Indie books publishing: Actor collaborations and knowledge preservations

Abstract The emergence of Bandung as an international creative city has trigged prompt creative industries in the city, including the literacy activists in Bandung raise awareness about their existence. The literacy activists, who are indie publishers, offers unique and thematic books that ranges from history, entertainment and stories about the city itself. This paper identifies problems indie publishers faced that hindered their books to enter and gain market. Using the publishing ecosystem approach, the paper examines the industry’s capacity to manage information, imagination generation, and creative content production. The actor-network theory complements the approach with highlighting problems, potentials and network dynamics faced by indie publishers in the city. The paper found that uniqueness and narrow themes of books published by the indie labels, combine with their small marketing network, has limits their existence in the general public. Thus, the important and interesting books on history and untold stories of the city has been unnoticed by the society. The paper contributed to the literature by highlighting the importance of networks in the publishing sector whilst also emphasising the role of indie publishers in enriching and preserving local knowledge.


Introduction
The creative economy is a new economic trend currently exciting in Indonesia. This creative economy plays a significant role in economic equality in Indonesia, especially for marginalized people with limited opportunities to work for large entities because of a lack of educational background. In the last decade, the role of the creative economy has emerged as an alternative economy sub-sector to generate new sources of activities and employment and, in turn, expedite urban welfare. The relationship between the publishing industry and the Indonesian population is not very promising. A report by UNESCO in 2009, the books published in Indonesia is considered ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adiwan Aritenang is an Assistant Professor in the Urban and Regional Planning Program in Institute Technology Bandung (ITB). He completed his PhD from Bartlett School of Planning, University College London (UCL), United Kingdom and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asians Studies (ISEAS), Singapore. His research interests are in infrastructure and energy issues in urban and regional development, Literature on Indonesian publishing is dominated by publishing reports as found by the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikatan Penerbit Indonesia /IKAPI; IKAPI, 2015) or studies on the general distribution of publishing (Garcia, 2006). In terms of number of reading per week, Indonesia people also have a low number of reading hours with only 6 hours per week; this is lower with the global average at 6.5 hours. 2 Nevertheless, the report by the Ministry of Creative Economy in 2016, the publishing sector contributed 6.32% of the total creative economy sector to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). 3 As with at the national level, the publishing industry at the city level has been neglected, as reflected with limited studies and information on the industry. Thus, studies on the publishing ecosystem and community collaboration remain under-explored. In our case study, the city of Bandung, despite wide studies on Bandung creative city and industries, there is a lack of studies on particular creative industries, especially the publishing industry. For instance, the paper by Aritenang (2013) and F. Z. Fahmi et al. (2017) explores industry lineage and creative industry policies in Bandung. While previous papers argue the economic and spatial importance of informal creative industries on creative cities in Bandung (Aritenang et al., 2020;Bustamante Duarte et al., 2022;FZ Fahmi et al., 2021). The paper by Kustiwan et al. (2015), using acoustic, painting and craft industries, emphasises community creative capacities impact creative cities.
Thus, this paper aims to identify present challenges and networks among indie publishers in Bandung creative city. This study examines efforts by the indie publishers' in providing added value to the market segment and factors that support the industry development. Using the networkactor theory, the study explores the publishing ecosystem by examining stakeholders, their roles and activities in Bandung city. This study contributes to the literature of the publishing ecosystem by highlighting network importance on publishing performance and value-added that the books published by indie publishers on the society.
The structure of this article is as follows: the second section discusses the literature review and research framework. The third section discusses the data and methodology. The fourth section discusses the analysis and discussion and section five discusses the findings and conclusions.

