KOREA: Publisher adapts to changing market

Youngjin.com making inroads into e-learning, broadcasting

The Korea Herald
Saturday, April 17, 2004

By Yang Sung-jin

Amid the prolonged slump in the domestic publishing industry, information technology publishing house Youngjin.com is stepping into e-learning and broadcasting while increasing its share of non-IT book titles.

"The publishing market is certainly in a slump, but Youngjin.com is moving forward by diversifying its business portfolio into education and broadcasting," said Han Sang-jin, CEO and president of Youngjin.com, in an interview with The Korea Herald.

Han said the company was focusing on the combination of its main titles and other media such as cable channels and the Internet. For instance, Edu TV, a local cable channel, began to air programs that feature Youngjin.com's IT titles March 3.

"Books will go hand in hand with broadcasting or e-learning as a growing number of people want to learn new IT skills through TV and the Internet," Han said.

Furthermore, the company is set to launch an English study Web site in partnership with Lee Bo-young Academy on May 1 in hopes of making inroads into the fast-growing online English education business.

"The company will strengthen its position in the English education book sector by linking new titles with the online service," Han said.

Han, who assumed the post in August, is also implementing a sweeping overhaul of the company's organization. The key idea is to spin off all the major business divisions within the year.

"Spinning off divisions is essential for securing specialty and expertise in each publishing category. Each unit will be in charge of specific content development, while the headquarters will manage the overall operation, distribution and marketing," Han said.

Han's aggressive drive to spin off the Kosdaq-listed company's units comes from his belief that Korea's publishing industry should embrace new systems to survive.

"The underlying reason for the slump in Korea's book market is that the systems are deeply outdated and economies of scale are being ignored," Han said.

Even top publishers post less than 20 billion won in revenue per year - far below the average of other comparable industries that rely heavily on content and planning.

"Infusing innovation into the system is a shortcut to creating quality content, and that's what the country's publishing industry has to do right now," he said.

Youngjin.com is also rushing to shed its IT-oriented image after a slowdown in the sales of IT manuals and guidebooks. The IT book market is maturing fast, which could pose a serious threat to the growth plan of the company unless it advances into other segments of the publishing market.

Youngjin.com initially expanded its presence on the strength of the booming IT industry in Korea, where more than 11 million households are hooked up to the Internet and a majority of people are regularly surfing the Web.

As PCs and the Internet have become widely available, more and more people have learned the basics. Given that guidebooks and manuals accounted for a big chunk of IT book sales, the maturity of the market is now forcing IT-oriented publishing houses to seek alternatives.

As a result, the portion of IT books at Youngijn.com has gone down to 50 percent from 90 percent at its peak. Its publishing brand "Youngjin Pop" is targeting lifestyle and information genres. Non-IT books under Youngjin Pop cover health, hobbies, financial portfolio management, English language study and cooking.

Notably, even IT books are increasingly targeting ordinary readers. "In the past, we targeted some specialists in planning IT books and manuals, but the focus has been shifted toward mainstream readers who are familiar with digital photography and other fun-oriented IT culture," Han said.

"The trend in the publishing sector is moving fast toward fun and well-being, which means we have to produce books that are readily understandable and even fun to play with," Han said.

Meantime, Youngjin.com, a leading exporter of IT books, said it would step up its efforts to forge partnerships with foreign publishers. Last year, the company signed deals to export 71 titles to eight countries.

Its subsidiary in Singapore is actively promoting partnership deals with foreign publishers, and the Seoul headquarters recently set up a new division to put more resources into the export of its main titles.

Date Posted: 4/17/2004