Foreign publishers should bring in more money and not just content to the Indian soil

Indian publishing industry is a high potential industry which is growing at a rate of fifteen to twenty percent per annum. “When we talk about the international publishing industry, we refer mostly to the US and UK publishing industry, which is now growing at a minimal rate and has already reached a saturation point. Little wonder then that these publishers are eyeing the Indian market. They are liasoning with Indian players and trying to set up a network for themselves through such link ups,” told Dr Ashok Gupta, managing director, Pustak Mahal and Unicorn Books Pvt Ltd, New Delhi.

So, what are the challenges these foreign publishers are posing to the Indian counterparts? “First, the foreign publishers have deep pockets as some of the major ones have billion dollar turnover in foreign countries while the Indian publishers are mostly family-owned enterprises, serving the industry for over fifty years. Second, the foreign publishers have readymade content, some of the big players even having more than 7500 titles with them. On the other hand, most of the Indian publishers have 500-1500 titles only. Thus, they automatically pose a big competition to their counterparts. Third, since they get the titles printed here in India, they are able to sell these at competitive rates,” told Dr Ashok.

He says that though the Indian publishers are not against the entry of foreign publishers in India, but they do feel that there should be some restriction on the number of titles printed in India by foreign publishers. “Other books can be imported but the production in India, poses a big competition for Indian players. Besides, they do not invest money in India, the publishing industry at large is not benefiting from their entry,” he added.
So, what other reforms does Dr Ashok would like to see in the Indian publishing industry? “The reading habits are going down and I feel that it should be encouraged by government or bodies like NBT. On a personal level, even we can encourage it by gifting books to children rather than gifting them toys or clothes on their birthdays, etc. Besides, there can be sale of gift coupons which can be redeemed at bookstores,” came a prompt alternative from Dr Ashok.

He also feels that there is no definite database of books published in India. “There are only hypothetical data with the federation as well as the government. This certainly needs to be improved,” he added. Besides, he also feels that the mailing cost of books should be reduced to make it more economical for people to order books.

As far as piracy is concerned, Dr Ashok feels it is not a big issue. “Piracy occurs only when the demand for a particular book is high and its cost is prohibitively high. To counter piracy, publishers should price their book reasonably. Even our bestseller Rapidex has been pirated many a times. To counter it, we had to reduce its price, ofcourse within the profitable limits,” he told as a matter of fact.

Talking about the quality of authors available in India, Dr Ashok said that there are good quality authors in India while the editing standards were poor at the publishing end. “Last ten years has seen a drastic improvement in the level of editing and hence the quality of books have gone up. Earlier, fiction Indian authors got their works published outside due to better marketing opportunities. But now, even English-language publishers in India are experimenting with budding fiction authors. We, at Pustak Mahal, have also started ‘Cedar Press’ for publishing fiction and have come out with 15 titles so far,” he added.

Established in 1974, Pustak Mahal has over 1,500 titles, with at least 500 titles on the active list. Rapidex remains one of the most successful brands ever created in Indian publishing history with over 25 million copies under the Rapidex imprint. Coming to the issue of ebooks, Dr Ashok told that they have started digitizing their books and have done hundred titles so far but they have still not launched them as they wish to develop a specialized portal for the same and he feels that in the next 10-15 years, ebooks will have their own share but yes, the traditional books will still rule the roost. He feels that ebooks have an advantage of its own as they can be available anywhere in the world 24×7. “Also, high reference books with low demand and high cost will definitely go the e-way,” he added.

Revealing more about their future plans, Dr Ashok told that they are also entering into illustrated colour children’s books and may go for competitive books segment as well in future. With their plans well charted out, Pustak Mahal is gradually moving towards new publishing areas to create newer milestones.

- Varsha Verma