Literature framework
The creative economy is defined as an economic development based on the skills, creativity, and talents to support individuals' creative skills that are economically valuable to focus on developing ideas in producing added value (Creative Economic Agency). In a broader context, the creative economy is a holistic concept relating to the complex interactions between culture, economics, and technology in facing the global challenges dominated by symbols, texts, inspiration, and imagination (UNDP-UNCTAD, 2008, p. 3). This definition highlights the necessity of collaboration between actors in cross sectors in the production of the creative economy, as Zimmerer (2002) argued that economic creativity is the result of collaboration.
Nevertheless, most reports on creative cities and creative industries are merely estimated or identify the presence of creative industries and workers across cities, without detailed information on interaction and collaboration between these creative workers. The paper by Comunian (2011) argues that creative economy policies based on "creative class theory" could not capture and impact the dynamics of the creative industries. Rather, community participation, programs, connections between cultural infrastructure, local community, and creative practitioners should be considered to understand creative industry role within cities.
The word "publishing" comes from the word "publish", which began in early 1570 that refers to "the issuing of a written or printed work". This notion of publishing started to develop in 1650 from ancient French as the word "publish" comes from the word "publisher", which means "the act of making publicly known". Meanwhile, the definition of "printing" comes from the word "preinte" from ancient French or the "premiere" from Latin, which means "top press" or to print. Thus, we can distinguish the processes in publishing focus on content and creativity. At the same time, printing activity is a production and replication of works containing the content from the publishing base . Therefore, publishing and printing have different main activities; however, both have the same goal to produce good information for the public.
The publishing process refers to activities that publish content to the public, explain phenomena, provide words and pictures created by creative souls, and edit by editors (Pambudi, 1981). As one of the creative industry sub-sector, the publishing and printing industry, small independent publisher or known as the indie publisher, books published by indie publishers have a wider choice of themes and genres than books published by large publishers (Altman & Pratt, 1988). Therefore, these indie publishers provide an opportunity for writers' works outside the interest of large publishers due to it being too specialised or requiring the large publishers to enter an uncertain investment by publishing the book (Moran, 1990). These manuscripts are often considered unsold products in the market if published. Therefore, indie publishers exist as an alternative to publishing works. Thus, the development of these indie publishers could be seen as a channel to enrich public knowledge.
In this study, we attempt to apply collaboration and interaction among the creative class in the publishing industry. Thus, we frame this research in the publishing ecosystem approach that examines information and imagination to produce creative content in writing, pictures and/or audio or a combination produced for public consumption. It is produced in printed, digital, or online media to get higher economic, social, artistic, and cultural values. The above process refers to the ecosystem seen as a system in which every element (the chain of creativity, markets, creative development environment, and archive) has an interdependent relationship and provides benefits (Ghazali et al., 2014). The case in the United Kingdom (UK) suggests that the publishing industry's social classes need a new culture of writing, especially channelling the voice of the underrepresentation of marginal groups (Shaw, 2020). This requires peer support and communitybuilding funding, broader creative industry standards, and closer collaboration with universities. Specifically, the ecosystem is crucial for describing fluid networks of roles, institutions and technologies in the publishing field (Driscoll et al., 2018). The ecosystem mapping identifies stakeholders in the publishing subsector, including main activities, supporting activities, roles and actors involved, and its output. This ecosystem mapping allowed one to explain interrelationships between each component in a cycle.
The ecosystem in the publishing industry includes four main components, namely as follows; (i) Creative Value Chain is a process of producing added value supported and driven by the core industry. Creative value chains explain the process of added value in the production process of creative work until it is consumed by the market. (ii) The creative product is then appreciated in the nurturance environment where the process of creating creative work can grow and develop as indicated with emergence of new creative actors and further encourage to produce new creative work. The environment refers to environment that drive and improve the quality of creative value creation process including education and appreciation. The education chain is a learning process that increases knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours that influence creative actors.
(iii) Market that include general consumers-those who can be categorized as consumers of schools, households, universities, professions, hobby groups, and government-and expert consumers-those who are categorized as experts, observers, and researchers, and (iv) Archiving that refers to system that is intended for periodical publication of printed or electronic media and the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) system that is intended for book identification. This system has been adopted internationally including Indonesia.
The publishing subsector refers to the activity of managing information and imagination to create creative content that has a certain uniqueness in the form of writings, pictures, and/or audios or the combination of them that is produced for public consumption through printed media, digital media, or online media to get higher economic, social, cultural, and artistic values (BEKRAF, 2019). The publication is very closely related to the production of books to convey knowledge in various aspects of life.
Publishing is the sub-sector of the creative economy that is very dynamic towards social, economic, and political conditions. After political reform in 1999, there has been a shift from restraint to freedom of literature. The domination of political books (IKAPI, 2015) has shifted to entertainment and fantasy books. Many new writers and independent publishers work with large and medium-sized publishers in the country and small (independent) publishers, commonly known as indie publishers (Garcia, 2006). Whilst large and medium-sized publishers are in Jakarta (327 publishers or 60%), the indie publisher has sprung up in several second-tier cities in Indonesia such as Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Malang, and Surabaya (474 publishers or around 73%; IKAPI, 2015). As a creative city, Bandung has creative groups that are rich in creativity and can encourage the development of a potential indie publishing sector.

