Publishers place 'teen-lit' center stage
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Book Fair 2005 opened on Saturday and 13-year-old Novi Rusdiyanti was on the hunt for popular fiction aimed at teenagers, or "teen-lit".
She arrived at the Bung Karno indoor sports stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta, at 9 a.m. even though the fair, which will run until July 3, was not scheduled to open for another hour.
"I have been able to find a lot of teen-lit at the book fair, all at discounted prices, so I do not have to go from bookstore to bookstore anymore," said Novi, already clutching six books.
Teen-lit, or teenager literature, is all about teenagers, with some of the books even written by teens. The genre has become increasingly popular in recent years with young readers, who enjoy the light reads.
Novi said she enjoyed the books because the writers used urban slang, or bahasa gaul, which she finds easy to understand.
"Besides, the subjects are familiar. It is all about love, friendship and the search for identity," said Novi, a student at state junior high school SMP 13 in South Jakarta.
Another fair visitor, Fransisca, said that in addition to the simple language used in teenager fiction, the books also inspired her to write.
"Teen-lit writers are so young. Some of them are younger than 15. If they can do it, why can't I?" asked the psychology student at YAI University.
The chairman of the Indonesian Publishers Association, Makfudin Wirya Atmaja, told The Jakarta Post the genre had helped boost the production of books in the country from 5,000 new titles in 2003 to 7,000 last year.
"The production of these types of books is sensational. They are written by teenagers, yet they sell out. For example, one teen-lit book has gone through three printings and has sold about 50,000 copies. This means they are producing the kinds of books the market wants."
Mizan, a major publisher of teen-lit, is offering over 500 titles at this year's book festival.
The supervisor of the Mizan booth, Gunawan, said of the 60 titles published every month by the company, 60 percent were teen-lit.
"The market favors these kinds of books more than our non- fiction titles," he said.
The publisher Gramedia Pustaka Utama, which declared 2004 "teen-lit year" after it sold thousands of copies of its teen-lit titles, is offering 42 titles written by young authors.
One of the titles, Fairish, is among this month's best- sellers, competing with international titles such as Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
The book festival, which has taken the theme "Children and Teenagers", expects to attract an average of 10,000 visitors a day. There are 75 publishers and 13 bookstores represented at the festival, offering more than 12,000 titles with discounts of up to 70 percent.(006)