Biography Of Raditya Dika

Dika Angkasaputra Moerwani, well-known by the name Raditya Dika is a young man from Jakarta. He was born on December 28^th, 1984 in Jakarta. Radit (familiar) is a writer, actor, comedians, models, and also a very successful director in Indonesia.

The first work that made him famous was the book titled “ Kambing Jantan: Sebuah Catatan Harian Pelajar Bodoh in 2005.” The book talked about his life when he was studying at the University of Adelaide, Australia.

Raditya told his stories as Indonesian students studying abroad. This book was displayed in a diary format. The whole story in his work came from his personal blog.

A year later, in 2006, he published his second book entitled “Cinta Brontosaurus.” This second book was almost the same as the previous book, the stories in the book raditya were mostly from his personal story.

In addition to writing style, the unique title of the book also made its own characteristics for Raditya Dika. Some of the other unique titles were; Cinta Dalam Kardus, Manusia Setengah Salmon, dan Marmut Merah Jambu.

Radith started the desire to record his diary in the blog when he won the Indonesian Blog Award. Radith also won in the award titled The Online Inspiring Award 2009 from Indosat. From that experiences, he printed (print out) of his writings in his blog and then he offered the printed manuscript to several publishers to be printed as a book. At first, many refused, but then when he came to Gagasmedia, a book publisher, the manuscript was accepted, although they had a presentation in advance.

Radit successfully becomes a writer because he stepped out of the mainstream. He appeared with a fresh new genre. What makes it is different from other writers is the idea of the name of the books is the name of animals that always he uses in his books. From the first book until recently, all the titles contain the name of the animal. For Radith, this is his selling point.

For Radith, as the writer, we have to have innovation. In fact, in the first few months, his first book was not too sold out. According Radith, this is the risk of entry in the new genre. Radith promoted the book by the blog that he managed later aggressively. He was also vigorous doing by word of mouth. Radith asked readers to take pictures with his first book, then sent to Radith. By this, it can be a marketing strategy that can manage the reader as the target market. According Radith, in writing, after the book was published, it doesn’t indicate that complete affairs. Later, marketing submitted to the publisher.

Instead, the writer should also be a marketer for his own book because the author is actually also an artist. A creative writer will make his book as a product which for him must be sold out in the market. Although in essence the book is not commercial item, but regard the book as a product that contains knowledge that is marketed. That is a thing that needs to be done at this time.

Being a successful writer does not mean there are no barriers. According Radith, the barrier is not only from the book industry, but also from things that are diagonal. That is, opponents of the book industry may not be another book industry, but the others industries that are not related at all, such as entertainment, food, and others. For example, if there is young person has 50.000 rupiahs, yet he would spend it for buying books. It could be used for watching movies in movie theater or buying fast food. And clearly, the book is not the primary choice.

For Radith, this is already common. All we need now are we must do creative something and act creatively . For him, the competition that exists is the key to have innovation.  The pressure of competitors may be the motivation to continue to provide new ideas and explore new capabilities.

Now, Radith is still continuing his study at the extension program of Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Indonesia. Radith is also a host in Provocative Proactive program, Metro TV. In addition, he is a director and a chief editor in a book publishing, Bukune.