Data and method
The data used in this study were the primary data and secondary data. Through the snowballing method, primary data collection was conducted by interviews with owners of three indie publishing actors in Bandung, Menara Api Publisher, Svatantra Publisher and Katarsis Publisher. Secondary data is from the "Indonesian Book Publishing Industry in Data and Facts" published by IKAPI and "Development Plan for the 2015-2019 National Publishing" published by the National Creative Economic Agency.
Qualitative methods capture important actions, such as asking questions and following procedures, collecting specific data from participants, analyzing data inductively, starting from specific themes to general themes, and interpreting the meaning of data (Creswell, 2014). The networkactor analysis theory identified activities that are relevant to the study in which many objects and actors were mentioned by informants during the interview process, following Latour (2005). In this research, we adopted informed consent by the interviewees for ethical procedures.
The actor-network theory examines social phenomena by looking at networks and associations. The nodes in the network can be human or non-human such as material artefacts, which both plays a role in maintaining the integrity of the network. The actor-network theory analyzes relations between objects studied, actors to other actors who are human or non-human as recorded in interview transcripts, conversations where informants connect to objects, and other human actors capture the actors' relationship.
Analysis with Actor-Network Theory on interview transcripts is described in three stages. First, identifying aspects of the activity relevant to the research question through the number of objects and actors mentioned by the informant in the interview transcript. Second, identify each actor mentioned by the informant in the interview transcript. Third, determine how each relevant object and actor is connected to the informant. Each relationship between actors is visualized using a sociotechnogram diagram.
Each relation to the stakeholder was described in a sociotechnogram diagram. Through this diagram, the study identifies significant relationships and relationships that the informant seeks to change, either establishing or breaking the relationship with the informant. For each informant, there are two phases seen in the sociotechnogram; before and after the actor's relevant relationship is changed or modified. This step is crucial in explaining the relationship between book authors and indie publishers and how the published books have weakened or strengthened this relationship.
This study examines the production, marketing, and institutional roles in supporting the publishing industry in Bandung city. The study asks about book themes, networks with potential authors, and books production in production. In marketing, the survey explores the process of branding, determining the target markets, market positioning and promotion activities, such as expo, exhibitions, performances, use of new media channels. The survey also explores the government's role in production and marketing activities above.

Research analysis and discussion
The development of the added value by the actors of indie publishing is derived from how their books affect readers.

The exploration of added value from indie book publishing in bandung
This section will discuss three indie publishers in Bandung, namely Svatantra Publisher, Katarsis Publishers, and Menara Api Publisher. This section explores the excellence and the added value of indie publishing in Bandung. This exploration is conducted by interpreting interviews to show the excellence and the added value.
This Svatantra publisher originally established to publish the writings of the owner in the form of a book. The book published by Svatantra has special themes and genres that are idealistic and difficult to publish by large publishers, such as public criticisms of the government.
Because of this uniqueness and idealism, the books published in these publishers are not commonly found in large bookstores. The Svatantra books are marketed through alternative bookstores such as Tobucil and Kineruku. At the same time, books published by Svatantra are also marketed through book festival events. After the presence of book festivals, events, or exhibitions, books published by Svatantra began to be recognized and sought by readers.
Well, during the last media festival in Kalimantan, people were looking for it. Maybe it is because they once got my book at a media festival, then they told their friends. Therefore, when the media festival was held in their city, they will look for my books at that time.

