Kompas Gramedia
Enlightening 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, Selfhelp, 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.
Publishing 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 19821986, 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.
Some issues that we are facing:
Nowadays movie-goers love horrorcomedy 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