- Hansol SooBook
Can South Korea produce a modern author of similar international renown–and fortune–as J.K. Rowling?
It’s a question President Park Geun-hye raised earlier this year
while taking issue with a contract system in the domestic publishing
industry that skews benefits heavily towards publishers.
Ms. Park was congratulating the author of popular children’s
storybook “Cloud Bread” on the title becoming a best-seller but
expressing concern about the author, Baek Hee-na, seeing little
financial reward.
Published in 2004, the book about the adventures of two kittens
captured the minds of young kids. It has been translated into 8
different languages and has, so far, sold more than 500,000 copies
internationally. Its success has led to various commercial offshoots
worth 9 billion won, or $8.5 million, ranging from toys to a theatrical
play. In 2012, a TV series based on the book was nominated for an Emmy
Kids Award.
Despite the runaway success, Ms. Baek’s first novel earned her less than 20 million won, or $19,000.
That’s because she signed an “outright purchase” contract with the
publisher, HanSol SooBook, in which the publisher made an upfront
payment of 18.5 million won in return for retaining full copyright, a
decades-old practice in South Korea’s publishing industry.
Under such a deal, an unproven author can get a badly-needed chance
to get his or her book published. The catch is that author has no rights
to royalties from book sales or profits from secondary and tertiary
use.
“Even though “Cloud Bread” garnered major success, the author earned
less than 20 million won,” President Park said in April when she met
with officials in charge of boosting the creative content industry.
“In this reality, how could we expect to produce a J.K. Rowling of Korea?”
Then in July, she praised the book again in a message from her
official Twitter account that also said creative industries are
important for economic growth, a theme she stressed at her inauguration
in 2013.
In response, the Fair Trade Commission in August ordered the
country’s 15 biggest publishing companies to amend the clause pertaining
to outright purchases and give content creators more control over and
rights to their original products.
“The [current] practice can be a stumbling block for the healthy
growth of our culture industry,” the commission said in a statement at
that time.
The issue resurfaced again during the annual parliamentary audit
sessions last week when Rep. Lee Jong-kul from the opposition New
Alliance for Democracy party said Ms. Baek might be able to get the
copyright back for the book.
Reached by a telephone, Choi Man-young, an executive at Ms. Baek’s
publisher, said the company plans to give the copyright back to the
author, although discussion on doing so hasn’t started yet.
The author’s agent, Park Jong-am, remains cautious.
“We are the weaker party so we need to wait and see how talks progress,” Mr. Park said.
The book revolves around two sibling kittens. On a rainy morning, the
duo find a piece of cloud stuck in a tree. They bring it to their mom,
who turns it into delicious bread. They enjoy the bread and then, to
their astonishment, they suddenly begin flying.
Worried about their dad being hungry, they embark on an adventure to
bring the bread to their dad. In 2005, Ms. Baek was chosen as the
“Illustrator of the Year” at the Bologna Children’s Book Festival for
her drawings in the book.
Follow Jaeyeon Woo on Twitter @JaeyeonWoo
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