- 4. 30. The "Win-Win Consultative Body for Web Novels" has come to fruition and the "Agreement to Create a Win-Win Environment for the Web Novel Ecosystem" has been signed
- Includes protection of creator rights, such as providing sales-related information, guaranteeing the right to leave of absence and termination of contract
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea and the Fair Trade Commission of Korea signed an agreement on April 30 to create an environment for shared growth in the web novel industry. The agreement was made as a result of the collaboration of web novel creators, producers, and platform companies to form a "Web Novel Shared Growth Consortium." The private sector was represented by executives from 11 associations and organizations that participated in the consortium.
Since its establishment, the consortium has held a total of 12 debates to gather opinions from web novel creators and industry stakeholders.
The consortium agreement includes rights guarantees, including eradication of illegal distribution, development of a standard identification system, provision of revenue-related information, the right to rest to create a fair environment, and the right to terminate the contract.
The consortium meeting discussed major issues in the industry, such as responding to illegal online distribution of web novels and developing a standard identification system following the suspension of the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) from 2025. It also discussed protecting the rights of creators to create a fair environment, including information related to profits that are desirable for settlement of profits, guaranteeing rest from accidents and diseases, and guaranteeing the right to terminate contracts due to delays in serialization due to excessive manuscript modification.
The agreement, which consists of a total of eight articles, contains agreements among members on the above agenda and government policy directions. In particular, this agreement is significant as it is the first agreement in which all major associations and organizations representing web novel creators, producers, and platform companies have formed a consensus to lay an important foundation for mutual trust essential for the growth of the industrial ecosystem.
Reflecting what was discussed at the win-win consultative body, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is preparing to enact three types of standard contracts in the field of web novels: a contract for establishing the right to publish web novels, a contract for establishing exclusive publishing rights for web novels, and a contract for serializing web novels. It plans to announce the establishment of standard contracts within this year after administrative notice and collecting opinions.