Svatantra publisher
The story about the Svatantra publisher can be illustrated using a sociotechnogram as below ( Figure 1). The figure shows the changes that occur in Svatantra publishing activities. Previously, the Svatantra publisher used printing services in Bandung. However, after learning that the printing services in Bandung are more expensive than in Yogyakarta, Svatantra finally chose to use printing services in the latter city. Furthermore, participating in book festivals has brought changes as The books published by the Svatantra publisher have a specific purpose. One of their books is entitled "Thirst in the Water Field" (Ind. Kehausan di Ladang Air). It tells the story of the disappearance of many water discharges in Bandung, which the people have not known of Bandung themselves. In this book, Zaky and Rere hope that the people of Bandung can gain new knowledge about real conditions that are often uncovered.
Meanwhile, the book titled "Theft of Bandung Water" (Ind. Pencurian Air Bandung) is one of the reasons why the Svatantra publisher was established. The publication of this book promotes people's awareness of acts of water theft in Bandung. Through this book, Zaky hopes to prevent by starting to realize the ways of water theft in Bandung. The following figure will illustrate the added value provided by the book entitled "Theft of Bandung Water" (Figure 2). The left figure shows the association built when the book "Theft of Bandung Water" was published. The author collected evidence from criminal offenders who have certain access to water sources in Bandung. Through the book "Theft of Bandung Water", the author attempted to show the readers how criminal offenders have access to and utilize water sources more freely than residents of Bandung themselves.
The right figure is the condition desired by the author with the book "Theft of Bandung Water". Through the knowledge possessed by the reader, the author hopes to be able to break the relationship between the criminal and water sources in Bandung. Thus, raising readers' awareness to start watching the water sources that are considered vital for the people of Bandung. However, they can also identify the patterns carried out in water theft. Therefore, if something resembles a certain pattern of water theft, it can be immediately dealt with and acted on properly.

Katarsis publisher
One of the books published by the Katarsis publisher is written based on Andre's personal experience while visiting the villages in Bandung. The history and uniqueness of the village shows Bandung's true identity. The author attempts to convey to readers so that the knowledge of this village can be developed by the people of Bandung for future improvement of the villages in Bandung.
For example, it is like what I write. I'm happy for traveling. I often visit the historical sites of Bandung, and then I write it on the Blog. It turned out that I wrote a lot too. Therefore, I tried to layout it by myself, and then I print it and make it a book. That book has already been printed three times. The title of the book is 'Explore the Villages' (Ind. Jelajah Kampung). Yeah, it is 'Explore the Villages'. The books published by Katarsis are marketed through alternative bookstores, similar to books published by Svatantra publisher. The books published by Katarsis are mostly printed in Yogyakarta at lower prices compared to printing services in Bandung. Andre had previously printed a book in Bandung, but he was disappointed with the price and printouts of his book. Therefore, Andre decided not to use book printing services in Bandung anymore. These Katarsis books are also marketed through one of the book exhibition events held by IKAPI at Landmark Braga.
Through book exhibition events, indie books can be marketed to readers interested in alternative themes. Previously, Katarsis tried to use printing services in Bandung; however, because the printing price was high, the Katarsis moved to use printing services in Yogyakarta. After participating in the book exhibition event at Landmark Braga, which IKAPI held, books published by indie publishers began to be glimpsed by readers. They found their market share (see, Figure 3).
The book published by the Katarsis publisher has a unique characteristic, which is features a lot about Bandung history. For example, the book "Explore the Villages" is intended to give readers an idea about the authenticity condition of existing traditions or the dwellers in several Bandung villages.
The following figure will illustrate the added value provided by the book entitled "Explore the Villages" (Figure 4). The left figure shows the association established when the book "Explore the Villages" was published. The author tries to collect stories from the villages he visited with photographs of various objects in the village. Through the book, the author describes the communities in the village and the existing buildings in detail.
The right figure is the condition desired by the author by publishing the book "Explore the Villages", which introduces the conditions of villages in Bandung with their cultural authenticity.  The Katarsis publisher distributes this book through the Oleh-Oleh Boekoe Bandoeng community, with tourists as a target audience. The more tourists or people from outside Bandung read this book; the more people will come and want to care for the villages described in the book.

