The Publisher’s Post: Vol I Ed. XXXV

Dated: 4th May 2008

The Publisher’s Post is a weekly newsletter that contains information relating to the book publishing and book selling industry in India.

News This Week

Bringing back to life

CinnamonTeal Print & Publishing Services is launching an initiative to bring back into print forgotten masterpieces of Indian literature. Interested individuals and publishers are invited to contact them for details. Books in all Indian languages can be considered after ensuring that all copyright issues are addressed properly.

The idea is to ensure that no classics go out of print. The books will be printed and published using the print-on-demand technology in order to allow for print runs of between one and 20 books at a time, thus avoiding the financial risks associated with traditional publishing’s requirement for large-volume print runs. The titles will printed with automatically generated cover designs and will be available mostly through online channels unless bookstores express a preference for stocking them.

As a proof of concept, two English classics have been made available for production. At the mercy of Tiberius and Beulah, both by Augusta Evans Wilson, can now be ordered by contacting CinnamonTeal.

Revenues generated from this venture will be shared equally between the concerned individual, or publishing house, and CinnamonTeal after the costs of production are covered.

Having the last word
Source: The Hindu

An acquisition every two months - this is the pace at which Indian e-publishing companies have been growing their operations in the last two-three years, going by the Black Book Survey 2007, which lists the top print and publishing BPO suppliers in the world. Of the 20 companies listed, 18 have large operations in India and have actively pursued inorganic growth.

An industry that dates back to the early 1970s, when Macmillan Publishers first outsourced some typesetting work to India, is now seeing consolidation with home-grown companies taking the lead.

eWorld explores the reasons behind this, the landscape post-consolidation, and the future of e-publishing.

Earlier, the Indian vendor landscape was fragmented, with many small players offering data conversion services and a few larger players providing end-to-end services, including project management, editorial services, design and composition services. Their clientele consisted of 10-15 large global publishing houses.

But with the publishers themselves undergoing consolidation and looking for “one vendor” to outsource all their work to, vendor consolidation was spurred and since 1995, 40-50 companies globally have merged to form three-four large conglomerates today, say industry watchers.

Publishing relationships are long-term (10-15 years) and it is rare to find publishers doing business with a new vendor. A new vendor may work for a large client only through a subcontracting agreement with one of the trusted vendors.

In the last decade, due to cost pressures, many US-based vendors have subcontracted to Indian vendors. Over time, these relationships have culminated in mergers and acquisitions. This has given Indian vendors a direct presence in the client markets with an experienced marketing and distribution team (belonging to the acquired company).

Book time ahead
Source: Hindustan Times

There has never been a better time for the publishing industry in India. Salaries are being revised. International publishers are setting up bases. Publishers are reporting growth.

The promise of Indian retail, discerning readers, more avenues to buy books and organised marketing are driving the noticeable growth in the business of books.

Set to become home to largest number of English speakers in the world by 2010, India has become attractive for its human resource to both foreign and Indian publishers.

But there is one hiccup. Not many choose to be part of this industry, say editors. “The absence of more professional courses in publishing has also contributed to the problem. Whether the trade continues to expand or doesn’t, will depend on personnel who join sales and distribution. Hopefully, we’ll have more people who like reading,” says Shruti Debi, Editor, Picador

Landmark goes to Tata Trent
Source: The Times of India

After establishing the first book-store in Chennai in 1987, Landmark Book Store promoter Hemu Ramiah has exited the business lock-stock and barrel by selling her residual stake in the company to Tata promoted retailing chain - Trent.

Landmark’s website claims that it is India’s first large format book store with 10 stores ranging from 12,000 square feet to 45,000 square feet. It has three in Chennai, one each in Bangalore, Mumbai, Vadodara, Gurgaon, Pune and Lucknow. Besides books, Landmark stocks stationery, greeting cards, music albums and gifts.

New Book Releases & Events

Author Ashvin Desai beats cancer with book on mysteries of life
Source: webindia123.com

Seventy-five-year old Ashvin Desai, father of Booker prize winning author Kiran Desai, released here Sunday his debut book Between Eternities: Ideas On Life and Cosmos, a slim non-fiction volume on the cosmic riddles that have been puzzling humans for centuries.

The author, who was diagnosed with cancer barely three months ago, says the book is a way of overcoming the pain of his disease. It has been cooking in his mind for the last 15 years.

“A bubbling stream once reached the desert, and found that it could not cross it. The water was disappearing into the fine sand. The stream said, my destiny is to cross the desert, but I see no way. The voice of the desert says the wind crosses the desert and so can you.

“Allow yourself to be absorbed in the wind, said the sands of the desert. The stream protested that it would lose its individuality. You cannot remain in any case the same stream that you are today. So the stream crossed the desert by raising itself into the arms of the wind,” writes Desai in his new book.

Just out of therapy after spending a month in the intensive care unit of a hospital, Desai has given himself up to the natural flow of life to be borne aloft like the desert stream. “I am on chemo but I feel fit as a fiddle, probably up to a drink. But my doctors would not let me,” the mischievous writer with a ready wit and “typical corporate manners” told IANS.

