Cheap books sell best at Jakarta Book Fair
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Is it the cover or the content of a book that makes people eager to buy it? Or could it be the discounted price?
The latter seems to be what is attracting visitors to the ongoing Jakarta Book Fair 2003 at the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta, as seen on the fourth day of the event on Tuesday.
Large numbers of people were seen at the booths of book publishers or distributors which displayed signs offering special prices. The discounts offered range from 20 percent to 80 percent.
This phenomenon can also be seen during the regular book fair held by Gramedia group at Bentara Budaya in Jl. Palmerah Selatan, Central Jakarta, which is always packed with young people because of the discounted prices of comics and popular novels.
Hanafi, owner of family publishing business Setia Kawan, said that only a small number of visitors intentionally came to look for particular books. Most of the books displayed are on Islamic teachings.
"But the kind of books that are selling well are those on the discount shelves," he told The Jakarta Post, pointing to the table which displayed various kinds of book with a 50 percent off sign hung over it.
Elvis Iskandar, head of marketing at pioneer publishing company Balai Pustaka, admitted that displaying books on Aceh in an eye-catching place was a good strategy, but he did not expect the books to sell well.
"We brought 20 copies for each of the five titles, but now we only have four to five copies. Buy now before the books run out," he told the Post, adding that the company may reproduce old books that are still in demand, including books on Javanese manuscript and wayang (shadow puppets).
The books on Aceh published by Balai Pustaka are published between 1983 and 2001, and the subjects cover the struggle of the Acehnese for independence during Dutch colonial rule back in the 1800s, Aceh's old kingdom, as well as on Acehnese heroes Cut Nyak Din and Teuku Umar.
Although publishing company Sinar Harapan produced many books on Aceh, including Aceh Menggugat (Aceh claims) which was published in 2000, the sales were not significant, said the company's head of promotion Sukardi.
Bona, a freelance photographer, bought four books on military history and the biography of the late Gen. A.H. Nasution, who escaped the massacre of Indonesian generals in a 1965 aborted coup which was then blamed on the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
"I'm interested in great military men and their history," he said, claiming that he and his father had collected a large number of such books although they do not have a military background.
But buyers like Bona are rare, since only a small percentage of people have good reading habits. Even if they do, they may not have the necessary buying power.
Publishing companies argue that the high prices are unavoidable due to the high production cost, since they mostly use imported paper.
In Indonesia 5,000 new books are published every year, fewer than Malaysia, which publishes 10,000 new books for its 24.5 million residents -- about one tenth of the Indonesian population of 215 million.
Such conditions also force writers to publish their own books, because not all publishing companies dare to pay them in advance as there is no guarantee they will sell.
All in all, the book fair, which will be open until June 1, offers a new experience for book lovers as there is the chance to meet the book authors and to consult experts on reading for children.