93 % of local publishers released no books last year

Nine out of 10 domestic publishers were inactive last year amid a slowing book market, a private association of publishers said Wednesday. The Korean Publishers Association, which annually releases figures for publishers, said 93.1 percent of the country's 38,170 publishers failed to issue a single book last year. The rate is slightly higher than 92.2 percent in 2010, according to the association. "The share of inactive publishers has been on a steady rise since it exceeded the halfway mark with 50.7 percent in 1988," the association said in a release. It attributed the rise to the increase in the number of one-person publishing companies, coupled with the slump in the publishing market.