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 …
A common theme here at TNPS is the much-overlooked demand for English-language content in parts of the world where English is not the first or official language. Perhaps nowhere has that been more apparent than with the Big Bad Wolf phenomenon, where a Malaysia-based outfit ships literally millions of English-language books to countries like Indonesia, 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 …
When StreetLib launched The New Publishing Standard in September 2017 we made clear the function of the journal was to stimulate debate about the much-neglected global book markets. It was not a StreetLib promotional tool, and not a vehicle to advocate digital at the expense of traditional formats. But occasionally StreetLib becomes part of the Read More …
Given The New Publishing Standard only launched in September 2017, 2018 is is our first full calendar year, and our first opportunity to look back on the year and select the outstanding publishing stories, publishing people and publishing industry journals of 2018. Needless to say, being TNPS we were looking at the stories, people and Read More …
Diary of a Cricket, as the English translations of De men phieu luu ky runs, is a 1941 children’s book by To Hoai now debuting as a musical thanks to the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera. Composed by Vu Viet Anh and conducted by Tran Nhat Minh, who together wrote the Read More …
The past seven days on TNPS – here’s what you missed. Dubai Audio Library “the largest Arabic audio library in the world” Dubai Audio Library “the largest Arabic audio library in the world” Self-published comic book to become Netflix series – Again Self-published comic book to become Netflix series – Again Saudi Arabia’s 4th 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 …
There are three contenders for “the” global publishing story of the year here at TNPS, and regulars will not be surprised to learn Big Bad Wolf is among them. But unless one of the other two produce a remarkable rabbit from a hat in the next two months then Big Bad Wolf is going to Read More …
In marked contrast to Storytel’s usual approach of keeping quiet about new launches until everything is ready to go, Storytel’s Asia expansion plans are being announced well in advance. This week comes a Storytel press release confirming Storytel will be launching in Singapore in 2019, with titles in English and Chinese. This will come as no Read More …
The 23rd Thailand National Book Expo, in parallel with the Thailand Children’s Book Festival, is underway in Bangkok. The event began yesterday, Oct 17 and runs twelve days until Oct 28. Visitor numbers are expected to run into the “hundreds of thousands.” I’ll try get clarification of whether that means “just” 200k or up to 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 …
There were many raised eyebrows this past week when UNESCO declared Kuala Lumpur would be the World Book Capital in 2020. Because while there’s no question Malaysia is making great strides to advance literacy and literary endeavours, that is happening in the dark shadow of official censorship. The Malaysian government has promised to repeal the 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 …
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) has picked Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur to succeed Sharjah as World Book Capital in 2020. The title is currently held by Athens, which will concede the title to the UAE’s Sharjah for 2019. In a statement Unesco said Malaysia’s capital was selected because of the city’s strong 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 …
Big Bad Wolf Bangkok opened yesterday (Aug 10) and this time it’s three million English-language books laid out at one venue for eleven days of literally non-stop (24/7) book-buying, in a country notable for being somewhere “nobody reads.” This image is from Bangkok 2018 and typifies the Big Bad Wolf scene. New books, stacked high, Read More …
Vietnam’s Sunday of Love group has been helping connect the street children of Ho Chi Minh City with books since 2007, but only in 2014 was the first of the “1001 libraries in remote hamlets” built, in Binh Phuoc province. Now there are more than 200 micro-libraries nationwide, fielding from 300 to 1000 books where Read More …
It was just over a month ago, on May 6, that the ten day Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair drew to a close. The KLIBF has pulled in two million visitors every year since 2013. Just 34 days late and Malaysian booklovers are flocking to Kuala Lumpur for the country’s biggest trilingual book event, the Read More …
