Kompas GramediaEnlightening People

THERE IS NO GREATER PRIDE THAN BEING ABLE TO ENLIGHTEN

PEOPLE

Kompas Gramedia was founded in August 17, 1963 by Jakob Oetama and PK Ojong with a mission to enlighten people.

The company that started with a little magazine, Intisari, has now become the largest media conglomerate in Indonesia.

Nowadays Kompas Gramedia has 11 lines of businesses:

1. Newspapers: 27 national, local, and regional newspapers, with their flagship newspaper KOMPAS

2. Tabloids: 13 tabloids (Bola, Gaya Hidup Sehat, Otomotif)

3. Magazines: 35 magazines (Intisari, Donal Bebek, National Geographic, Fortune)

4. Book Publishers: 7 publishers (Gramedia Pustaka Utama, Elexmedia Komputindo, M&C, Penerbit Buku Kompas, Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, Bhuana Ilmu Populer, Grasindo)

5. Book Stores: more than 100 stores all over Indonesia

6. Printing House

7. Electronic & Multimedia: Radio Sonora, KompasGramedia TV, Kompas.com

8. Training & Education: ELTI (English Language Training), UMN (Universitas Media Nusantara)

9. Hotels & Resorts: Santika, Amaris

10. Manufactures: tissue Tessa, Multi

11. Business of Event & Venue: Kompas-Gramedia Fair, Bobo Fair

PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama commenced full activity in 1974, although the first title (KARMILA) appeared in 1973.

As a general publisher, our publications cover Children’s books (fiction and nonfiction), Juvenile/teenage books, Novels, Graphic novels, Books on Indonesian language and literature, English Language Teaching (ELT) books, Health, Self-help, Interior design, Dictionaries, Cookbooks, as well as history, sociology, philosophy and politics.

Annually we publish circa 2,000 titles, 60% of which are translations. We have also sold copyrights abroad.

PublishingPublishing Trends in Indonesia:

Success stories: 9 Summers 10 Autumns, from the City of Apples to the Big Apple; Merry Riana’s A Thousand Dollars Dream Islamic books: Negeri Lima Menara (Land of 5 Towers) Young adult books by local authors Children’s science books from Korea Anything to do with K-pop: magazines featuring Korean artists, photo essays, novels based on popular Korean dramas

Our experience in maximizing added value through films:

Films can revitalize old books Karmila was first published in 1973. It was filmed in 1974, 1980, 1997 and everytime there was a film, the interest in the book was renewed. The same thing happened to Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (The Dancer of Paruk Village). The trilogy was first published in 1982-1986, and in 2011 it was brought to cinemas.

Films help to boost the sales of the books Mira W. has published 78 books, and more than half of them have been made into films/miniseries on TV, that’s why she is so popular.

Films catch the attention of young people. If they like the characters and stories, they’ll read the books to learn more. Some examples: LUPUS, the teen icon of the 1990s. He was creative, funny, friendly; Hilman the author himself played the part for the first film. Hilman has written 53 Lupus books and they are still selling.

In 2000s there were DeaLova, and Me vs High Heels written by young authors and highly successful on screens.

Films can attract sponsors and new readers. The example is Negeri Lima Menara (Land of 5 Towers). It was published in 2009 and was very successful, but when the film hit the cinemas in February 2012 and the book was relaunched with a new cover, the sales went up again. Moreover, companies like Pertamina, BI Syariah and even Frisian Flag bought the books in large quantities.

SomeSome issues that we are facing:

Nowadays movie-goers love horror-comedy and erotic films, and we don’t have those kinds of books.

There are not many manufacturers who are interested in creating merchandise from books, and we don’t have the capabilities to create them by ourselves.

Thank you