Malaysian market a key focus at Singaporean publishing event

Readng material: Locally-written English-language fiction doesn’t fare as well as imported books. If homegrown publishers and writers are to survive, we need to build a healthy Malaysian and regional market. — File photos

A publishing symposium in Singapore examined the opportunities and challenges of the Malaysian book industry.

Ask most people involved in the Malaysian book publishing industry – the English-language one, at least – and you are likely to get frustrated sighs in return. It is a widely-acknowledged fact that winning over readers, particularly to locally-published books, is a difficult, if not downright thankless, job.