Asian Publishers Week
Participant
Lia Indra Andriana
Country : Indonesia
Company : Haru Publisher
Job Title : CEO
E-mail : liaindra.haru@gmail.com
Work Experience in Publishing
I am the Founder and CEO of Penerbit Haru, an independent Indonesian publishing company established in 2011. I entered publishing without a formal background in literature or publishing, learning the business directly through manuscript acquisition, translation rights, editorial development, production, marketing, distribution, and team building.
One of the defining parts of my journey has been recognizing the growing influence of Korean popular culture in Indonesia and using it as an entry point to introduce Korean books to new readers. Rather than focusing only on literary works, Haru has published popular and accessible titles that connect naturally with audiences already familiar with Korea through drama, music, and entertainment.
Over the past 15 years, I have led Haru in publishing around 300 titles while building relationships with publishers, rights agencies, and industry partners across Asia. My role has gradually expanded from publishing operations into business strategy, audience development, digital commerce, and organizational transformation.
Today, I am especially interested in how publishers can balance editorial conviction with market understanding. I believe publishers should not only respond to what readers already want, but also introduce new genres, voices, and reading experiences they believe deserve an audience. I am exploring how reader behavior, creators, social platforms, recommendation algorithms, data, and international collaboration can help publishers build discovery—and ultimately build markets—for the books they believe in.
Current Projects
Haru is currently developing several projects at the intersection of international rights, AI-assisted editorial research, and digital transformation.
One of our main areas of exploration is using AI to support the early-stage review of books from different Asian markets. Because our editorial team cannot read every Asian language, AI helps us examine synopses, sample chapters, themes, characters, positioning, and cultural context before we invest in professional translation or enter rights negotiations. We see this not as a replacement for editors or translators, but as a way to widen the range of books we are able to discover and evaluate.
We are also strengthening relationships with publishers and rights agencies across Asia, both to acquire translation rights and to explore opportunities for Indonesian titles in international markets.
At the same time, we are developing a more systematic approach to book discovery. We observe reader conversations, creator content, marketplace behavior, search patterns, and social-media trends to understand how readers encounter and choose books.
Our goal is to combine editorial judgment, cultural understanding, technology, and market intelligence to make better acquisition and publishing decisions—while keeping human expertise at the center of the process.
Experience Related to This Year’s Topic
My experience with AI in publishing is mainly in editorial research, book evaluation, and audience analysis.
At Haru, we work with books from different Asian countries, but we do not have in-house editors who can read every Asian language. We therefore use AI as an early support tool to help us understand synopses, sample chapters, themes, characters, cultural references, and the overall direction of a book before we move to a deeper editorial review.
This is especially useful when we are exploring titles from new markets. AI helps us understand the basic content faster, compare several titles, and prepare better questions before discussing rights or involving professional translators. However, we do not use AI as a replacement for translators or editors. Final decisions still depend on human judgment, cultural understanding, and verification.
We also use AI to support research and marketing work. It helps us organize reader feedback, identify repeated topics in audience conversations, develop content ideas, and better understand how readers discover books through social media, creators, and marketplaces.
For me, AI is most useful when it helps a small publishing team work across more languages, handle information more efficiently, and make better decisions without replacing the human role in publishing.
In Indonesia, AI is becoming a growing topic in publishing, especially around copyright, authorship, and creative work.
One of the main concerns is how copyrighted books, translations, and illustrations may be used by AI without clear permission. There is also a risk that AI makes it easier to produce a large amount of generic content, while publishing still depends on originality, context, and trust.
At the same time, AI also creates opportunities, especially for smaller publishers. It can help with research, early book analysis, understanding content from different languages, organizing information, and learning more about reader behavior.
For me, the key question is not whether publishers should use AI, but how to use it wisely. AI should help publishers work better, while authors, translators, editors, and illustrators still remain an important part of the publishing process.
What would you like to discuss related to this year’s topic?
I would like to discuss how publishers can use AI and data without losing human judgment.
Today, AI can help us understand trends, reader interests, and how people discover books. It can also help smaller publishers work across languages and markets. But I am also concerned that if everyone uses the same tools in the same way, publishing and marketing content can start to feel similar, generic, and lose its human point of view.
For me, publishing is still about choosing books that people may want or need at the right time, and finding the right way to connect those books with readers.
I would like to discuss how publishers can combine editorial instinct, cultural understanding, reader communities, creators, algorithms, and AI—so technology helps the right book find the right reader, without replacing the human perspective that gives publishing its value.
Connection to Korean Publishing
KPIPA, LTI, Wisdom House, Bora Chung, Park Dong Sun, Kim Ho Hyeon, Eric Yang Agency, May Agency
I would like to meet Korean publishers and rights agencies working with commercial fiction, mystery, romance, children’s books, and digital IP.
I am especially interested in titles that can work well in Indonesia as standalone books or short series, and in partners interested in long-term collaboration in Southeast Asia.
Your reasons for applying to Asian Publishers Week 2026.
I am applying to Asian Publishers Week 2026 because I want to explore how AI can help publishers work better across language barriers and understand how books are discovered today.
As an Indonesian publisher, I am interested in Korean books, but I do not speak Korean and we do not have an in-house Korean editor. AI helps me understand and analyze books at an early stage, so I can better evaluate which titles may fit Indonesian readers before moving forward with translators and rights discussions.
I am also interested in how content algorithms are changing book discovery. Today, readers often find books through short-form content, creators, marketplaces, and recommendation systems. I want to better understand how publishers can read these signals without letting algorithms fully decide what we publish.
Through this program, I hope to learn from other Asian publishers, discover potential Korean titles, and build stronger rights partnerships.
Your Company Profile Haru Publisher
Company Name: Haru Publisher
Company Address: Jl Sulawesi 17 Ponorogo, East Java
Number of Employees: 17
Specialty: Translated Asian Literature, Mystery &
Penerbit Haru is an independent Indonesian publishing company founded in 2011, with around 300 published titles. Haru is known for introducing Korean and Asian popular literature to Indonesian readers and for helping expand interest in Korean books beyond traditional literary audiences.
Our catalog includes mystery and thriller, contemporary fiction, romance, selected nonfiction, and children’s books through Haru Kids. We also have extensive experience in translation rights, licensing, localization, and international publishing partnerships, particularly with publishers and rights agencies across Asia.
Today, Haru is developing beyond a traditional publishing model. We actively build connections between books and readers through social media, marketplaces, reader communities, reviewers, creators, affiliates, and offline events. These channels have become increasingly important as book discovery is now influenced by short-form content, creator recommendations, marketplace behavior, and platform algorithms.
We closely observe content trends, reader conversations, and audience responses to understand how different titles can find the right readers. We are also exploring data and AI-assisted analysis to better identify emerging interests, content patterns, and changes in book discovery.
For Haru, the challenge in publishing today is not only choosing what to publish, but also creating an ecosystem in which books can be discovered, discussed, and sustained over time.
Haru continues to position itself as a bridge between Asian publishers and Indonesian readers through strong editorial curation, international rights expertise, audience insight, and new approaches to book discovery and distribution.