In her 1929 essay “A Room of One’s Own,” Virginia Woolf asserts that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Throughout history, literature and writing have provided a way for women to open up the door to their own worlds and affirm their identities as individuals. Fast forward to 2025. How are women, the leaders of literature and reading today, curating the rooms of their own? To explore this question, and in the spirit of celebrating International Women’s Day throughout the month of March, “Weverse Magazine” is pleased to present this special series. In this first part, “Women readers,” we explore the significance of the literary market today, shifting trends, and the perspectives of the women in the industry, including authors and creators, who are leading this transformation. In this edition of our sporadically published feature THE INDUSTRY, we also aim to pinpoint why, at a time when readership is declining year on year, we still see surges of interest in reading and why reading remains as important as ever to some.

“Nowadays, the ‘text-hip’ [as in ‘text is hip’] trend has led the younger generation to find the appeal in reading books,” Kim Hyeonjeong, a representative with Kyobo Book Centre’s brand communication department who manages the company’s bestseller list, says. “On the flip side, the fact that it’s become ‘hip’ suggests a rarity that signifies just how much of the population no longer reads.” People are reading less now than ever, but it’s had a knock-on effect where the very act of reading has paradoxically become cool. According to the results of the 2023 national reading survey conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, roughly 60% of adults in Korea didn’t read a single book throughout the year. The reading rate has steadily declined annually, from 55.7% in 2019, to 47.5% in 2021, and even further to 43.0% in 2023. Likewise, the average number of books read annually dropped from 7.5, to 4.5, and now to 3.9 over that same period. When Han Kang became the first Korean author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature last year, however, “a total of over one million of her books were sold across Kyobo and other online bookstores in less than a week—a record-breaking event in the history of Korean publishing.” According to Kim, “I was at [Kyobo’s] Gwanghwamun store the day the Prize was announced. Since we didn’t have many copies of Han Kang’s books in stock, they sold out immediately. Online orders poured in, too, and everything was quickly all sold out.” Interest was so high that, “even with a rush of printing, it was hard to keep up with reader demand.” Even with concerns over the continuous decline in reading rates and literacy skills, the text-hip trend is taking over, as evidenced on social media, where book reviews and recommendations on Bookstagram and BookTok, plus bookshelf tours and “shelfies,” have become popular. The Seoul International Book Fair also saw over 150,000 visitors in 2024, a marked success. In short, some might say books are boring, but for this generation, text is hip.

Lee Jihyang, head of the originals planning team at Millie’s Library’s new businesses division, says the trend has emerged because “buying merchandise is now seen as a form of reading, and decorating ereaders has become a sensation of its own lately.” Interest in reading has moved beyond simply the books themselves, with the focus shifting to following and connecting with others who read similar material, and to using reading as a means of self-expression. Today, reading isn’t just about consuming the written word, but has evolved into an act that allows individuals to showcase who they are. “A protective book sleeve can protect your privacy by keeping the title of what you’re reading hidden from others,” Kim, the Kyobo representative, elaborates. “But beyond that, there’s an emerging trend of accessorizing books called chaek-kku that allows people to reflect their personalities.”

In a time when accessorizing books and buying related merchandise has become the norm, the very meaning of reading has evolved. Reading today no longer means deeply contemplating the contents of a book while reading it. Instead, people are now accustomed to finding the information they need with a quick visit to a search engine, generative AI, or video. They’re also used to spending their free time enjoying content digitally, such as through streaming platforms. “The world’s changing rapidly, and we all have so much to do,” Jessica Koo, public relations manager with Millie’s Library’s management and planning department, says. “Can people really afford to spend three or four hours with their nose in a book when they have to plan their time down to the second?” Koo’s question underscores the growing number of “aliterates”—people who can read, but choose not to—and raises additional questions surrounding the benefit of reading. The industry is now moving toward overcoming the limitations posed by traditional printed books in terms of space and time by addressing issues like the time required to finish a book and the need to physically have one on hand to read it, which is why more diverse formats like ebooks and audiobooks have emerged. “Audiobook listeners are primarily women in their 30s and 40s who often balance work and parenting,” Lee Sinhyeong, a manager at Millie’s Library, notes. “People like them who want to invest some time in themselves use audiobooks to fill in the small pockets of free time they’re able to carve out of their busy schedules.” What’s more, young digital natives make active use of AI to make the whole experience more convenient. Moon Jaehui, a manager with the AI service team at Millie’s Library, explains that users turn to AI services like chatbots—some with distinct personalities—text-to-speech (TTS) functionality, or Dokpaming (a Millie AI reading aid) to “read, record, and review books better.” Although there’s a plethora of digital media like streaming competing for people’s attention, the market for reading continues to evolve alongside it.

