Korean webtoons reach out to world

Webtoons have become more than a cultural item. With the help of rapidly spreading high-tech mobile gadgets, a growing number of people are exposed to webtoons and businessmen are seeking to use them in new entrepreneurial opportunities.

“No one can deny that webtoons can be powerful sources. They are read by millions of people, which is commercially attractive. Also they can be adapted to different media platforms,” said Lee Du-ho, a Korea Creative Contents Agency PR officer. The Cartoon Industry White Paper 2011 notes that while the overall cartoon industry is sliding, the digital cartoon sector, especially webtoons, is enjoying a boom.

Adaptation to other industries

The recent slew of successful webtoon-based films and TV dramas have accelerated the syndrome ― popular webtoon artists are developing affiliated projects including the publication of their creations, selling rights for TV, the silver screen and other adaptations as well as franchising the work with souvenirs and other commodities.

Cho Suk, creator of “Maeumeui Sori (Voice Within)” alongside 15 other representative webtoon creators on Naver created TV and online commercials for the country’s largest portal site. Smash-hits such as “Wara Pyeongeuijeom (Come to the Convenience Store)” have been made into animated TV films and computer games. Popular webtoon characters are printed on mugs, T-shirts, bags and other items. Providing emoticons for mobile messaging program Kakao Talk is also a new business model.

Some of the most popular webtoons have been published offline, ironically leading in the traditional comic book market, which is “on the verge of becoming extinct.”

“The number of webtoons published in paper books is still small but we are seeing a large trend here where more people are looking for it,” said Kim Young-kyun, PR officer of Kyobo bookstore.

“I find webtoons a great business model,” said Cho Kyung-kyu, author of “Omurice Jam Jam,” “Chinese Bong Bong Club” and “Doejigogi (pork) Dong Dong.” His “Chinese Bong Bong Club” was released in a weekly magazine and later published as a book while the others webtoons were also published offline.

“After people got to know my webtoon they started buying ‘Chinese Bong Bong Club,’ too. I am also getting endorsement offers related to food, such as illustration and others things since all my work is about soul food,” he said.

Struggling webtoon artists

But such success is not for everyone. Industry insiders say that the fact webtoons are released for free has made it difficult for the creators to make ends meet.

“Since all webtoons are free, the payment authors receive is from portal sites based on the reviews they get from readers. The higher grades they receive, the more they are paid, in addition to their popularity and fame,” said Lee So-young, a PR officer of NHN, parent company of Naver.

It is natural that those who do not receive great reviews or are relatively new to the public get paid little.

“I say the lives of cartoonists, or webtoonist artists, have become tougher,” said Lee Hae-kwang, professor of Sangmyung University College of Design. “They are now struggling with very little money, being reviewed on a weekly basis, barely making ends meet. The sad thing is that they have no other choice ― the comic book market has dried out and all they can do is to post webtoons online desperate for public attention if they still want to draw,” he said.

In order to guarantee the livelihood of these artists, some star authors have stood up. Star authors Kang Full and Yun Tae-ho established “Nulook Media,” an agency overlooking the endorsements, copyrights and other activities of more than 35 webtoon artists. The production company also helps these budding artists find inspiration and develop their ideas into a tangible result.

“Artists feel secure under their wings,” said Lee Ji-eun, production director of Nulook.

Making money

Daum and Naver have been planning to charge readers for quite sometime, but they are very cautious.

“People read webtoons because they are free ― the prolific growth of the industry is due largely to the fact that they are free. Some websites tried to charge the users but all failed,” Lee So-young of NHN said.

“Instead, Naver has developed the ‘Naver Books’ application for smartphones or tablet computers with which users can download webtoons to virtual bookshelves and read them whenever, wherever they want,” she said. The majority of the profits from the service go to the authors, she explained.

Instead of charging for ongoing webtoons, Daum decided to charge for works that have been completed since 2011 upon the authors’ request. All of Kang Full’s pieces charge around 500-900 won an episode and others are following his suit.

“It isn’t easy for people other than Kang Full to ask the readers to pay for something that used to be free,” said a webtoonist.

Going overseas

Thanks to high-speed Internet, laptop computers, smartphones and tablet PCs with Wi-Fi connection, people around the world have become aware of Korean webtoons.

Horang’s mega-hits “Oksu-dong Ghost” and “Bongcheon-dong Ghost,” both horror webtoons using flash animation to dramatize the thrill, drew thousands of watchers around the world through YouTube. This has drawn businessmen to the industry. And now they are seeking to advance into foreign markets with a substantial body of potential readers and a more open attitude toward paying for content.

Naver has been providing Japanese translations of 60 popular pieces through its Japanese site since last year.

“We are getting some offers from the U.S. for e-book publication, too. We are contemplating it,” Lee So-young, the company PR officer, said.

Nulook has been supporting its talent pool in the export of their products. The company sold the main idea of Ju Ho-min’s “Singwa Hamkkae (With God)” to Japan and Miwa Yoshiyuki’s remake received generous reviews and a publication opportunity.

Content redistribution company Mileland has started releasing some of the most popular webtoons in China through qq.com, one of the five largest portals in the country. According to the company, about 90 percent of the content provided on the website costs around 100 won an episode.

A Korean-American businessman, Chang Kim, transplanted the webtoon model to the U.S. by launching tapastic.com. Some Korean webtoonists started serialization there and U.S. artists have joined in to share their world of webcomics, as webtoons are known there.

“The success of the Korean webtoon model has indeed been a big inspiration for me. We’re trying to bring the successful model of Korean webtoons and launch the model globally,” Kim said. The company currently has an Android mobile app and a mobile-optimized webpage. “It has been only about a month since the beta launch but our traffic is increasing,” he added.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)