Short piece on Summer weather needed!

Hey folks… The New Korea Files needs a short piece on Summer weather in Korea. Feel free to contact me here.^^

The Outline for Profit Sharing

Here are the basic principles.

• Editorial team includes people and organizations that work on project management, editing, artwork, marketing, administration, and other necessary activities for publishing and marketing the book.
  • Editorial team is led by Hyokon Zhiang(ReadBuild) and Charles Montgomery.
• Editorial team members who also contribute articles for the book count as authors as well.

1. Revenue sharing between editorial team and authors

Publishing as an ebook and online contents:

This applies to ReadBuild, if the book is published as a paid one, Kindle, and any other future electronic or online publication.

The net revenue, after the ebook platform takes its share of revenue (30% – 65%) from the total revenue, will be distributed as follows:

• Editorial team – 40%
• Authors – 60%

Publishing as a paper book

Editorial team will collect royalty (usually 6 – 10 % of the cover price) from the publisher, and distribute as follows:

• Editorial team – 40%
• Authors – 60%

2. Revenue sharing among authors

Each author will be distributed one’s share of revenue based on the following formula:

• An author’s share of revenue = word count share (70 to 100% of the author revenue pool) + extra contribution bonus (0 to 30% of the author revenue pool)
• Author’s word count share = # of author’s words / total # of words.

• Extra contribution bonus amount and recipients will be determined by the editorial team.

TNKF Still needs an article on Korean fashion (50k in words has been reached!)

Amazed by boys in pink shirts, colorful ties downtown, and attempts to modernize the hanbok?

We need an article from you!

Also, we have reached the 50k point in submissions – though we are still happy to receive submissions!^^

EVEN MORE TIME! AND, VIEW THE CREATION OF THE BOOK AT READBUILD

We are still looking for about 10 articles on Korea and will accept submissions until these articles are in our hands!

If you want to begin to get an idea of what we already have, please head over to ReaddBuild and check it out!

About 20,000 Words Wanted! Submission Extended

The good news is that we have 35,000 words in hand in the form of nearly 25 articles, and another 10,000 or so in process…

But we still need about another 20,000 words to complete the book. This means that submissions have been extended.

This is your chance to be published and (maybe) make an odd bit of won.

Please contact me at charles (at) ktlit (dot) com with your potential submissions.

Suggested topics here: https://thenewkoreafiles.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/updates-on-the-project-and-still-looking-for-submissions-topics-suggested/

And submissions call (lovingly cribbed from the Seoul Writers) is here: https://thenewkoreafiles.wordpress.com/call-for-submissions/

Updates on the Project and still looking for submissions (Topics suggested!)

A couple of updates, including topic suggestions for those among you who would like to write, but don’t know about what.

1) We are up to 10,000 words in submissions, which is good, but not where we want to be.

2) ) We hope to have a cogent explanation of our “profit sharing plan” (assuming there are ever profits^^) up here by the end of next week.

3) We created a little description of the book, hoping that might clarify what we are looking for (you can see our call for submissions here – it has a bit more info):

This book is a collection of experiences and thoughts about Korea from non-Koreans who live there.  If you have just read “Please Take Care of Mother,” seen a Korean movie, heard hallyu, eaten your first bulgogi, had brief encounters with Korean businessmen or used Korean products, this book can provide additional insights into Korea and its culture.

4) Our wish list for topics (feel free to propose your own):

• Traveling the Countryside of Korea / Travel on the cheap/ Yeogwan experience
• Street Fashion/Fashion
• The Art Scene
• Creating a second family with Koreans
• Speed of Change (One Submission coming!)
• Neighborhood disappearance / loss of traditional culture
• Something on food
• K-pop / 한류 (Eat your Kimchi?)
• The Korean internet experience for foreigners / Being a Mac-ie
• The unsolicited English lesson / the boredom expats have with the Korean conversational “script”
• Public nature of Korean families
• Drinking Culture (One Submission in)
• Korean Wedding
• Protest Culture
• Funny stories from dating experiences
• Noraebang –
• Jimjilbang/sauna
• Underground culture
• English Learning Phemomenon – Korea and English
• Korea films / dramas
• Foreign Neighborhoods
• Outside Seoul?
• Korean concepts (kibun, “fighting, jeong, han, etc)

Looking for “The Kindness of Strangers” short pieces

Kindess of Strangers

One of the recurring things we hope to have in the book is a series of vignettes called “The Kindness of Strangers” in which we briefly recount those moments at which Koreans came in and helped us out of tough situations.

Example – when my (then) fiancee fell in Daejeon and fractured her elbow and middle-aged man and two business students swooped in, helped her get into a cab, and gave the cab driver detailed descriptions of which hospital to take us to.

As usual, we’re not promising riches (though we are working on it) rather a publication credit in a real book, in two real languages, with a real ISBN. You know, suitable for making your mom happy when she’s trying to explain to her friends back home exactly what you are doing in Korea.^^

Please send us your stories!

Call for Submissions: The New Korea Files

UPDATE: Submission Date Extended!

Nanoomi.net and ReadBuild’s: The New Korea Files is accepting submissions!

The New Korea Files is accepting essays, poetry, art, and list submissions for its first book of original English-language writing by blogging expatriates living in Korea.  The theme for this book is Beyond Bulgogi, a theme that expat writers should certainly be able to write about. We ask for articles (between 1,000 and 2,500 words) on elements of Korea and Korean culture that writers feel should be known outside of Korea. The book will be published as an ebook, and then published as a paperback in both English and Korean.

