The Development and Tasks of Web Publication

As so-called ‘Web novel’ gets more and more popularity, Web publication, different from existing e-book publication, became a big content business already in Korea. This study first reviews the development history of Web novel, the basis of Web publication. Then, it analyzes the development and current situations of four major Web publication platforms: Joara, Moonpia, Naver Web Novel, and Kakao Pages. In order to be developed further, the Web publication faces the tasks of the followings: the low quality of Web publication, plagiarism, and pioneering foreign markets. Due to the popularity of Web novel, Web publication already created a quite unique form of publication in Korea. Web publication is expected to grow continuedly in the near future in spite of the recession of publication industry in general. The study suggests future studies of the effects of Web publication on the publication industry as a whole as well as ebook industry.