Menara api publisher
Menara Api Publisher was established to share historical knowledge. Characteristics of the book published by Menara Api Publisher is its themes about history in general and telling a lot about the history of Bandung in specific. For the printing process, Deni prefers to print his published books on printing services in Bandung so that the printing and production process will be easier to monitor as it is in the same city.
One of the books that have been published by Menara Api publisher is "The Book Tree in Bandung" (Ind. Pohon Buku di Bandung). This book tells the small history of the book community in Bandung between 2000 and 2009. Through this book, Deni wants to invite his readers to look back on the history of the world of books in Bandung in hopes of developing the book publishing industry in Bandung.
This book is marketed at Deni's alternative bookstore named Lawang Buku Bookstore. This bookstore also sells books from other publishers that are mostly dominated by the books with the theme of Bandung history because Deni does have a special interest in history-themed books. The mission to be achieved by Deni is similar to Andre, which is to convey knowledge related to the history of Bandung, so that it can continue to be transferred from generation to generation through indie books that are written, published, and sold.
Menara Api Publisher was established to share historical knowledge. Characteristics of the book published by Menara Api Publisher is its themes about history in general and telling a lot about the history of Bandung in specific. For the printing process, Deni prefers to print his books on printing services in Bandung to make the printing and production process easier to monitor as it is in the same city.
One of the books that have been published by Menara Api publisher is "The Book Tree in Bandung" (Ind. Pohon Buku di Bandung). This book tells the small history of the book community in Bandung between 2000 and 2009. Through this book, Deni wants to invite his readers to look back on the history of the world of books in Bandung to develop the book publishing industry in Bandung.
This book is marketed at Deni's alternative bookstore named Lawang Buku Bookstore. This bookstore also sells books from other publishers mostly dominated by the books with the theme of Bandung history because Deni has a special interest in history-themed books. The mission to be achieved by Deni is similar to Andre, which conveys knowledge related to the history of Bandung. As such, it can continue to be transferred from generation to generation through indie books that are written, published, and sold.
Well, my interest is more on the historical side of the city. Well, then, it is packaged into a creative industry, leading to the economy, so that it must be packaged attractively and thematically. If you cannot produce it yourself, then just collect all books with the theme of Bandung regardless of which their publishers are. The important thing is to take books with the theme of Bandung. Other publishers can also gain benefits from this way.
This effort was also elevated with the establishment of the Oleh-Oleh Boekoe Bandoeng community, which Deni established to distribute books with the theme of Bandung history. Through this Oleh-Oleh Boekoe Bandoeng community, Deni wants it to be a means of distribution for other publishers who publish books with the theme of Bandung history. The illustration from the Menara Api publisher above can be illustrated using a sociotechnogram as follows ( Figure 5).
Based on this graph, we can see a change that occurred before the presence of the Oleh-Oleh Boekoe Bandoeng community and after the presence of the Oleh-Oleh Boekoe Bandoeng community. Deni established this community has indirectly affected the expansion of the reader market from books published by indie publishers, especially those with the theme of Bandung history. Books published by Menara Api publisher found their reader market through this community. In this community, the relationship between Deni and the readers are close because of the interaction through activities in the Oleh-Oleh Boekoe Bandoeng community.
The books published by Menara Api publisher is also claimed to have a specific purpose. For example, the book entitled "The Book Tree in Bandung" is why Menara Api publisher was established. The book is intended to provide readers with knowledge about book movements in Bandung during [2000][2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009]. At that time, the book movement in Bandung was stimulated by the establishment of alternative literacy-based community bookshops that were interesting to study and disseminate. The following figure will illustrate the added value provided by the book entitled "The Book Tree in Bandung" (Figure 6).
The left figure shows the association established when the book "The Book Tree in Bandung" was published. The author tries to collect data and information related to book movements in Bandung, which are mostly related to bookstores, literacy communities, and book activists in Bandung. The author then writes the information neatly and attractively in the book that is then distributed to the reader. The right figure is the condition desired by the author by publishing "The Book Tree in Bandung". Through the knowledge possessed by the reader after reading the book, the author hopes to be able to connect the reader with the bookkeeping movement in Bandung. The author would like to invite the reader to see the bookstores in Bandung, the existing literacy community, and further into the book activist group in Bandung.  Based on this explanation, the added value given by "The Book Tree in Bandung" is the knowledge developed in the community about bookkeeping movements in Bandung. Suppose the message in the book can be conveyed well to the readers and readers realize the importance of the existence of the world of books in Bandung. In that case, they will visit the bookstores in Bandung and find the Bandung literacy community.

Challenges in the development of the indie publishing industry in bandung
In this section, we will discuss the challenges faced by the indie book publishing industry in Bandung and the potentials of this publishing industry.