For proof, look no further than the explosive popularity of publisher Minumsa’s YouTube channel, Minumsa TV. The Minumsa employees creatively combine book summaries with trendy YouTube games in videos like “The Worst Lovers in Literature World Cup,” incorporate their personal lives into videos as is so popular on the platform, and occasionally recommend Netflix shows instead of literature. Now that YouTube, Netflix, and social media have become far more integrated into everyday life than books, publishers like Minumsa are integrating themselves into that daily rhythm to promote reading. “A lot of the time these days, the general public discovers books when they find out a movie or TV show is based on it, or find out about books when they’re talked about on variety shows,” Kim, the Kyobo representative, notes. “People may develop an interest in books even if they don’t actually read them, such as through a trip, a lecture, or something a writer says.” For that reason, major book sellers are now incorporating cultural experiences into the world of reading. Kyobo Book Centre, for example, hosts a range of exhibitions at its Kyobo Art Space to provide more opportunities to make reading fun, and Millie’s Library opened a pop-up store inspired by its new adult novel “Lost and Found Time Travel.” “We mainly highlight the newer bestsellers that subscribers tend to seek out, but we also reflect current issues and trends to bring as many good books into the spotlight as possible,” Lee says of the Millie Library Dokseodang unlimited reading service team’s book selection process. “We’re quick to prioritize featuring books that have either recently been adapted into movies or found renewed interest.” Compared to YouTube, Netflix, and social media, books are a much older medium. Interest in reading has dropped over time, and both the reasons behind and the approaches to reading have changed. But some people remain committed to promoting the pastime, and they’re making effort to combine it with the world outside books to make reading interesting to anyone and everyone. As Lee says, this adaptive approach to reading is key to its transformation. “The barriers to the act of reading itself have to be lowered so that people can use it to enrich their lives. Reading isn’t a difficult activity in and of itself. To make sure it stays that way, reading has to continually evolve.”

Just as the reading market has changed, so have the people who write the books we read. “Recently, almost all the recipients of the Young Writers’ Award and the various other literary awards have been women authors,” says author and BookTuber Kim Gyeoul. “This year, all seven winners of the New Author Award are women. The term ‘lady writer,’ so widely used in the 1990s and 2000s, is now completely obsolete.” Women are now actively leading the way in literature, seizing on the trends of the day and working them into the world of reading. Writer Sulla Lee, for example, pioneered a subscription-based model for accessing her writing through “Dailee-sulla.” Poet Moon Bo Young found she could bring the sometimes enigmatic world of poetry into the familiar, accessible territory of social media through her blog and two special services, Diary Postal Delivery and Calling Poem—with the former, she sent diary entries and prose out via email and traditional post, and with the latter, she read poetry over the phone. There’s also author Kim Gyeoul who runs a YouTube channel called Winter Bookstore where she gets viewers excited to read by posting videos about books. Previously looked down upon and given the pejorative label “genre fiction,” sci-fi overcame such prejudices and now actively reflects where the world is headed, and sci-fi books are now both critical and popular darlings. Behind every groundbreaking new work, and every up-and-coming writer’s beginnings, survival, and success, lies a story of perseverance and triumph. “Around the time I first started getting published, genre writers and writers in the literary circle were paid very differently for their work,” recalls Chung Serang. “Genre writers weren’t just undervalued—I even heard very nasty, disparaging words just because I wrote genre fiction. … Things have gotten better since then, but there’s still more than a few issues even now.” Nevertheless, she says, “when looking back now, the barriers we overcame seemed impossible, but we’re much stronger now that there’s so many more of us.” As the author notes, solidarity among writers has improved their working conditions enough that writing is now seen as a legitimate profession and a proper livelihood. “There was a time,” recalls poet Moon Bo Young, “when artists struggled to earn a living, were perceived as economically unviable, and the only compensation for a piece of writing was a free magazine subscription or simply the privilege of being published at all. But people managed to change that system in steps by questioning and challenging it.” At the core of the improvements to these writers’ working conditions was their unified front and proper recognition of creativity as a form of labor.

While the recognition of writing as labor and the ability to earn a living have improved certain aspects of being an author, not every problem has been solved. The nature of writing as a profession, which comes with the condition that the creative well must never dry up, means authors need to have stability if they’re to sustain a livelihood. Nevertheless, writers still face moments in which they’re confronted with societal prejudices. “There are still times when I’m unsure whether writing really is a job,” Moon confesses. “Even so, I had to look at writing as a one. Without that kind of mindset, it’s impossible to keep doing this. Sometimes you end up writing something you don’t personally like, and that causes painful internal conflict.” As the poet frames things, authors still have to grapple with a lot, even in an environment where payment for manuscripts, classes, and subscriptions have all improved. And women writers face their own additional set of challenges. “Whenever women authors put out books that talk about intimate personal experiences, feminism, or experiences with discrimination, there’s comments saying, ‘Women can’t write anything of real substance,’ or, ‘Women can’t write anything except little stories about what goes on in their minds,’” author Kim Gyeoul shares. “Sometimes, I even get comments that are meant as compliments saying, ‘Your writing doesn’t even feel feminine,’ or, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize you were a woman.’” Remarks like these highlight the reality of the situation: that women writers are seen as women first and writers second. And as soon as they take their identity, and the inner turmoil and change they experience as a result of the biases they face because of it, and reflect that in their creative work, they face another stereotype: that what they’re writing about isn’t a comment on society, but some minor personal discourse.

