GenX in Publishing!

Innovative ideas, new perspectives, fresh energy… Gen-X publishing professionals are dynamic and eager to take their companies to newer heights. Varsha Verma of All About Book Publishing met such young professionals in the book publishing industry. Excerpts.

Nrip Jain

BPB Publications

BPB is the Asia's largest publishers of computer, electronic books and CD Roms/ DVDs. For the last 50 years, BPB has been a friend, philosopher and guide for programmers, developers, hardware technicians, IT professionals, etc who have made things happen in the IT World. The publishing house was started by GC Jain, who has been honoured with the Padmashree award in 2002 by Hon'ble President of India for his contribution in spreading IT Education in India. Today, the publishing house benefits from fresh ideas by third generation entrepreneur – Nrip Jain, who joined the family business in 2011, after completing his B.Sc. in Business Studies from UK and working with a corporate for two years in UK.

Journey so far…

“When I joined the family business, I realised that we need to be street-smart. I was lucky that I had an experienced set-up with good family values in place. The mix of academics and experience was great,” he shares.

“Since the marketing has changed over the years tremendously, I wanted to change ahead of time, so I use all channels like online, interactive and social media to reach a wider audience. It is important to engage with customers and social networking sites like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and LinkedIn go a long way in keeping them engaged,” he adds. Nrip is open to improve on his systems and working style with time. His all-time role model remains Steve Jobs, who believed “Do what you love and the money will follow.”

Offering international books at low prices

Nrip sees a huge potential in the computer publishing segment as the world is going digital. “For the last two years, BPB has reprinted low priced Indian editions under arrangement with leading publishers like McGraw Hill, Sybex, Pearson Group, Wordware, Mike Murach & Associates, Waterside, Barons, Paul Harris (Austraila) etc. which are immensely popular in India amongst the computer book enthusiasts. One important aspect of the Indian reprints are the prices; our prices are very reasonable considering the high quality of production,” he shares.

Customised books

An important title in their treasure trove is Tally India, which they publish on an exclusive basis. “It is a low cost book which is used in all major universities which have a course on finance & Accounting,” he adds. “What’s more? We offer Tally book in 10 regional languages like Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Hindi, English, etc.”

BPB also publishes customised books catering to the individual market needs. “We customise the books for the school, college and professional markets. With our emphasis on high quality of authorship, authenticated content, editorial and production values, our educational and professional divisions have been fulfilling the requirements of a vast number of readers,” adds Nrip.

Expanding horizons…

“This year, we will be launching 100-150 new titles,” he shares. “Besides, under the National Skill Development Corporation, we will be offering 75-100 titles under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).”

Nrip is also trying to expand into other territories and he wishes to offer his books for schools as well. They are also focussing on real estate and finance. “I tried to monetise the assets we have. We had a showroom in Connaught Place in New Delhi, which we closed down due to emergence of online e-commerce portals like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. We are also focussing on online sales,” he adds.

“Besides, we try our best to offer every product strong and better than the last. We would continue to focus on computer and IT books as we believe that there’s still a lot that can be done in this field,” he adds. Nrip is also open for inorganic growth by acquiring publishers in computers and IT books. 

Sahil Gupta

V&S Publishers/Publishing Consultant

Sahil Gupta is a Publishing Consultant, who joined the family business – V&S Publishers in 2009. Today, the publishing house has 600 titles, four imprints and 400 ebooks. He has been instrumental is making V&S a process-oriented company, which separates them from other players in the field. “We have recently developed a good optimised economical warehouse for ourselves, which can be replicated by other publishers as well,” he shares.

“Since publishing is a noble business, as a company policy, we also publish one not-for-profit title every year as a part of our CSR activity. Under this project, we published a book on Autism which is very useful for people living with autistic people,” shares Sahil.

Journey so far…

A BTech in Electronics & Communications Engineering followed by an MBA with specialisation in Marketing & HR marked his change of direction into digital rights management and establishment of consultancy (www.publishingconsultant.in) business. Having sufficient experience in the academic and professional publishing sectors, he works regularly with authors and agents.

Sahil advises publishers on all aspects of digital publishing through his consultancy business. He is an experienced negotiator, with expertise in digital contracts for both selling and acquiring ebooks and other digital products. His expertise includes copyright law and publishing rights, including complete understanding of digital technologies. “I feel that publishing as an industry did not get due recognition. I started my consultancy business to connect with publishers who have been in the market for quite some time but are hesitant about exploring new ideas. There’s so much we can do with the content and optimising our resources is the way forward in this creative industry. So, I try to guide publishers on sustaining with optimisation of resources,” he adds.

