A domestic corporations aiming to go global is building a system that shortens the production cycle—from receiving a writer's manuscript to publishing a single book, which normally takes several months—to a few days by using artificial intelligence (AI). "PubStation" is a one-person startup founded in Oct. 2023 by CEO Song Man-seok, who worked at a publishing house for 16 years. It now has three employees. It is building a platform that automates the entire pre-publication process—except the author's writing—by using AI for proofreading, copyediting, polishing, translation, design, and marketing.
PubStation secured initial funds through the government research and development (R&D) "Stepping Stone" program, the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), and support from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Sales were 200 million won in 2024 and 129 million won in the first half of 2025—small in scale, but the focus is already global. In a meeting with a Silicon Valley investor, it signed a term sheet contract worth $2 million (about 2.8 billion won) before a full-scale investment, laying the groundwork for overseas expansion.
CEO Song of PubStation, which the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) recommended as a next-generation promising corporations, said, "We will make the digital transformation (DX) of the publishing ecosystem our core mission," and urged juniors dreaming of one-person startups to "don't be afraid and take on the challenge."
What led you to decide to start a business in the publishing market.
"I loved books from a young age, so I naturally entered a university publishing department and later got a job at a publishing house. I was also interested in coding during college and studied it, but when I got to the field, the most advanced tool turned out to be Excel. It was a time when orders were handwritten and sent by fax rather than ERP (a system that integrates and manages all of a corporations's resources and operations). Frustrated, I used VBA (a programming language for task automation used in Excel) to automate the transaction ledger, and while working as Head of Team in the publishing marketing team, I created and used a program that automatically managed influencer outreach and result reporting. The performance was decent, and requests from those around me to use it continued, which led me to decide to start a business."
What problems does the PubStation system solve.
"The publishing field is relatively slow to adopt the latest technology. With labor and production costs rising faster than sales growth, operating profit is shrinking, and high-intensity labor is entrenched. PubStation's "AI Publishing Agent" aims to assign repetitive tasks to AI so people can focus on productive work such as planning. For example, it aims to finish proofreading and copyediting a single book within an hour, and once the full agent is in place, to enable one person to complete the print-ready file within 24 hours."
What was the hardest part of preparing the business alone.
"While pushing for influencer marketing automation, the hardest part was having to do everything alone. When I worked at a company, I could focus on my main duties such as development, operations, and testing, but after starting a business, I had to handle unfamiliar areas like tax and management. Convincing publishing houses was no easy task either."
How was the process of recruiting team members and building the company afterward.
"In the beginning, as a sole proprietor, I had no fixed costs, so the burden was not great. Later, to promote the company, I hired short-term staff through acquaintances' introductions, and as sales increased, platform operations and content production staff joined as well. To grow further, I overstretched by expanding the sales staff and the office, and fixed costs surged.
Around that time, with the emergence of ChatGPT, I saw the potential of large language models (LLMs) and planned the "AI Editor" service. At first, we relied on outsourcing, but due to working with firms lacking AI understanding, we spent only expense and could not use the output, going through trial and error. Afterward, we conducted internal study to tune AI, and we are building the product by combining outsourcing. Last year, we were selected for the government Stepping Stone R&D and completed basic engine development, and this year we are pushing commercialization through a government support program and are about to launch."
What is the biggest environmental constraint faced by one-person or small-scale founders in Korea.
"The biggest difficulty is "fundraising." Even if you make a good product, it takes a long time for awareness to build and translate into sales. This is also because the CEO handles most tasks alone. In the end, not only the "ability to make" but also the "details that connect to sales" are key, and this part is particularly difficult."
What are the pros and cons of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED)'s early-stage corporations support programs.
"The advantage is that fundraising is possible, which greatly helps with technology development and hiring. The disadvantage is that administrative procedures, such as preparing documents for fund execution, are complicated."
How did you use the government support funds.
"With a Ministry of SMEs and Startups youth fund loan, we built an influencer marketing platform. Then, in line with AI advances, we pushed development of our first product, AI Editor, and purchased the necessary patents through an introduction from KOTEC. In this process, we also received an operating funds loan, which helped with development. Through Stepping Stone, we completed core backend basic development, secured test reports from verification agencies, and finished copyright registration, and this year we are pursuing commercialization through the AX (AI Trans-formation) support program."
Is there a reason you sought overseas investors instead of domestic ones.
"I did a lot of networking domestically, but many investors had no interest in the publishing industry itself or responded with "Why publishing." Overseas, by contrast, the market is larger and interest is higher. When I met global venture capital (VC), the basic stance—regardless of field—was to listen and try to understand. After online meetings, an investor I met in person in Silicon Valley mentioned the scale of Amazon's self-publishing and suggested expanding into a service that embraces both publishers and authors, which aligned with the direction of the "AI Publishing Agent.""
How will AI change the publishing industry going forward.
"With the rapid development of AI, the global publishing market is already roiling. Major publishers are quickly adopting AI, as AI startup publishers attract large-scale investments and announce plans to publish thousands of titles. If a few constraints are resolved, I believe the time is near when Korean publishers can directly sell books translated into languages around the world overseas, and vice versa."
What are the strengths and limits of one-person (small-scale) startups.
"A big strength was my curiosity about new technology and the ability to apply and test it immediately. The responsibility was heavy, but I boldly carried out the experiments I wanted, and in the process, I found opportunities. On the other hand, the limitations of risk absorption capacity and resources are clear."
What would you like to say to juniors preparing for a one-person startup.
"I want to say, don't be afraid or overthink—just start. Problems and difficulties will inevitably arise, but as you overcome them and move forward, you get one step closer to the goal in your head. You have to move to achieve it."
Plus Point Ministry of SMEs and Startups' Stepping Stone program helps early-stage corporations