Weakening Book Publishing Trends: What's the State of the Industry?

The Indonesian book publishing trend has weakened in recent years. This is evident from the *Report on the Results of Indonesian Book Research* released by the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi).

According to the report, the number of new book titles published increased in the 2015-2016 period. However, since 2017, the number has decreased and continued to weaken, reaching its lowest point in 2020, as shown in the graph.

However, this data only includes new book titles from publishers distributed through Gramedia bookstores.

According to Ikapi, the Gramedia bookstore network absorbs approximately 37% of the total number of new book titles published nationally, while the remaining 63% are distributed independently by publishers or through other bookstores.

As of today (May 22, 2023), Ikapi has not yet released the latest data on the number of book publications.

Although the number of publications has decreased, the real condition of the national book industry is difficult to estimate.

"Unlike in the UK, which releases annual book sales revenue figures, it is very difficult for the public to obtain annual data on the economic condition of books in Indonesia," said Anggun Gunawan, a lecturer in the Publishing Program at the Jakarta Creative Media State Polytechnic, in his article *The Face of Publishing in Indonesia* published on Ikapi's official website, Saturday (May 20, 2023).

The sales of books in Indonesia are also difficult to track, as many books are now transacted through online stores from both domestic and foreign countries.

"In this case, we cannot ignore data from marketplaces such as Shopee and Tokopedia, which are major partners for many Indonesian publishers to sell physical books online, as well as the increasingly thriving e-book sales, operated by both global companies such as Google Books and Amazon, and local agencies such as Gramedia Digital, Aksara Maya, and Kubuku," said Anggun.