With so much growing emphasis on the global landscape of publishing, it's important to hone in on key high-potential territories. Indonesia, which comprises 300 ethnic groups spread across over 13,500 islands, is mind-bogglingly disparate and might seem mysterious to many outsiders, but it's increasingly becoming a fertile ground for bookselling.

Let's explore why:

--Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, with 250 million people--and 35% of the world’s Muslim population.

--It's also one of the most plugged-in nations in the world. Fun facts: Jakarta is the world’s most active city on Twitter, and 80% of Indonesians are under 30 years old. Throw the country's increasing democratic freedoms and a fast-growing educated middle class into the mix, and you've got a recipe for book-buyers.

--Generally speaking, the Asian eBook market is forecasted to reach $2.2 billion by the end of 2016.

--And according to Publishing Perspectives, "the Indonesian book market is valued at approximately $693 million with 1,400 publishers, the largest of which are Gramedia, Mizan, Agromedia, Erlangga, Penebar. Of the 32,000 titles published in Indonesia in 2014, 50% were translations mainly from English, Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. In 2014, copyright export sales were approximately $153,000 and book sales were $775,000, predominantly to Malaysia, Vietnam, Turkey, Korea, Italy, Germany, Australia and the U.S."

--Indonesia has a high level of smartphone penetration. Ah, mobile: one of the publishing industry's biggest trends. According to the Wall Street Journal, "It’s not the e-reader that will be driving future book sales, but the phone . . . In a Nielsen survey of 2,000 people this past December, about 54% of e-book buyers said they used smartphones to read their books at least some of the time. That’s up from 24% in 2012, according to a separate study commissioned by Nielsen."

--The industry is paying attention. This year, Indonesia is taking its first turn on the global publishing stage as it serves as Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

This is why we're particularly pleased that Vearsa distribution partner Bookmate has just announced its expansion to Indonesia, bringing its library of 250,000 English language titles to this growing market.

Andrew Baev, Managing Director of Bookmate, commented: “The global book publishing industry is worth $120 Billion, about 8x the size of the music industry, and we are seeing an accelerating transition to digital and mobile. Our strategy is to focus on high growth, under-served markets where readers are jumping the gap directly from paper to mobile reading. Indonesia is right in our sweet spot for offering our mix of fun, social and on-the-go reading.”

“We are excited to announce our partnerships with Indosat which will bring mobile reading to a large number of mobile users via a hard-bundled offering. Smartphone penetration and mobile services growth are booming in Indonesia and we see this as a huge opportunity to build the market leader in mobile reading together with Indosat, Indonesia’s most progressive mobile operator.”

Interested in expanding your global eBook sales?