One would think a country like Indonesia, not noted for its reading reputation, might soon get tired of a Malaysian company turning up with millions (literally) of English-language books in eleven-day 24/7 flash sales. But if there is a limit, Big Bad Wolf has yet to reach it. Not content with taking 5.5 million books Read More …
With the support of the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf), the Indonesia Publishers Association last month launched the Indonesia Partnership Programme (IPP) to boost the country’s book exports and make Indonesia a regional centre of copyright exchange. IPP Chairman Amelia B Safltri expects the programme to make its mark at the Indonesia International Book Fair in Read More …
Big Bad Wolf’s debut event wound up in South Korea yesterday. No news yet on how many turned out for the 24/7 eleven day sale of 2 million English-language books, but I’d be very surprised if we don’t see the Big Bad Wolf team organise a second South Korea event before this year is out. Read More …
Big Bad Wolf took 2 million English-language books to Taiwan this month for its second Big Bad Wolf Taipei event. Last year it drew a crowd of 165,000 during its eleven day 24/7 run. That’s a remarkable achievement given all the books were in English. It’s no one-off. Big Bad Wolf on June 10 closed Read More …
As the Market Focus country at the 2019 London Book Fair, Indonesia’s National Book Committee was hoping to secure 50 title sales to add to the 1,200 it has collected since its establishment in 2015. As the fair drew to a close 23 sales had already been signed on the spot, and with 12 countries Read More …
When Big Bad Wolf debuted in Indonesia in 2016, regional organiser Uli Silalahi of PT Jaya Retail was not convinced the event had legs. Usually book exhibitions are only 3 days with a total of 5 thousand visitors. But here was Big Bad Wolf suggesting not just a twelve day book sale open 24 hours. Read More …
The annual Islamic Book Fair is scheduled to run February 27 through March 2 this year, and as usual is billed the largest Islamic literary event in SE Asia. Founded in 2001, the Islamic Book Fair was created to offer a book fair with a dedicated Islamic nuance to balance the two big trade fairs Read More …
India’s Kolkata International Book Fair wound up earlier this week and the numbers are in: 2.3 million visitors spent 230 million rupees (US$ 3.2 million) on books in twelve days. Given the price of books in India the volume must have been huge. This just weeks after 900,000 turned out to the New Delhi World Book Read More …
Palestine, Mongolia, Russia, Indonesia and New Zealand are on the menu for today’s Start The Day Global selection, and if you’re thinking none of these markets are worth a second thought, then you really need to read today’s curation. We start today’s selection in the Middle East, in a land few outside the region associate Read More …
It’s been a quiet week at TNPS for various reasons, but here’s what was covered this past seven days. Storytel confirms Brazil launch for 2019 as Mexico launch nears. Sharjah 2.23 million. Algiers 2.2 million. 4.4 million visitors to Arab book fairs in the past two weeks. The Arab Renaissance gathers momentum. The Arab Read More …
If Indonesia’s reading credentials have been firmly established by the three Big Bad Wolf events this year, further evidence comes in the form of six Book Fairs on Stations, running right now at six state-owned railway stations. PT KAI (Kereta Api Indonesia) has been hosting the five day fairs simultaneously at Gambir, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Purwokerto, Read More …
Just when you think the world of books can’t get any crazier… We’ve seen Big Bad Wolf take millions of (mostly) English-language books to Sri Lanka this year (1.5 million), Taiwan (2 million), Philippines (twice – 2 million and 1 million)), Malaysia (3 times so far and at least one more to go – well Read More …
Back in December 2017 TNPS ran with the headline, S.E. Asia online economy growing faster than predicted. $200bn by 2025. Will publishers rise to the opportunity? S.E. Asia online economy growing faster than predicted. $200bn by 2025. Will publishers rise to the opportunity? It seems some have. This week comes news that, from a base Read More …
Here’s a summary of TNPS posts from the past seven days. Sao Paulo’s Avenida Paulista bookstore closes – Fnac Brazil now has just one bookstore standing Setswana? Indonesian? Can you tell the difference? Nor can Microsoft A mermaid wearing a bra among the books banned in Kuwait, but protests are gathering momentum Big Bad Wolf Read More …
First Singapore, then Vietnam, now Indonesia. Amazon continues its move into SE Asia. But once again it seems books and ebooks are no longer part of Amazon’s global ambitions. Amazon moving into new markets is a given nowadays, but it’s been a long time since the world’s biggest online bookstore actually made a move in Read More …
As we come up to our first anniversary here at TNPS (September 25), one of the recurring themes has been the rise and rise of the international book sale phenomenon known as Big Bad Wolf. In the west it can sometimes seems like the only show in town is Amazon, and no question Amazon is Read More …
With one million books up for grabs at big discounts this year’s Indonesia International Book Fair should pull in big crowds in what I regard as one of the planet’s most exciting publishing prospects. One million books at a book fair may sound like a lot, but it’s small beer compared to the 5.5 million Read More …
With a population of 20 million Sri Lanka is bigger by population than all but eight countries in Europe. That alone ought to put Sri Lanka on the radar of publishers as a lucrative market. Its 16.6 million Sinhala speakers is close to the population of the Netherlands. Its 4.7 million Tamil speakers give it Read More …
The global publishing market has never been more exciting, and every day myriad publishing stories cross my screen that I’d love to develop here at TNPS, but there simply isn’t time. They do make the TNPS twitter feed, however. Follow TNPS on twitter here: @thenewpubstd. But twitter is an ephemeral beast. If you’re reading TNPS Read More …
With a population of 32 million (just 4 million fewer than Canada, and 8 million more than Australia), and 25 million people online (compare Canada’s 33 million online, and Australia’s 21 million online) you wouldn’t be alone in wondering why neither Amazon nor Apple have bothered to offer Malaysia an ebook store. In fact neither Read More …
