SEVENTEEN’s Seungkwan Increased A Book’s Sales By 500%, Here’s Why The Publisher Is Thankful

SEVENTEEN‘s Seungkwan isn’t only capable of sending throwback K-Pop songs back to the top of trending searches. When mentioning a book on SEVENTEEN In The Soop, it ended up selling more than anyone ever thought it would—thanks to the idol.

Seungkwan on ‘SEVENTEEN In The Soop.’

On the show, Seungkwan revealed he’d been reading Tomorrow’s Sun Will Rise, But What About Tonight? by Yeon Jung. Seungkwan noted that it wasn’t a book about useless encouragement. Instead, it was about detailing everyday difficulties and how they were overcome.

It’s really comforting. I should give this book to my friends or members when they’re mentally distressed. That’s what I thought.

— Seungkwan

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Carats loved Seungkwan’s recommendation and bought so many books that it caused seven reprints by Independent Publishing Balcony. The company’s CEO Ahn Hee Seok spoke to AJUTV about how surprised he’d been by the book’s sudden popularity.

Ahn Hee Seok revealed that “large bookstores order about ten books at most” but they suddenly received orders for a hundred books or more from major sellers Kyobo Bookstore and YES24. When he learned that Seungkwan had mentioned the book, he admitted he “started screaming happily.”

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Ahn Hee Seok shared how much Seungkwan’s recommendation skyrocketed sales and surpassed the estimate he and the author originally settled on.

It doesn’t make sense. Sales increased by 400-500% compared to before the show.

I printed two thousand copies as soon as it aired. The writer and I thought this might be too much. We made a mistake.

I should have printed more. I’m thinking about ten thousand copies.

— Ahn Hee Seok

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The publisher and the author were so thankful for Seungkwan that they decided to release the book’s seventh reprint on the group’s comeback date for “Rock with you”. They wanted it to be a “secret code…to make precious memories that only Carat and we could know.”

I hope you can naturally become a fan of SEVENTEEN and writer Yeon Jung.

— Ahn Hee Seok

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Now Seungkwan isn’t the only one receiving support and wisdom from Yeon Jung’s book. Check out the segment here.