News
State of Manhwa Industry in South Korea Profiled
posted on by Egan Loo
On Friday, the English website of the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper posted a profile on the challenges that the manhwa industry faces in South Korea. Although films and television series based on manhwa continue to do well, the newspaper reports that the manhwa creators themselves such as Yang Jae-Hyun (The Ruler of the Land, formerly licensed by ADV Manga) are struggling due to declining sales. The Korea Manhwa Contents Agency estimated in a 2006 report that the manhwa market was 32.2 billion won (about US$27 million) that year — down 9.5% from the previous year. Many artists are no longer publishing books on paper, and they are making the transition to digital-only releases on the web and elsewhere.
Source: Journalista via Icarus Publishing
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history