Asia Publishers Week
Participant
Ditta Sekar Campaka
Country : Indonesia
Name : Ditta Sekar Campaka
Company : Noura Publishing
Job Title : Head of Marketing Communication
E-mail : ditta@mizan.com
Work Experience in Publishing
I am a seasoned professional in the publishing industry, having accumulated extensive experience since 2009. I hold a degree from the Faculty of Language and Art, Department of French Language, at the State University of Jakarta. I started my career as a Marketing Communication Staff at Bentang Pustaka from 2008 to 2016, where I honed my skills in promotion planning, media relations, and client relations. During this time, I handled some of Indonesia's best-selling authors, such as Andrea Hirata, Dee Lestari, and Trinity. From 2016 to 2020, I worked as a Corporate Public Relations at Mizan Publika, focusing on corporate branding, media relations, and CSR programs.
I have also been actively involved with the National Book Committee under the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture (2016-2019) as a Public Relations. The main objective of the National Book Committee was to promote Indonesian literature to the world through International Book Fairs. I have attended several International Book Fairs, including the Kuala Lumpur Book Fair, Seoul Book Fair, Beijing Book Fair, Sharjah International Book Fair, Bologna Children's Book Fair, London Book Fair, and Frankfurt Book Fair.
Current Projects
Since 2020, I have been working as the Head of Marketing Communication at Noura Publishing. I continue to excel in digital marketing, website and social media analytics, as well as client relations. Leading a team of five staff members, I ensure that all content marketing and programs are executed successfully. We focus on engaging our loyal readers through various communities. Currently, we have two main active reader communities (Children and Fiction) and four social media accounts to promote our books (Noura Publishing, Noura Kids, Noura Pop, and Mizan Fantasi). We also actively collaborate with influencers, bookstagrammers, libraries, and reading clubs.
This year, we are hosting a children's picture book award from our Read Aloud Series. This award is a token of appreciation for children's book writers and illustrators, chosen by young readers aged 5-10 years old. We believe that encouraging children to love reading involves publishing books with great stories and excellent illustrations.
Since 2022, I have been involved with the UNESCO Jakarta City of Literature project under the Jakarta Book City Council. Last year, I was invited to attend the Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award and the City of Literature Workshop 2023 in Bucheon, South Korea, where I presented the best practices and activities from Jakarta City of Literature.
Main Interest
Currently, I have a strong interest in Marketing Communication. For me, this is essential for crafting compelling messages and campaigns to promote books, authors, and events. Besides that, I have a great passion for Data Analytics. I believe it is important for understanding market trends, reader preferences, and the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. This will help me make informed decisions and optimize strategies.
Experience Related to This Year’s Topic
As I mentioned earlier, Noura Publishing is focusing on engaging readers through community. We collaborate with Read Aloud Indonesia, a community consisting of parents (especially mothers) who are concerned about literacy and want to encourage their children to love reading. This community has 70 branches all over Indonesia and has produced more than 1,000 certified read-aloud trainers. The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, which we published in 2009, has been a guidebook for this Read Aloud Training of Trainers.
Additionally, this year, we are also collaborating with BBBBook Club to launch a campaign called Climate Literacy for Families and to publish children's books about climate change. This campaign has started from January 2024 and will continue until next year.
Social media and e-commerce play a significant role in our approach to promoting content. In Indonesia, we are keen to learn and allocate special budgets for ads and affiliate commissions. Some of our affiliates are micro-influencers on social media. They create content based on our products. We also send free samples (some items are paid promotions) to reviewers. They spread the content on their platforms. We believe that word of mouth is more powerful than hard-sell ads.
What would you like to discuss related to this year’s topic?
The power of movement and community to promoting books.
For me, every book has the chance to come to the forefront in the age of content overload, but the biggest question is how to make that book known. One of the answers is marketing itself: spreading awareness and creating stories or angles that resonate with readers. For these reasons, I believe that communities (readers) have a huge impact on this.