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As many of you know, I live in South Korea. As such, I don't really have the chance to go to book fairs or do book signings and such. I have to rely on internet marketing and networking to get my name into the big bad literally world. Thankfully I have a student who works in journalism, and she told me about Seoul International Book Fair! I'd never really considered going to book events here - considering they wouldn't be in English and I'm not really paying attention to the industry here - though I am aware there is an absolute market for realistic, family focused / life-driven fiction here. And thrillers. Koreans like thrillers. And anything inspirational / motivational.... anyway ....
My unofficial PR manager arrived from Sweden (see her below) at the weekend and the two of us headed off to the event
in COEX Mall, Gangnam.
Many of you will know of Gangnam from that terribly annoying Psy song! I live in that area but closer to the plastic surgery district (Apgujeong).
Here is some "art" that's beside the COEX mall connected to the song.
We basically spent the entire time slipping our business cards into random places all over the hall in an attempt to up our exposure in Asia. You can see some pictures in the grid below.
We also picked up a lot of free merchandise, I spent way too much money on new books, and we befriended the calligrapher responsible for the writing on soju bottles (a Korean alcohol that tastes like chemicals.)
Here you can see my name Rachel (레이첼) in Korean characters.
I also bought a paper from her with 할수있어 written on it. This translates as: you can do it! (see picture in the grid below).
Although we had a lot of fun, and I got to see what a Seoul book fair is like, in a sense, it was disappointing. It reflected the Korean trends (obviously), and was therefore filled with children's education books and the new blend of books and tech. And manga. Lots of manga. I wish I could have seen more fantasy or YA books, but unfortunately there's not a huge market for those types compared to the above mentioned.
That's today's blog over. Quite short because my teaching schedule is so full at the moment I don't have a lot of free time :( Yesterday I was 100% booked - meaning I taught for 8 hours. Today, I am very lucky to have some absences due to the heavy rain). Don't forget to check out the author (bloggers, artists, and designers) interviews, book banners, and book posts - I am updating them quite regularly.
Stay Gold