The limited production resources
As indie publishers have not adopted a business development scheme causes a suboptimal book production process. For instance, publishing activities carried out by the Svatantra Publisher are conducted independently, from the preparation of the manuscript to book distribution. Therefore, productivity is quite slow because everything is executed alone. Perhaps only one book can be published within a year due to the energy and time required to produce one book is enormous.
Indeed, publishing books drains a lot of energy. We have to think about content. After the content is ready, we think about post-production like cover design, layout, and editing. The printing process is also quite expensive. After that, we have to think about distribution and promotion. All of the processes are carried out by only two of us. (Zaky, Svatantra Publisher, 2019) The interview excerpt shows that the lack of human resources is a major problem in Svatantra and Katarsis publishers. The absence of capable human resources to handle the printing process makes the publishing process slow as operational staff must learn all aspects of the publication.
Because the indie publisher works individually so that they have to get the manuscript by themselves. Everything is still limited. We are still in the survival stage. It means we have not got any profit yet. However, if we got a new script, we would sell it. (Katarsis Publisher) Another problem is financial resources, as were found in Katarsis and Menara Api publishers. Because of the relatively small capital, these publishers have difficulty producing books, so books that can be printed and marketed to the public are very limited. Furthermore, the publishers also hope for financial assistance so that the indie book publishing industry can produce and market more books to the public.
There should be economically tolerant on one side. With low capital, what should we do? Is there any help? For example, the installment payment is low or the production costs are cheaper (Katarsis Publisher)

Lack of supporting resources in the book distribution process
Supporting resources such as marketing and distribution are also limited, considering that indie publishers independently carry out the entire publishing process.
Almost all indie publishers do not have the right marketing force which means having a market scale, age segmentation map, or economic scale segmentation. We do not have all of that. (Zaky, Svatantra Publisher, 2019) Supports from outside parties are also needed to encourage the progress of the indie book publishing business in Bandung. This indie publishing cannot run by itself without support from other parties to help industrial activities, such as sponsors to support the need for funding the production of books and helping to distribute books to the market.
Here, I want the Book Cooperative is established. The usefulness of this Book Cooperative (for the real one) is to finance production and consumption processes. If the production is represented by publishers and printing companies, then the consumption is represented by readers, libraries, or book community.

Inadequate book production facilities
Issues related to printing facilities also become important factors for publishers as they affect the quality and market price of the book. The book production price in Bandung is higher than printing outside Bandung, such as in Yogyakarta. This is because printed books in Bandung are not worth selling because of poor print quality in terms of glue, type of paper and ink used, and the binding technique. Hence, the quality of book printing quality is considered not worth selling due to low physical quality yet high printing price. Thus, this became a dilemma for publishers because they had to print their books outside of Bandung to get more affordable book printing prices, considering the limited budget of the indie publishers.
On the other hand, the quality of printed books from Yogyakarta is much better. The quality of the paper, ink and glue used is good, and the print quality is also neat. Most importantly, the price of book printing services in Yogyakarta is still lower. Thus, the indie publisher could lower the book's market price.

Internal issues in indie publishers in Bandung
As the interaction between indie publishers in Bandung is still limited, it caused the slow process of book production, limiting the circulation of ideas between them. Thus, the network should be encouraged to amplify the formulation of books with new themes or topics published by indie publishers in Bandung. The absence of adequate discussion space as a place to interact between publishers is an important issue revealed by the Katarsis Publisher.
People in Bandung like to work alone. They will only gather in events. It is like right now. I want to meet with Den. I asked him 'What time are you at home? I want to go to your home'. Then he replied 'I am not at home'. It is always like that. I want to meet him but I can't. It is so difficult. There is no special strategic place in Bandung. I think I do not need to tell you what kind of place. The thing is the place for sharing. Another internal obstacle is the self-limiting attitude from indie publishing actors to broader their book themes. The lack of the exploration of book themes is critical to provide books currently demanded by the reader market and have not been provided by large publishers. Besides, these indie publishers are also limiting themselves to other publishers. They are highly selective in selecting the manuscript to be published and thus, have a narrow market segment.
Publishers are interested in a joint activity by indie publishers and writers in Bandung because it can be an effort in finding solutions related to ideas in writing, printing, distributing, and promoting books. Through the discussion spaces, the writers and publishers will receive criticism and suggestions from readers that would be valuable to improve the book in the future. Furthermore, these indie publishers also hope to elevate their competitiveness with publishers outside Bandung by being more productive in the publishing process and more time-efficient to reach the market.

