Crowdsourcing: A Platform for Crowd Engagement in the Publishing Industry

Publishers will usually make decisions based on their experience and knowledge in book publishing. However, there are risks of losses as markets can be unpredictable. Now, with the availability of various online social platforms, “crowdsourcing” is being used by publishers and authors to gather new ideas and innovations. This article will analyze how the crowdsourcing platform is used by industry players to attract active participation from the public, especially in the title development process. Publishers or authors also need to understand which platform is appropriate and how to use the platforms as a marketing communication tool. The netnography approach will be used to gather and analyze the data related to the specific subject area of the study, including literature review and online observation. Based on our observations, platforms such Wattpad and Ilham Karangkraf are popular among Malaysian authors and publishers, and had been used to get crowd engagement as well as to communicate with readers. With it, sometimes a work that has many readers or followers will be published.