The Thai publishing market is expected to decline this year as economic woes hit people's pockets, but booksellers see a promising opportunity by targeting niche markets, according to the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (Pubat). Nattakorn Vuttichaipornkul, vice-president of internal affairs at Pubat, said booksellers and publishers experienced a slight drop in sales in the first half of the year. "The sales of textbooks dropped as people turned to watching and learning from video platforms like YouTube," Mr Theerapat said. As a result of the increasing popularity of yaoi novels over the past five years, Pubat has started to see a growing demand for girls' love novels, he said. To date, the association has 485 members, which consist of publishers and booksellers, up from 288 members during the pandemic, Mr Theerapat said.