External support for indie publishers in Bandung
Books published by indie publishers in Bandung have loyal readers that consistently support the activities of indie book production. Some indie book readers do not just buy and read books, but some also write book reviews.
. . . and our friends also support us. They review the books as well. Therefore, many of them make reviews on their respective blogs. Some of them also send their reviews to the mass media. Therefore, my first indie work appeared on Rolling Stone, on MHM . . . Then, I really got book orders from Ambon, Makassar, East Nusa Tenggara, and Kalimantan which is a coal production area in which the shipping costs are more expensive than the price of the book. (Zaky, Svatantra Publisher, 2019) The quote above shows that there is a sufficient ability from Svatantra publishers to link their published books to those who need or are relevant to the book theme. Furthermore, the excerpt specifically shows a fairly extensive network built by Svatantra publishers in their marketing efforts. The presence of the "review provider" referred to by the informant is a part of the Svatantra publishing network, which provides its support in the dissemination of knowledge embedded in the published books.
The second excerpt gives an overview of the breadth of networks owned by the Svatantra publisher. Despite limited marketing by the indie publisher, orders from across the island indicate that the marketing activities have succeeded in reaching relevant target markets. Furthermore, the relationship between the writer and the community of the village can be used as an alternative to new ideas to produce other books with broader themes so that they are not fixed on the historical theme only.
For another example, as the founder of the Menara Api publisher, Deni established a community, Oleh-oleh Boekoe Bandoeng, which is closely related to historical community groups, especially the history of Bandung. The extensive network built by Menara Api can develop the creative industry business of indie book publishing. Together with historical community groups in Bandung, the Menara Api publisher has great potential to further explore the needs for knowledge books, especially about history that has been neglected by large publishers in general. Now, this Oleh-oleh Boekoe Bandoeng is actually a community effort. It is an effort initiated by me and my friends from the historical community and old book collectors).

Discussion and conclusions
In this paper, we have discussed indie publishers' significant but unnoticed role in expanding and preserving local knowledge through their small network of creative writers. The indie publishers acknowledged that these narrow networks had hindered them to established their existence in the book market. Furthermore, less attractive alternative readings to what is offered in the conventional market and indie publisher limited budget have undermined the value-added of indie books.
However, this was slowly addressed with the actor-network movement that has become a crucial factor in the attempt for indie publishers to enter and gain the book market in Bandung. This marketing strategy targets people that have the potential to get the most out of their published books. The movement also witnesses raising support from the indie publisher communities and enthusiast readers that explore new genres to attract a new reader market. This collaboration potentially improves the quality of books published by indie publishers and disseminate knowledge. Our finding suggests indie publishers' willingness to participate and talk about their books' promotion, marketing, and distribution. This confirms the study by Domitrovich (1988) that argues, despite being editorially driven, indie publishers are practical to learn the business of publishing to ensure their existence to publish the books they love.
Finally, independent stores are also required to create a brand for the indie label. For instance, the paper by Trachtenberg (2005) highlights a store's uniqueness that not only sells books but also toys and beauty products related to people's activity while reading a book. In comparison, Hoynes (2001) shows that store brand could be developed through enhancing customers' "experience" through the availability of rare books, local identity stores or personal engagement with the store's owner and other consumers. Furthermore, the paper highlights that as independent bookstore consumers are more educated and sophisticated, the independent bookstore should provide an online store for their convenience.
This study contributes to the literature by highlighting that book published by indie publishers, once supported by wide actors and market networks, would add value to the public when their books convey knowledge to the right reader market. Knowledge and information are abundant in the book that has yet to be read and explored by the readers. The interaction between the reader and the objects within the book is also essential. It influences the development of the object notion. After reading the book, it may benefit the reader and the public to reach a distinct value. On the other hand, indie publishers also may benefit from the increasing suburban migration and merchants that empowers "buy local" movement (Baidis et al., 2019).
The study also proposes several recommendations for indie publishers. First, it is essential to expand cooperation with paper supplier companies and active promotion to engage more readers. The case in the USA suggests other book management issues such as risk of unsold inventory and book return (Done et al., 2022). Second, as each city are unique, indie publishers could collaborate with local authors by exploring new themes in particular cities. Finally, small and indie publishers should seize technology progress and digitalization of the production process to bring changes to the publishing ecosystem (Done et al., 2022;Magadán-Díaz & Rivas-García, 2018;Matulionyte et al., 2017). This new business model may include geographic-based marketing strategies, book digitalisation, cross-publisher services, print-on-demand amenities, the adoption of subscription services, pay-per-view, and pay-what-you-want. The study by Noer et al. (2022) suggests online bookshop captures new readers, especially the younger generation.

Funding
The writing up of this research was partly funded by the Ministry of Research and Technology research funding in 2020.