Eligibility

Submissions will be accepted from English-language writers who currently live in Korea and blog about their experiences.

Submissions

We are looking for short essays, creative non-fiction, poetry pieces, art and lists that center around the theme Beyond Bulgogi.

Submissions should be emailed to book1@nanoomi.net with the subject line “BB Article Submission” or “BB Submission, other” .  Submissions must be attached as a Word .doc/.docx, .txt, .or rtf file. Any submissions in other formats will not be considered.  Please indicate how you wish your name to appear if your piece is selected for inclusion.

The New Korea Files assumes only first-publication rights to selected pieces, to include printing in South Korea and in an online edition via online retailers.  All other rights, including subsequent publication, are retained by the author.

Please be aware that TNKF will exercise editorial control over  submissions.

Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but if a submission is accepted by other publications, it must be withdrawn from The New Korea Files.  Please contact TNKF via email immediately if a submission is accepted by another publication.  Authors will be notified in July if their pieces have been chosen for inclusion / returned for rewrite / rejected for inclusion.

Articles: Works of up to 3,000 words will be considered, although we prefer shorter.  Authors may submit any number of pieces for consideration.

Poetry, Art, etc.: Any number of pieces will be accepted for submission.

Please direct any questions to: Editors at – book1@nanoomi.net.

Official Launch of “The New Korea Files”

Right: The lovely and talented Hannah Bae

On Thursday night the Nanoomi crew were lucky enough to be involved in a dual launch party that featured Zen Kimchi, Eat Your Kimchi, and several folks who write about Korea without having to invoke kimchi.^^

The first launch was that of Benson Lee’s (the director of Planet B-Boy) Obangsaek project, which is aimed at bringing modern Korea to the global community and the second launch was of a Nanoomi ReadBuild book (the first, we hope, of many).

Benson began with a short speech outlining the lack of information on Korea available to the Western world. This point was driven home by an alternately amusing and sad video in which he asked people from various countries, what they knew about South Korea. The answer, of course, was, “pretty much nothing.” Further, he asked 40 random folks in Times Square what they knew about Korea and 39 of them answered “North Korea.”

Benson went on to discuss some of the projects he’s working on, including the Obangsaek website, with the hope that social media can bridge some of this gap. The event was held at the Platoon Kunsthalle, in Gangnam. This is a super building constructed out of 28 iso cargo containers which create a large, flexible and beautiful event space. Platoon Kunsthalle is a venue for all matter of events, including underground art, studio space, exhibitions, multimedia perfomances, and workshops. This night, however, it was dedicated to the launch of Project Obangsaek and the Nanoomi/ReadBuild book project.

After Mr. Lee spoke, it was time for Nanoomi to strut our (half) hour on the stage. That part of the event began with Cynthia Yoo giving a short presentation on what Nanoomi is, and what our goals are (“Sharing Korean Life, News and Blogs,” as it is put on the website). As I listened to this presentation I was particularly struck by the parallelism and overlap between Nanoomi and the Obangsaek project.

After Cynthia dazzled the crowd with her high-watt introduction, Korean food-aficianado and radio-star Joe McPherson, gave the audience a brief look at what he and his partners are doing on the ZenKimchi website, which is the original Korean food website (in English) in Korea. The presentation was short and remarkably zippy considering that Joe’s radio show begins at 5am each day and he was up substantially beyond his bedtime. One of the highlights for me, was seeing how much international press attention ZenKimchi has garnered.

Next, it was Charles Montgomery (www.ktlit.com)  on stage, presenting the NanoomiReadBuild partnership to write and publish in English and Korean a 60,000 word book tentatively titled “The New Korea Files: Beyond Bulgogi.” This book will tell the stories of expats in Korea and what Korea has meant to them. As the pun in the title suggests, the book is partly aimed at the new generation of Koreaphiles being created by the ongoing international success of Korean video, food, and literature. This presentation was also brief, although the presenter was waaaaaaaay more handsome than the guy in the previous presentation!

The Nanoomi presentation ended with Simon and Martina, the masterminds of the wildly popular “Eat Your Kimchi” a video blog which covers all kinds of aspects of Korean culture, from K-pop, Korean food, some of the odder aspects of Korean culture, to Spudgy “the world’s weirdest looking dog!” Simon and Martina poured on the video and the crowd was entirely entranced, and often laughing out loud. If you’d like a quick, easy, and highly entertaining introduction to Korean culture, Eat Your Kimchi is the place to start!

With that, and too soon it seemed, the Nanoomi part of the show ended and the room was quickly re-fitted for a quick round of speed-dating, prior to an evening ending “Seoul Train Party.”

It was an outstanding event and everyone had a great time!

It makes me look forward, even more, to the next Nanoomi get-together, tentatively planned for next month.

Welcome to "The New Korea Files: Beyond Bulgogi!"

Namoomi, in partnership with ReadBuild 2.0, is writing a book and you’re invited to contribute!

WHAT IS IT?

45,000 – 50,000 words

Between 20 – 30 contributors

Articles generally 1,000 – 2,500 words

Poems, art, sketches, etc

To be edited and published online (ReadBuild), ebook, and in paper forms in both Korean and English

HOW IS IT ORGANIZED?

Themed sections including:

At the cutting edge

Views from the outside/inside

Learning to love Korea

Korean culture

Unknown/Unseen Korea

Other