For avid readers
Source: The Hindu

Here is an opportunity for those seeking to make a foray into the world of Malayalam short stories and fantasies, DC books have come up with an exclusive imprint for children titled ‘Mambazham’ in connection with the World Book Day last week.

The multi-coloured books with an emphasis on pictures and illustrations include four titles-’Oru Punnara Pakshi Katha’ by Prof S. Sivadas, ‘Akkudumuyal Appam Chuttu’ by Subhash Chandran, ‘Enthupatti Ente Neela Puvinu’ by Priya A.S. and ‘Ammayum Njanum’ by Abida Yusuf.

The books are primarily aimed at children in the age group of 3 to 14 years, said R. Ramdas, senior assistant editor, DC Books. The books have been published keeping in mind the scarcity of children’s literature in Malayalam, he said.

The idea is to take children beyond Panchathanthra and Aesop’s Fables. ‘Mambazham’ will give priority to stories written by upcoming writers. In addition to story books, the imprint, in future will also focus on poetry, science, environment and social studies, he said.

Blogs and Articles

Opportunities in Book Publishing and Web Communities
Source: Tools of Change for Publishing

The concept of community doesn’t come easily to traditional publishers (including book publishers) because top-down content has been the heart of virtually all pre-Web publishing. But once you get past the paradigm shift — and the fear — of community-centric efforts, the opportunities reveal themselves. For example, sites like Goodreads, LibraryThing and Shelfari are using the love people have for books to develop community-driven businesses.

The whole article can be read here

From Greatness to Glitz
Source: The Telegraph, Calcutta

There is no such thing as a free launch. Yet why do writers and publishers invest in them?

The Telegraph asked a publisher-editor, a writer and an editor what they felt about book launches. Are book launches a necessary evil in India? How are these events connected with the projected sales? Do they vary according to the language of the book? Do most authors find the questions from the audience tedious? Could they recall a particularly interesting launch, or one that flopped? What, for each, would be an ideal launch? Here are their responses.

Rukun Advani, Editor and Publisher, Permanent Black

Intelligently handled, launch parties are no bad thing. Some authors are scintillating speakers. The launch can provide them a great podium and generate decent publicity as well as sales, with helpful spin-off dissemination via gossip. It seems a pity that an indiscriminate deployment of the launch party has given a potentially good thing a bad name. Economists use the phrase, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”, to argue the axiom that, whatever you do, there are always hidden costs. Within Indian book marketing this could be amended to “there ain’t no such thing as a free launch”.

Ruchir Joshi, Writer

I know it’s banal to say this, but some book launches are terrible, dire, and others are great. It all depends on a) the book, b) the author and her or his friends and connections c) the publisher and d) the location. Many launches are boring, a ‘haazri-bharoing’, a kind of dull queue for free booze and snacks, a chore. Others are electrifying because the book is good, the author reads beautifully, or there is some small or big whiff of literary or other scandal, whatever.

Diya Kar Hazra, Managing Editor and Rights Manager, Penguin Books India

It is a rare author who doesn’t want a book launch. What every writer wants is his or her book to be read. And for the book to be read, it has to be seen—seen in bookstores, on the pages of newspapers and magazines, even on television. When a book is launched, the event is usually covered by the media, making it more visible. Even regional language writers, when their books are translated, want a launch to ‘celebrate’ the release of their books (especially since books in Bengali, Hindi or Malayalam are rarely accompanied by book events).

The entire article can be viewed here.

Turning over an old leaf
Source: The Guardian, UK

Only 24 books are produced for every tree felled. But book-swapping websites could provide a solution for the eco-aware reader. Charlotte Northedge reports

Beyond using the country’s dwindling network of libraries, until recently the opportunities for exchanging paperbacks have been limited to friends, community schemes and book groups. But in the past two years, a spate of online book-swapping sites have emerged. Inspired by the goodwill schemes operated by hostels around the world, whereby travellers can leave behind books they have read and pick up something new, these sites generate little profit for their founders. The books are swapped directly between users, who pay the postage; the sites simply facilitate the meeting and identifying of potential exchanges.

Translation in India
Source: The Literary Saloon

The Literary Review section of The Hindu has two articles devoted to translation in India this week:
In A fruitful dialogue Ziya Us Salam finds that “finally, because of translations, India and Bharat are beginning to talk to and enrich each other”. And it sounds pretty good:

There are 50 Indian languages in which regular publishing is taking place. And newspapers come out in 101 languages! Indeed, writing in Indian languages is on the ascendant, with a boom in Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Urdu and even Sanskrit writing. Besides the original works, there is money to be made — and new readers to be found — through translations. And book publishers, market savvy as ever, are entering unexplored territories. Of course, due to globalisation, most are foreign players.

Meanwhile, Mini Krishnan finds that “translation offers a multiplicity of complex worlds, all waiting to be interpreted, understood and absorbed” in New worlds.

Other Announcements

Organizations and Publishing Houses willing to advertise for various positions related to publishing are invited to do so in this section.
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This newsletter is developed by Queenie Fernandes and Leonard Fernandes with inputs from various individuals, publishing houses, websites and blogs.

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