“Infact, we give a third person perspective to the publisher; find the loopholes in their system and give them solutions for the same. There is information sharing, rather than finding their trade secrets,” he says.

Challenges faced by publishers…

“The biggest challenge is not having skilled personnel and skilled people are very expensive. Besides, most of the publishing houses do not have processes in place. Their filing systems are shoddy, there are no proper contracts with authors, ecommerce portals, booksellers, etc,” says Sahil. Another challenge he shares is that since 2011, people are moving towards digital and publishers do not know what is the right way forward.

“Besides, distribution network is another area which publishers need to look into. There will be a great demand for books as commodity in tier 2 & 3 cities. So, publishers need to focus on these cities, where distribution systems are still not developed to the optimal level and ecommerce is still in its infancy,” adds Sahil. “There is immense scope for books in regional languages, tribal languages and dialects. I feel regional markets will be flooded with books in their own language.”

The way forward…

“Sale of books is not increasing because publishers are not able to visualise and cash on the fact that content is consumed in chunks. So, there is a need to repurpose the content because it is not about what you publish but it is about how you publish it. Publishers with technology will be at the helm – it is time to use multiple platforms, audio books, QR codes, ebooks, Augmented Reality, videos, etc. Publishers need to embed multiple formats,” he says. Another important point that Sahil mentions is that company ethics will play a bigger role too.

On a concluding note…

“Publishers are here to stay. Books will be the preferred medium for quality content as it is increasingly becoming difficult to find original and authentic content on the internet. I feel consolidation is the way forward and our industry might see more mergers, collaborations and joint ventures in the industry. There will be lot of cross-industrialisation and technology companies will have a greater role to play,” concludes Sahil. 

“IPA is a trade organisation with a human rights mandate”

SAYS DR MICHIEL KOLMAN, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION, WHO WAS RECENTLY IN DELHI IN CONVERSATION WITH VARSHA VERMA OF ALL ABOUT BOOK PUBLISHING. HE ALSO BRIEFED ABOUT SOME OF HIS RESPONSIBILITIES AS THE NEWLY ELECTED IPA PRESIDENT AND THE OBJECTIVES THAT IPA HAS BEEN CURRENTLY WORKING ON. EXCERPTS.

The International Publishers Association (IPA) is the world's largest federation of national, regional and specialist publishers' associations. Its membership comprises 70 organisations from 60 countries in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and the Americas. Through its members, IPA represents thousands of individual publishers around the world who service markets containing more than 5.6 billion people. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, IPA represents the interests of the publishing industry in international fora and wherever publishers' interests are at stake.

Dr Michiel Kolman, president, International Publishers Association, briefs us about the key pillars of IPA and the trends within the publishing industry. Excerpts.

Two key pillars of IPA…

“One of the two key pillars of IPA remains protection of copyright, which we feel is very crucial as without protection of copyright, publishers cannot make deep investments. As an organisation, we fight for copyrights. At the international level, we work with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).We also work regionally and are involved with legal interventions like that in Singapore and here in Delhi (Delhi University photocopy case). We organised a lot of activities around these cases,” said Dr Kolman. “Authors and publishers should be rewarded for their work and they should not be undermined by piracy.”

Another key pillar for IPA remains Freedom to publish. “We are trade organisation with the human rights mandate. Freedom to publish is a fundamental subset of freedom of expression, and is a prerequisite for a thriving publishing industry, which is itself an essential part of a democratic society and a basis for a knowledge economy. The protection and promotion of freedom to publish is therefore one of IPA's key objectives,” told Dr Kolman. “Publishers take a lot of personal, physical and financial risk by publishing controversial works. Thus, we try to protect and promote freedom to publish. In my two years of presidency at IPA, I wish that our efforts towards Freedom to publish are either stable or even stronger than before.”

