The golden days of publishing are over

Ignatius Haryanto, Contributor/Jakarta

Now that the end of 2004 is approaching, we shall experience "business as usual" in the Indonesian book industry.

One important thing to address is the ending of financial support from the Ford Foundation, via the Adikarya Foundation, which has been a significant source of support for Indonesian book publishing since 1998.

Adikarya is a foundation set up by IKAPI (the Indonesian Publishers Association) to manage funding from the Ford Foundation, an international philanthropic organization that is part of the Ford Motor Company.

The foundation has long been involved in several fields, including reproductive health, environmental protection, good governance and support for the traditional arts.

Support for quality books

Concern for the future of book publishing in Indonesia was raised at the time of the economic crisis in 1997, when the rupiah depreciated against the U.S. dollar and suddenly everything became very expensive.

The Ford Foundation was worried that the economic crisis would deny Indonesian readers access to quality books. The foundation started its program by supporting quality titles -- chosen by a panel -- and covered 80 percent of their printing cost.

Over the last six years, the foundation has supported 568 titles, according to data released by Ewa Pandjaitan, secretary to the Adikarya Foundation.

"In 2004 alone, 121 titles received financial support from the foundation."

Simple arithmetic shows that each year roughly 80 titles enjoyed this support. This is quite significant compared with the approximately 400 titles produced by the Indonesian book industry at present.

The 400 titles is a rough calculation, as there is no reliable data that shows growth in the Indonesian book industry. No one has the figures -- even IKAPI appears not to care about keeping track of industry growth, and has allowed it to be calculated by each publishing company on its own.

How will publishers continue without support?

Ford decided that its support program had protected publishers from the worst impacts of the economic crisis.

"It's time for us to move on, not by supporting programs related to book production per se, but probably by looking at different aspects of the industry, such as marketing and distribution, both within and outside Java," said foundation program officer Philip Yampolsky.

Now that the era of subsidization will soon be over, what will happen to the book publishers that enjoyed funding for the last six years?

Will it be business as usual or has it already created a dependency in some instances?

Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia (KPG) executive manager Pax Benedanto claims that his publishing company will not be affected by the ending of the Ford Foundation's support via the Adikarya Foundation. Since the start of this program, KPG has received support for dozens of its book titles, and this year KPG received support for only two book titles from a total of 25 to 30 titles.

Although the absence of Ford Foundation support next year is not so significant for his publishing company, Pax admits that the program has been very helpful in supporting quality books with a highly specific market niche.

He uses as an example the complete works of Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi, a prominent Melayu poet, best known for his masterpiece Gurindam Duabelas (Poetry in 12 paragraphs), which recently reached his desk for review.

"I appreciate that publishing such a book needs some financial support as sales income alone would not cover the costs."

Cross-subsidization can work

Benedanto emphasizes the need for an alternative source of financial support for "idealistic" books.

Julius, executive director of Galang Press in Yogyakarta, shares Pax's view, adding that the absence of Ford support will not really effect his business.

From 2000 to 2004, Galang received support for eight titles.

"From eight titles, two books sold well on the market -- one a book about the gay community, written by gay rights campaigner Dede Oetomo, a sociologist from Airlangga University in Surabaya, the other about Levi Strauss' concept of structural anthropology."

Galang became well-known for the controversial book Jakarta Undercover, a compilation of stories on the sex theme, written by entertainment journalist Moamar Emka, who explored sex sites in the capital.

Since then, Galang has tended to produce similar types of books, claiming that they sell well and can cross-subsidize other, more "idealistic" books.

"After 2002, we changed our strategy for selling books and put 70 percent of our effort toward best-sellers, with the other 30 percent dedicated to high-quality books.

"Without this strategy, Galang could not survive in the book business," Julius continued.

As a publisher in Yogyakarta, a city that is home to dozens of publishers, Julius said that some publishers were dependent for their income upon Ford Foundation financial support.

The situation has given rise to some unethical behavior, including the cheating of authors and misreporting the number of copies printed, so that publishers can make more money.

"In the short term, it will produce a financial benefit for some publishers, but in the long run these practices will be exposed, and they will lose out."

Although the support will come to an end, Julius suggested that the Ford Foundation would still support Indonesian publishers in a different way, such as providing assistance for book marketing and distribution.

He acknowledged that, some months ago, the Ford Foundation invited publishers in Jakarta and Yogyakarta to discuss options for the future.

There is still much to be done, though, by publishers, such as properly targeted marketing and distribution and making the right strategic business decisions.