Why, then, despite all these barriers, do these authors continue to write, produce content, and put themselves out there? Moon Bo Young says she writes because “writing is the only thing I know,” and because she’s trying to find, and learn about on her own terms, “writing that’s enjoyable for both me and my readers, and where, and how, to find it—or how to give up on it.” Or, as Kim Gyeoul explains, “I keep going because I want to and because creating videos is my job, but that in itself can sometimes be seen as a natural form of resistance against society’s perceptions.” In other words, sticking with your work can, in some cases, naturally become a form of social resistance against prejudice, even if not intentionally. Similarly, Chung Serang believes that “99 percent of the time, a story will simply remain a story, but in the other 1% of cases, it can have an influence on someone’s life.” And changing the way a reader personally thinks, then, can later be what allows them to effect change in their life or even in society. No matter what injustices they may face, writers write because they can. Their stories might be deeply personal, or they might be immeasurably profound acts of social resistance.

“There’s been a surge in books that articulate the lives and social standing of women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s,” says author and BookTuber Kim Gyeoul. “Because new experiences and the potential for a new life are being articulated through books, and because women now realize they aren’t the only ones who’ve experienced the things they have, the very meaning of reading is different for them.” According to Lee, the Millie’s Library division head, “With the COVID-19 pandemic and different social and political situations, many readers ended up feeling disconnected and isolated, and they started placing more value on solidarity with people who share similar tastes and ideas.” Reading consequently led these people to be distinctly aware of the fact that they weren’t experiencing their thoughts in isolation and to feel connected to others through books. In the process, books help “women who thirst for independent thinking, self-reliance, and exploring their own lives or interests” to articulate and give shape to their thoughts and experiences. Women read, and they do so in order to put similar past experiences and thoughts into words. Women write, and they do so in order to feel a sense of solidarity as they share in the thoughts and experiences they can have moving forward.

In 1929, when Virginia Woolf wrote “A Room of One’s Own,” “ladies” needed a university affiliation or a letter of reference just to enter a library. Fast forward to 2025, and women today not only read books, attend school, and study, but also write books of their own in rooms of their own. They’ve been making constant progress, step by step, since Woolf’s day, forming a language of their own through reading. Historically, reading was a means for women to explore their relationship with society, examine their inner worlds, and educate themselves so they could break free of a history of marginalization and work toward a better future. And so, for women, reading has always been about more than merely learning or education. That, in turn, is why—at a time when reading rates continue to plummet, and some consider the book market to be undergoing a crisis—it’s important to consider the countless rooms of their own created by women who work with, create, and read books, and who continue to believe in the value of reading as they dream of what the future can hold. “I feel those who read and write to refine and build up their own language gain the power to question misleading propaganda,” Chung Serang says. She expresses hope that, by finding the power to reason about complex value systems through reading, more people will be able to throw doubt on harmful rhetoric and brighten the prospects for the future. While for Chung, reading is the power to question that which is dangerous, Kim Gyeoul sees it as a way to instead embody the danger and become a dangerous woman. According to Kim, women reading has historically been viewed as inherently dangerous. “Centuries ago, women who read, studied, and became educated were met with immense contempt and ostracized,” she says. “The very act of a woman having and using her own language to think, speak, and write was considered blasphemous, which is why women who read have always been treated as dangerous. I hope more women become avid readers and dangerous women.”

Reading has since entered the realm of pastime and personal preference. Though the reading industry is making efforts to survive its crisis by making changes to keep up with the times, and though the meaning of and means by which people read evolve over time, for women, reading remains a powerful means of connecting with the world and engaging in personal reflection. We’re now in an era where “all seven winners of the New Author Award are women” and “the term ‘lady writer’ … is now completely obsolete.” Today as ever, “women engage in reading as a cultural activity” while also contemplating how to use it “for independent thinking, self-reliance,” and balancing parenting and a career by “listening to audiobooks because they want to dedicate more time to themselves and their personal development.” And maybe this is all a reflection of how, even in 2025, a woman still needs a room of her own. They pushed through times when women writers couldn’t exist, persevered when they were ignored, rendered the offensive term “lady writer” obsolete, and now continue to shape and restructure their world through reading. For them, reading became a tool to help them think, question, and break free from a past where they were forced to deny their aspirations and understanding of their own needs, empowering them to think critically about what lies ahead. The fundamental point that Virginia Woolf posed in “A Room of One’s Own” in 1929 is just as relevant in 2025, but it’s taken on a different form today. The most neglected and marginalized figures of Woolf’s day where books were concerned, women today grapple with the discussion around literature as a form of self-expression and lived experience in society at a time when reading has been reduced to a hobby of aesthetics like with the text-hip trend. All this has developed over a fairly short period of time less than a century long. As Chung Serang puts it, “We take for granted what is and what is not, but it can come into question out of the blue and be completely topsy-turvy a lot faster than expected.” And it’s the belief in that power to create change that keeps things moving forward.