The IPA Prix Voltaire…

Interestingly, in 2005, the IPA created the Freedom to Publish Prize to honour a person or organization adjudged to have made a significant contribution to the defence and promotion of freedom to publish in the world. In 2016, the prize was renamed the IPA Prix Voltaire, in tribute to the French philosopher and writer François-Marie Arouet (penname Voltaire), who propounded a doctrine of tolerance and free expression before the terms were in general use. Moreover, between 1755 and 1759 Voltaire lived in Geneva, Switzerland, where the IPA is based, before moving to the nearby French border town of Ferney, which was renamed Ferney-Voltaire in his honour after the French Revolution,” added Dr Kolman.

The 2017 presentation of the IPA Prix Voltaire will return to the Göteborg Book Fair, Sweden, 11 years after the first ‘IPA Freedom Prize’ was awarded to Iranian publisher Shalah Lahiji, in September 2006.

Trends in publishing industry…

“It is the beginning of the digital revolution, which surely hasn’t finished yet. Some companies are very advanced like the STM publishers who have gone 80-90% digital. But it is not so in other genres. But, digital publishing offers incredible level of opportunity as new formats are evolving and gives intimacy with the end-user, the reader, which was never before. For example, since STM is digital, there is a wealth of analytics which help us develop further products, which we could never think before, he shared. “We also feel that children book publishing will change completely as children are more comfortable reading on hand held devices like tablets, iPads, mobile phones, etc.”

Another important fact that Dr Kolman mentioned was that in the era where there is so much development of fake news, publishers have a strong role to play in publishing reliable and quality information.

Trends in Indian publishing industry…

“In many countries like India, I see that there is a lot of importance on education. The society is changing dramatically and internet has interconnected people and things. There is a development of quantum computing which will allow incredible amount of data being processed faster. India, being a young nation, is embracing change of future and this is a good sign for the industry as education publishers help in this transformation by offering quality content for the society,” said Dr Kolman.

“Associations play an important role and publishing associations in India are very successful and contribute a lot to bring a change in the society,” he added.

On 2018 IPA Congress…

The 2018 IPA Congress will be held in the plush Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi from February 11-13, 2018, with around 900 delegates in attendance. This is the second time the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) has assumed responsibility for the now biennial congress, having first staged it in 1992. “FIP is fully committed to bring an extremely ambitious and successful programme and we are expecting a very strong attendance from abroad and India,” said Dr Kolman.

The theme of the congress is ‘Shaping the Future Innovation Meets Experience,’ where experts will present, question, debate, analyze—and finally emerge with a new set of perspectives, ideas and takeaways. “The topics will include Copyright, Freedom to Publish, Children Publishing, Educational Publishing, Digital and Print, Library Movement, Self Publishing, STM Publishing, Asia as a Market and India as a Market, etc,” he added. The speakers will include not only from publishers community but also technology companies.

“It will be a perfect place to showcase what India can do in publishing, boost a lot of publishing and give a quantum leap of knowledge to young publishers. International players can learn a lot from innovations happening in India and vice versa,” concluded Dr Kolman.

“Education is embedded in our value system"

“Education is embedded in our value system"

says Sivaramakrishnan V (Siva), managing director of Oxford University Press (OUP) in conversation with Varsha Verma. 

“A developed education society is one where the role of teacher and teaching profession is aspirational. In India, education is embedded in our value system. Every parent, across any strata, aspires for his or her child to be educated. Also, education is relatively affordable in India and the whole process of reverse innovation is happening in India, making online content more accessible through technology,” says Sivaramakrishnan V (Siva), managing director of Oxford University Press (OUP) - India Branch, with regional responsibilities including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. 

The expertise & experience… 

Siva has extensive experience in the Education Services, e-commerce, automobile and FMCG domains. In his previous assignment, Siva was executive president – Education Services at Manipal Global Education Services (MaGE), one the country’s largest privately owned higher education and training services providers. He also spent nearly ten years with the Ford Motor Company–including time based in the UK and US–and held various consumer branding roles within Proctor and Gamble. So, how has been the transition from FMCG to cars to education industry? “Throughout my career, what’s been consistent is that all the brands had strong focus on discovering or uncovering consumer needs, fulfilling them and then taking that fulfilment to the market. Secondly, all of them had increasing levels of technology play on the path of the consumer. Third, along the way, as you grow, domain knowledge becomes 10% of what you are and people, behaviour and experience become 90%. So, it is impervious to the sector,” replies Siva. “For the last 10 years, I have been in the education sector – almost all of them focusing on content and its delivery.” 

