(Courtesy of nulisbuku.com)

By offering easier ways for budding writers to get their stories out there, indie publishers shine.

Faced with the burdensome requirements set by major publishers where money is always involved, indie publishers have started to gain ground.

Website nulisbuku.com is among the pioneers of online self-publishing. Since Oct. 8, 2010, the digital start-up has offered a print-on-demand method that allows authors or online readers to get a single copy of an actual book.

“I’m concerned with the struggle of writers, especially those less-known although they have quality works, to get their books published due to business calculations made by publishers.

“That’s the reason we established the website as a solution because at that time we already had printing technology,” said cofounder Brilliant Yotenega, 34.

Together with writer and founder of Zetta Media, Aulia Halimatussadiah, Ega held the #99Writers in 9 Days campaign on social media platforms, which started it all.

By the last day they had collected 110 writers, each with a complete work ready to be uploaded onto the website.

“Not many people had heard about self-publishing at that time. During the first few years we only received one or two novels per day, but currently we can publish 10 titles each day on the website,” said Ega, a graduate of industrial product design engineering from the Surabaya-based 10 November Institute of Technology.

The enthusiasm of online readers also grew in line with the number of books published as sales have doubled from the amount they made in the first few years.

Today, Nulisbuku.com has published physical copies of 150,000 titles, which were printed on demand.

Writers have the privilege of determining the book format, cover layout and even the price, including the cost of production, which they can calculate themselves with a tool on the website.

“The production cost will be borne by the book buyer while the writer can take 60 percent of the revenue as a royalty fee,” said marketing staff member Lita Febiana Lestari.

While Nulisbuku.com is a tool for writers with accomplished works, sister company Storial.co provides a place for beginner writers to publish short stories or a novel chapter-by-chapter.

“The writers can get feedback from the readers about their work. When they have gained confidence from having their own readers, they can opt to publish the book as well,” said Lita.

Storial.co, which was established late last year, has published 2,800 books online and in print.

One of its writers is 21-year-old Mohamad Ariqy Raihan, a graduate of Islamic economics from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.

“I started to love writing in high school but only became active last year. I was among the first writers to join Storial.co,” said Rerem, whose account @ariqy21 currently has some 7,000 regular visitors.

“I was not confident with my writing skills at first, but as I received positive feedback from my readers I’m currently self-publishing my short story anthology and a few novels.”

Although self-publishing was not a topic at the four-day literary festival themed “The Story of Now”, some of the speakers touched on the issue while talking about ways to increase literacy rates in the country and to encourage young people not only to read but also to write.

One of them was renowned poet Sapardi Djoko Damono, also a novelist and essayist.

The 76-year-old told the audience at the recent ASEAN Literary Festival that he always kept up to date with the latest digital technology.

“I own a very resilient publishing company because I run it myself. I’m my own writer, editor, page layout and cover artist. I just hand over my work to [publisher] Gramedia Pustaka Utama to print,” he said.

A writer’s control over his or her work is the main idea of self-publishing and can also be seen in the Yogyakarta-based Kampus Fiksi Diva Press community and Bogor-based Arteri, which provide writing workshops, as well as comic writing and illustration groups in the case of Arteri, and all the know-how to get works published.

However, according to Ega, a common mistake that writers often made was not equipping themselves with a marketing strategy.

“Popular writers can sell their books easily using social media platforms, a tool that even beginners can get benefit from. But they often forget that self-publishing also means self-marketing. As a result, many of them stop writing once they publish a book.”

He said self-published books had their own market, which was not determined by the names of publishing companies.

On display: The Bogor-based Arteri community displays their own literary journal, comics and illustrations at their booth at Taman Ismail Marzuki during the ASEAN Literary Festival in Jakarta. (JP/Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak)

“A good work will be recognized by the public because they are smart enough to choose. To make sure that we only publish quality reading material, we established the Nulisbuku Club where writers can hone their skills and interact with each other.

“It takes time to create an ecosystem of writers, readers and the industry but we are convinced that the economic methods of self-publishing and print-on-demand are the future of the book industry,” said Ega.

For a penniless, unknown writer, according to Rere, the solutions offered by the digital technology were an alternative stepping stone.

“Someday, when I’ve made it, I would like to see my works released by major publishers. That is the pride of a writer.”

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