Sorry state of our book industry

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'... had I depended on my book sales, I would have been homeless in Kuala Lumpur.' - Johan Jaaffar

I have never seen so many feverishly enthusiastic book buyers in my life. Cheap books sell better, I realised. The book company is part of an entity that has folded.

How do you pay royalty to an author whose RM40 book is now sold at RM3? With book publishers collapsing like sandcastles, writers are being victimised as never before. It also happened before when two of my other plays were used for Form Three and Form Five Bahasa Malaysia subjects. Moral of the story is, had I depended on my book sales, I would have been homeless in Kuala Lumpur. No one I knew lived on book sales. Not even our national laureates, all 14 of them, out of which eight are still alive.Books written by popular writers like Achdiat Akasah and Liena Afiera Malik used to enjoy a print-run of more than 50,000 copies per title. But people are buying fewer books now. So bestselling authors by Malaysian standard are harder to come by.

As the “jual murah” at the warehouse indicates, there are simply too many titles published of late. DBP used to have a stock valued at RM70mil. Many publishers are reeling from too many unsold books.

 

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ernamh Which is true. BBW warehouse sales dont do justice for its authors.

I agree Tan Sri.... times have changed. Indeed the publishing and media sectors have been shaken, shredded and uprooted. Writers are suffering and it is also the same for artists - painters & performers.

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