Education industry makeover… 

Since Siva has been into the education industry for a decade now, what are the major changes he has witnessed? “Technology is the biggest influence in the education industry. There are two areas in technology which have transformed education – first is the digitisation process, curation and consumption, which has had a positive impact on all these areas, cutting down lead time, costs, etc. The second part of technology is device, which has transformed from a large vertical one to small flat devices. Vertical devices failed in education because it was not a sticky device. While, the flat device is like a book and it offers all three features - information, entertainment and education. A lot of features in the devices today are driven by education. The cost of devices too has come down drastically, making it more affordable,” says Siva as a matter of fact. 

Another important change that Siva enumerates is content, which has changed dramatically. “Every piece of content was like a dictionary. Now, we have chunks of content vs. big content, which has aided technology. Hence, there is more reusability and curation of content. Then, there is lot of interactive content. Every publisher today has ebooks to supplement print books. Besides, content is no longer only in the purview of subject matter expert but instructional design and technology have become the key part of content formulation,” shares Siva. 

“The third thing that has changed dramatically is the consumer of the content. I believe that children born after 2000, by the time they reach the age of higher education, would consume educational content very differently,” he adds. 

Siva also feels that schools have been more progressive towards change than higher education segment. “The pedagogy and content of schools has improved a lot,” he says. “This has much to do with the boards like ICSE, CBSE and state boards. The project work, assignments and assessments have changed dramatically and a lot of them are driven by technology and data,” tells Siva. 

“Besides, e commerce is emerging as a very significant distribution channel, more so in higher education segment and less in school segment at the moment,” adds Siva. 

Embracing the digital revolution… 

“Digital is an opportunity for publishing, not a challenge. The publishing sector has completely embraced digital, in some ways more than others. Digital forms of content and representation, ebooks, subscription to clouds/libraries, ejournals – publishers have embraced it all – it has driven down cost and increased repetitive access,” tells Siva. 

“For publishers like OUP, institution, teachers and students – all are important. Print is at the core, especially in K-12 segment,” shares Siva. “Infact, print has gained volume in the toughest market – US, which is a clear indication that there is no debate on print vs. digital. Print is here to stay. Besides, there is a lot of research going on about the seriousness of reading vs. lightness of reading. It is seen that it is ok to skim through digital content but for a more serious reading, print is important.” 

On teaching English to young adults… 

Siva states that OUP has leveraged its traditional strength in English Language Teaching (ELT) by developing a strong Adult ELT programme in India targeted at students enrolled in Higher Education and those seeking employment. “As one example, OUP has made it possible for vernacular learners to learn English through their mother tongue, by developing bilingual learning materials – dictionaries and grammar books,” he says. 

He further adds, “OUP’s bilingual dictionaries cover 9 Indian languages (3 more will be added within the next 2 years). The bilingual Grammar series, English Grammar Just For You, is available in 10 Indian languages.” 

On OUP… 

“Our biggest part of offering in India is K-12; we are market leaders in this fractured market. Last year has been a very strong year for us. We do not focus on revenue growth. We measure our growth in units and I am pleased to share that we are growing very strong in units as revenue by itself is a reflection of multiple things. For OUP globally, India is one of the five biggest markets in the world. There is still appetite for more in India,” shares Siva. “Infact, Oxford University Press has decided to partner with Cognizant Technology Solutions as it moves towards becoming a more technology and digital driven business.” 

Taking about the key focus areas at OUP, he shares, “OUP is focusing more on teachers and teaching resources. Teacher resource is another main area which publishers are focusing on. Every single book from Oxford University Press goes with teacher resources. Then, we have Oxford Educate, which offers premium features of Learning Management System, Assessments and advanced e-Readers for schools who want to adopt a complete digital learning solution.” 

OUP has taken a step further and providing teachers training workshops. “Last year, we conducted over 1500 training workshops and trained approximately 1,00,000 teachers by engaging certified teacher trainers,” tells Siva. 

“Besides, we are trying to capture the data and reporting to further improve our content. We are also seriously looking at the role of technology and devices in the back-end, across our supply chain, deliveries, etc. We are also trying to focus on improving our publishing process like creative, design, content, copyrights, etc,” adds Siva. 

OUP is also focusing on higher education segment, which is the fastest growing segment as it is an adoption driven business. “We even offer tailor-made content for various institutes,” adds Siva. “Besides, OUP is also coming up with some good books in the academic segment.” 

