, the average price of books was 19,526 won, an increase of 4.8% compared to the previous year.
The neighborhood bookstore with beautiful hanok houses in the residential area of Gyo-namdong, Seoul, "Drawing the Time of Seoul" Photo by Jo Yongjun
According to the "2024 Korea Publishing Production Statistics" published by the Korean Publishers Association on May 22, the number of new titles published last year was 64,306, a 2.3% increase compared to the previous year, and the average price was as stated above. The number of translated books was 10,262, a decrease of 4.2% from the previous year.
The total number of copies published last year was 72,125,640, an increase of 2.7% compared to the previous year. The number of copies published had been declining since 2018, but rebounded in 2024.
The number of operating publishers was 81,161, a slight increase from 79,035 in the previous year.
By category, literature accounted for the largest share of new titles published, at 22.0%, followed by social sciences (18.9%) and children's books (12.1%).
In terms of the number of copies published by category, children's books accounted for the highest proportion at 20.6%, followed by study guides (18.5%), social sciences (14.7%), and literature (13.3%).
Last year, the increase in philosophy books was particularly noteworthy. In the philosophy category, the number of titles increased by 18.5% and the number of copies increased by 10.8% compared to the previous year. In contrast, in the social sciences, natural sciences, and history categories, the number of titles increased slightly compared to the previous year (by 0.7%, 5.3%, and 1.6%, respectively), but the number of copies sold decreased by 9.0%, 10.2%, and 15.3%, respectively.
The highest increase in list price was seen in the social sciences category. The average list price for social sciences increased by 10.2% compared to the previous year, while the study guides category saw a decrease of 20.7%. The category with the highest average list price for published books was social sciences (26,675 won), followed by engineering and technology (25,133 won), history (24,955 won), arts (24,630 won), and general works (23,712 won).
Among the 10,262 translated books, the largest number of works were translated from Japan (4,492), followed by the United States (2,569), the United Kingdom (733), and China (479).
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