Kakao Launches KakaoPage, a Marketplace for Anyone to Publish Digital Content

Back in February, we wrote that the Korean messaging app KakaoTalk had launched KakaoPage, a tool for individuals and brands to create and distribute content on the popular social app. But Sonia Im from Kakao clarified that that was actually just the content editor.

The actual KakaoPage marketplace was launched just two days ago with over 500 individual and corporate publishers who provide about 8,000 pieces of digital content. KakaoPage is only available on Android for now with the iOS version in progress. To clear the air, Sonia explained to me what KakaoPage is all about:

KakaoPage is an open market where any individual can upload and sell their own content. An aspiring author can write a novel and sell it directly on KakaoPage without having to seek out a publishing company. Likewise, big publishing companies or record labels can also distribute their content through KakaoPage.

For now, some of the more prominent publishers include Jong-shin Yoon, a popular singer-songwriter in Korea, Young-man Heo, a renowned manhwa (Korean cartoons, similar to Japanese manga) artist, Hong Cha, a well known hair stylist, and Yi-hyeon Chung, a popular novelist.

While most of the digital content is text-based, KakaoPage also has music and images to offer. For example, 2AM, a popular boy band in Korea, is offering their ‘One Summer Day’ album through KakaoPage, bundled with their photos and commentaries for KRW 5000 (US$4.40). For all content sold, the revenue is shared between Google Play (30 percent), Kakao (20 percent), and the publisher (50 percent).

On a related note, Line also recently launched Line Manga, an app that sells only manga; KakaoPage, in contrast, is open to a greater variety of digital content – and to anybody as a content producer. Line Manga currently only deals with manga publishers but I’m sure it will start to venture into other digital content if manga ends up selling like hot cakes.