On distribution channels… 

“On the business process side, adoption by an institution is fundamental to the way we operate. Our sales team is in touch with them directly. In the higher education space, the consumer can reach us directly or through booksellers. K-12 is a prescribed market while higher ed is a suggested market. So our distribution system is geared to fulfil the adoption cycle as applicable. Last year, we shipped approximately 22.3 million units, of which 90% were indigenously produced,” tells Siva. 

Advice to educators for selecting the right books… 

“Education is not different than any other sector and teachers should have a choice of products and education services. The brand and quality is very important. It has to be consistent over time. The quality should be good and there should be no room for errors. At OUP, quality is hygiene,” tells Siva. 

“Then the entire pedagogy is important. The teacher has to teach young impressionable minds. We do a huge amount of robust content creating too as per our publishing process, which involves extensive involvement of teachers. Sometimes, parents also suggest schools to use books from a particular publisher as they know which books are good too,” shares Siva. 

Talking about the discounts in the segment, Siva feels that it is a big challenge, besides piracy. “It is detrimental to the way you do business. But, our ethics remain the same worldwide, we do not believe in any kind of facilitation payments and we give the same discounts to all the booksellers,” he adds. 

On measuring learning outcomes… 

“A critical measure in OUP's Mission Success Factors is the impact on classroom learning outcomes because of our learning materials. The Oxford Impact Framework (OIF), as we call it, helps us measure the impact of our products in overall learning outcomes. We partner with third party experts who conduct these researches on our behalf, ensuring that the process is unbiased” says Siva. 

He adds, “At some point in the future, we would like to put out these reports in the public domain to share more broadly the insights that one can get about education delivery and classroom learning.” 

On a concluding note… 

“Structurally, we need to do a lot to enhance access and equity in the education sector. We need to have a flexible choice based curriculum. Besides, India also needs a lot of skilled manpower. Hence, there is a need for more vocational training colleges. Having said that, there has been a lot of improvement in the education segment and publishers like OUP are trying their best to meet the changing needs,” concludes Siva. 

“We have world-class Indian content packaged in international quality”

“We have world-class Indian content packaged in international quality”

says Vineet Sharma of Parragon Publishing India, in conversation with Varsha Verma. 

Publishing industry in India has come a long way. The content and production quality has improved tremendously, new genres are adding every now and then. The industry seems to be in a happy space. So, what have been the changes in the industry and what are the trends within, shares Vineet Sharma of Parragon Publishing India. 

Quality content… 

“There is a lot more content available now – both global as well as indigenously produced. The quality of Indian content is world-class. In mythology alone, a lot of publishers are doing a real good job. Infact, we have Indian content packaged in international quality formats. The designs and aesthetics have transformed significantly,” shares Vineet. \ 

On production quality… 

“In non-fiction illustrated publishing, the notable characteristic is the production parameter and this has come a really long way. The production quality has improved a lot and there are so many product innovations. Infact, the printers are doing a wonderful job. It has a huge impact on the consumer buying decision,” tells Vineet.\ 

On children’s publishing… 

Since Parragon is a leading children books publisher, what factors does Vineet keep in mind? “Since these books are for curious minds, they have to be more visual and very lexigraphic. For me, visual expression is more important, and so is the format of story-telling. There should be some learning in each book. For example, Parragon offers encyclopedias for children aged 8-12 years, which is more visual and had information snippets to highlight the message or important topics,” he replies. \ 

On language publishing… 

Publishing in various regional languages is a growing area and lot of publishers are now seeing its potential. “Parragon publishes in 12 languages, bringing global content to Indian consumers. We even publish coffee table books in regional languages, which have been well received. We also offer well-researched Indian mythology books, rewritten in regional languages. We have around 60-70 titles in regional languages and are planning to add 17-20 titles this year,” tells Vineet. 

On print vs digital… 

“Digital is not a challenge for publishers like us as we are more into touch-and-feel books, which are possible only on non-digital platforms. Infact, sales of our physical books is going up. We have books on newer subjects and sale of our hardbound books is growing,” he shares. 

Also, Parragon is well-known for licensed books. “Such books can never be replaced with digital platforms as they are already an extension to it. Even parents like their children to read print books,” he adds. 

Online retail sales… 

“Sale of books through online portals is increasing but we need to feature our books like a fashion product so that consumers can get an insight into the book they are going to buy. This is definitely a growing area and we need to cash on it,” he said. 

