The Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism (Minister Yoo In-chon hereinafter referred to as MCST) together with the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency (President Kim Jun-hee hereinafter referred to as KPIPA) is launching the new ‘Small Publishers Growth Support Project’ this year. To this end on Thursday July 11 KPIPA announced the selection plan for the project on its website (www.kpipa.or.kr).

Providing Comprehensive Support for Each Growth Stage
The ‘Small Publishers Growth Support Project’ aims to nurture small publishers with fewer than five employees into robust publishing companies by offering customized programs based on their growth stage. This initiative not only covers the costs of planning and production but also provides support in areas such as space management and marketing.

For publishers in the growth stage with less than three years since establishment the project offers production costs of up to 10 million KRW per project for excellent and high-quality planning along with management consulting and workspace within the Publishing Knowledge Incubation Center in Sangam-dong. For publishers in the leap stage which have been established for more than three years the project supports bold projects with high publishing difficulty with production costs of up to 20 million KRW per project. Additionally it provides assistance in building ERP systems and digital marketing consulting to strengthen reader connectivity.

Increased Funding and Enhanced Support Based on Industry Feedback
This year the project has been expanded by combining last years ‘Support for Excellent Publishing Content Production’ (13 billion KRW in 2023) and ‘Support for Creative Publishing Content by Small Publishers’ (7 billion KRW in 2023) into a single project with a total budget of 30 billion KRW an increase of 10 billion KRW. This expanded support aims to enhance the resilience and sustainability of publishing companies by providing not only production assistance for excellent planning but also space management and marketing support tailored to each growth stage.

Incorporating feedback from publishing industry roundtables the project will grant extra points to publishers with overseas export and copyright agreement experience during the selection process. For publishers in the leap stage the project supports ERP system construction and data marketing consulting using customer data. In June a separate advisory meeting with major publishing associations and organizations finalized the support targets methods and scope for this project which will continue to evolve based on analysis of the results.

Strengthening the Responsibility of ‘Sejong Books’ Recommenders and Expanding Support
The ‘Sejong Books’ project another initiative to encourage the publication of quality books will enhance the accountability of recommenders to support good books. The preliminary review period for recommenders will be extended from two to three weeks and the evaluation for each recommended book will be publicly disclosed. Detailed distribution plans will be discussed by the Sejong Books project operating committee. The support limit for selected Sejong Books will be increased from 8 million KRW to 10 million KRW and distribution channels will be expanded to include overseas Korean language libraries.

While the budget for the Sejong Books project remains the same as previous years the literature category previously included in the Sejong Books project will now be integrated into the separate ‘Literature Sharing’ project to maintain consistency in recommendations. Based on the project plan approved by the newly formed sixth Sejong Books project operating committee on May 30 KPIPA will announce the Sejong Books project in July.

Ministers Statement
Minister Yoo In-chon stated “In the publishing ecosystem which is the source of K-stories publishers play a unique role in selecting good works and connecting writers with readers. We will support small publishers to strengthen their foundations from the early stages of establishment through the growth stages ensuring they secure sustainable competitiveness and produce excellent books.”