Teen Literature Boom: Jakarta, Indonesia

By Wombat | February 21st, 2006 | 1 Comment »

Teen Literature in any country is always a big seller. In Indonesia it is having a resurgence big time with a new wave of teen books by inspiring authors as FX Gunawan reports from Jakarta.

The new wave: Return of teen literature
FX Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta

Teenage literature has made a comeback in Indonesia. Recently, a new wave in teen books has been observed, with so many young authors rising. Teen literature has been reborn and has caused a splash throughout Indonesia. No doubt, it’s a potential market.

Publishers are releasing a large number of this genre. We call it teenlit and chicklit. The theme and topic for teenage book is something that happens around them, mostly about love and friendship. They talk about their world and its problems, describe the younger generation’s lifestyle and other subjects of interest to them.

As we know, teenlit and chicklit originated in England and spread to the United States. Soon afterward, this genre spread all over the world. In Indonesia, this genre is like a bomb that has left a big impact. Young authors — those in the age group of 10 to 20 — are inspired by this genre, and have created their own teenlit and chicklit with local flavor.

In the midst of an “attack” from foreign teenlit and chicklit, many publishers have grabbed at this chance, giving opportunities to young writers to create their own teenlit and chicklit based on their daily experiences and “wrap” it in our locality. It works. This breakthrough creates enthusiasm for writing and reading, and therefore buying power.

This situation reminds us of the 1990s, when teenage books were very popular in Indonesia. But there is a difference between the present and the past, especially in terms of themes.

In the 1990s, teen books mostly talked about male heroism and adventures, such as in Hilman (Lupus) and Gola Gong (Balada Si Roy). Today, teen books prefer to talk from the girls’ viewpoint and there is a little bit of feminism in it.

Look at Cintapucinno, the best-selling original Indonesian chicklit that has been reprinted about 15 times. Beauty Case, Jomblo, and Kok Putusin Gue are other bestsellers. And in general, these writers picked “their daily experiences” as the theme — around love, broken hearts, obsession and friendship.

These are also written in a lighter way that is witty, funny, so contemporary and uses daily conversations — slang language like Bahasa Gaol that is so familiar to teenagers and young people who live in a metropolis like Jakarta.
The fact proves that there is a significant improvement in teen books. Teenagers in big cities like Jakarta, Surabaya and Yogyakarta are a very strong potential market. They have buying power, intellectualism and good interest in books also, especially books that deal with their life and their world.

Teenagers in the year 2000 are a new kind of generation with a different culture. They are shaped by universal values that are more liberal, critical and individualistic. In the past, teenagers were influenced and shaped by local values and a political system that controlled them in every aspect of their lives, and totally. That condition was certainly not good for intellectual development. They were also not free to read a book because of government bans.

Now, after the reformation era triggered by student and people’s movements in 1998, everything has become better for teenagers.

Teenagers have more space to express themselves. Teenagers have more choices and opportunities in any field in which they are interested. Teen and children’s books has start to become established in the national book market. The present problem is how to increase the reading habit of teenagers, a general problem for Indonesia’s book industry.

We cannot expect too much from the older generation, even though they are well-educated. They buy a book only if they really need a book for work or for another specific purpose. They don’t have time to read; they are too tired after working hard every day, and all they want is leisure and entertainment, such as watching movies or television, or hanging out all night long.

The crucial problem lies in bookstores and distribution. To cover a national market, one book should be printed 5,000 exemplar. This is a big quantity for most publishers, even for large ones. On average, a publisher prints about 2,000 to 3,000 copies in the first print. This amount is not enough to cover national distribution and moreover, it’s not enough to create an attractive display in a bookstore. In this condition, it’s pretty hard to increase sales.

On the other hand, we have a problem in bookstores because of the limited space available to display a new book. Each new title has only about one week to be displayed at bookstores. After a week, if the book doesn’t sell well, the bookstore will put it on a regular bookshelf. If a book records good sales in the first week, the bookstore will give an extension time for its display.

Teen and children’s books are the future of the industry in Indonesia, and data from bookstores prove it.
For example, GagasMedia’s Girl’s Guide and Everything About Boy sold around 10,000 copies in the first six months. Another title, Jomblo — a romantic comedy — sold about 75,000 copies in a year and a half. In Indonesia, a book that sells more than 10,000 copies in six months is a bestseller book.

Maybe this amount is very small compared to that in other countries like Japan, Singapore or Australia, but reaching 10,000 copies in six months’ sales is really hard.

Socializing among teenagers that reading is cool is necessary. Reading should be part of their lifestyle: it makes them smart and critical; it will empower their minds.

To increase the reading habit among teenagers, GagasMedia has collaborated with the film industry. As we know, movie is a part of teenagers’ lifestyle today; teenagers love to watch movies. That’s why, we publish novels based on a screenplay, and ask reputable authors — and young and talented writers — to write an adaptation. The result has been good. Teenagers are really interested in this kind of book, because they liked the movie.

Another problem is that there are similar ideas for many stories that contain many differences in its characters and the values that they try to communicate.

Teen books written by teenagers offer more opportunities to dig down deep into the understanding that is more existential in the teenage world. Perhaps progress in this looks so blurry because of the initial cliche issue selected, such as love and how to get the Prince Charming. But, beyond this, they can dig into a deeper topic, such as about beauty: “Must a woman be light-skinned to get a man?”

Hopefully, these young authors will move ahead step by step and bring “something new” to the development of teen literature and be pioneers in their homeland.

This article is part of a paper that was presented at a forum of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2005 on The Situation of Books for Children and Teenagers in Islamic Countries, including participants from Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran and Palestine. The writer is a journalist and director of GagasMedia Publishing House.