Challenges… 

Vineet feels that one area where our industry is lagging behind is the pricing, which is not keeping up with the inflation. “We need to realize that industry is based on interdependence, in sync with each other. For the industry to flourish, we need to set the economic fundamentals right and in sync with economic realities. So, publishers should not offer books at extremely low prices. There should be a healthy competition.” 

Another important challenge Vineet shares is the dearth of skilled manpower. “We need more HR development programmes as talent pool is limited,” he says. 

What next? 

Parragon Publishing is trying to diversify into different subject areas. “We are headway into business books. We also offer books from anthology to astronomy. We wish to keep market ignited and offer good quality, well-researched books at affordable prices,” concludes Vineet. 

NBT, India: promoting books and authors!

The National Book Trust, India is striving to encourage reading habits and book culture in India. They are also helping young debutant authors to get published. Here, Baldeo Bhai Sharma, chairman, National Book Trust, India, shares more about the various activities undertaken by NBT, India, in conversation with Varsha Verma.

The National Book Trust (NBT), India, an apex body established by the Government of India (Department of Higher Education, Ministry Of Human Resource Development), aims to produce and encourage the production of good literature in English, Hindi and other Indian languages and to make such literature available at moderate prices to the public and to bring out book catalogues, arrange book fairs/exhibitions and seminars and take all necessary steps to make the people book minded.

Encouraging women writers …

“In order to encourage women authors from various regional languages in India, NBT, India, has come up with a programme where women authors below the age of 40 years and who are looking to publish their first book, can submit their manuscripts to NBT, India. These manuscripts will then be analysed on the basis of literary quality and then will be published in various genres like fiction, short stories, travelogue, diary etc. We recently held a literary meeting where litterateurs like Sur Bala, Chandrakanta, Dr Vishesh Gupta, Dr Srinavas Rao, Balram, Vivek Mishra, etc participated and it was decided that we will focus on this project,” told Baldeo Bhai Sharma, chairman, NBT, India. “In order to achieve this, we will also organize workshops in various parts of the country for women authors.”

Celebrating women…

On the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8th March 2016, the National Book Trust, India brought out a series of books on great Indian women who actively participated in the freedom struggle and worked for the upliftment of the society. “‘Women Pioneers’ is a new initiative of NBT India, that aims to bring to light as well as project the work and contribution of eminent Indian women in different walks of life like art, culture, literature, science, socio-religious reforms, freedom movement, etc,” told Sharma. Each title of this sub-series under the National Biography series of the Trust, is written for the general reader with the view to develop new perspectives on the contemporary discourses pertaining to Indian culture, civilization and endeavours for nation-building. Four titles in English and four in Hindi have come out under this series and many more are to follow in major Indian languages. “The books include: Rani Chennamma by Sadashiva Shivadeva Wodeyar; Kanaklata Barua by Shiela Bora; Sister Nivedita by Basudha Chakravarty; Rani Rudrama by Devi Alekhya Punjala,” he shared. “Four books from our backlist were also published in a new clavier.”

Nav Lekhan Mela…

“We are also focusing to rope in more young regional authors under our Nav Lekhan Mala series. Last year, we published 16 books of which 9 were in Hindi and 7 in regional languages,” told Sharma. Under this programme, debutant authors under the age of 40 years can submit their manuscripts for publication.

Promoting reading habit…

“It is a continuous effort at NBT, India, to promote reading habit amongst not just children, but adults as well. Our mobile bookshops go to faraway places and their response is so encouraging that it makes us believe that it is a myth that reading habit is decreasing. People want to read but they are not able to read as either the books are not available to them or they are expensive. NBT, India, offers good books at affordable prices. In a village in Orissa, people bought books worth Rs 4 lakh, which is a good amount. We even went to adivasi areas and there also, we found people wanted to read,” he said.

“Besides, NBT, India, also organised book fairs in various parts of the country. Last year alone, we organised around 10 book fairs, including one in a tribal area in Udaipur. We got an encouraging response and were pleased to see that there were so many women readers,” he added.

NBT, India also organises workshops in schools and they provide grant to NGOs to encourage reading habits as well. “Last year, a grant of Rs 1 crore was given to the NGOs as we believe that there is a big contingent of non-students also (adults), who need to read more,” he said.

Promoting regional languages…

Not just reading, NBT, India, is also striving to encourage regional languages which have very few books. More recently, we organized a workshop for children books in Karkbarak language in Tirupara. In this workshop, both authors and illustrators worked together and some of these manuscripts will soon be published by us,” told Sharma.

“As many as 21 books will be published in three languages in Bihar – Maghai, Maithili and Bhojpuri – these books will be released at the occasion of Teacher’s Day (September 5) in Patna,” he added.

On a concluding note…

“NBT, India, is working towards making India a knowledge country. We are working in the public interest and constantly strive to publish good literature at affordable rates and try to reach each and every corner of the country. We also work towards promoting Indian books to other countries through international book fairs. We want the face of the Indian publishing to shine everywhere,” concludes Sharma optimistically.

Liensed publishing: the road ahead

Imagine a four-year-old child browsing through children's books in a bookstore. What probably catches his/her attention is a book with his/her favourite character like Barbie, Mickey Mouse, Ben 10, Superman, Dory, etc. That’s the power of the licensed product! Publishers have seen a huge opportunity in this segment and have been really innovative and creative to bring books and other related products featuring these characters. So, how big is this segment and what are the trends within, finds out Varsha Verma.

What is licensing? Licensing is a way to allow others to use an owner’s (licensor) property in their products, while the licensor keeps control of the copyright. A licence is a legal agreement, which allows the licensor of the property to grant the right to use the property on specific products, usually in a defined territory over a defined period of time.

“In licensed publishing, publishers take rights of characters like Disney, Marvel, etc. We have licenses for characters like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Frozen, Sofia, Cars, Princess, Spiderman, Avengers, Batman, Scooby-Doo, Barbie, Tom & Jerry, Ben 10, Superman, Baby Looney Tunes, Looney Tunes, Hot Wheels, Max Steel and Smurfs. We have been into licensed publishing for the last 10 years, but all these licenses are not for books, but they are used for toys,” explained SK Ghai of Sterling Publishers. “It is a craze for children and publishers offer these products to cater to them.”

Market statistics…

Though it is very difficult to estimate the size and expanse of the market for licensed books in India, due to lack of statistical data, we thought it best to talk to the publishers of licensed books and here’s what they say. “The print market for licensed products would be in the vicinity of Rs 100-200 crore, which is growing at a rate of 15-20%, depending on the character and the licensed product,” shared Sanjiv Beckaya, CEO, Parragon Publishing, which is one of the leading licensed publishers in the world, representing brands such as Disney, Mattel, Nickelodeon, etc. In India, they started with Disney 10 years back, followed by Barbie and Nickelodeon. More recently, they have come up with Dory books.

While, Neeraj Jain, managing director, Scholastic India, said, “While I can’t comment on the size or rate of its growth, the licensed publishing market in India has been growing steadily. Movies have and continue to be largely based on books. The trend in the past 5-7 years has seen many books being made based on movies. So in that sense there’s an abundance of licensed products.” Scholastic offers a huge range of licensed product. “We have a global partnership with LEGO for books. We also hold the license for Star Wars and Marvel, which are both Disney properties. These are arguably the biggest brands out there when we look from a pop-culture and media consumption perspective,” added Shantanu Duttagupta, marketing head, Scholastic India.

“For Dorling Kindersley Global, the licensing brands and products are massive. The DK Licensing list is made up of an extensive range of internationally recognized and best-selling titles for children and adults, based on films, comics, toys, TV and other popular culture tie-ins. We pride ourselves on creating books that offer comprehensive information presented in highly visual, beautifully designed formats, and we work with leading licensors such as Lucasfilm, LEGO, Marvel Comics, Disney and Warner Bros,” said Aparna Sharma, managing director, Dorling Kindersley India. More recently, DK's Autumn 2015 Star Wars publications Star Wars The Force Awakens books and Star Wars Absolutely Everything You Need to Know have been shortlisted in the Best Licensed Written, Listening or Learning Range category of the Licensing Awards 2016. While, LEGO Awesome Ideas has been selected for the 2016 ILA (International Literacy Association)-CBC (Children's. Book Council) Children's Choices Reading List. They have also come up with some beautiful Finding Dory books.

“Though the licensed products are very popular in US, UK and Europe, it is a definite growth area in India. For DK, traditionally, it was not a big focus area for us, as we were more focused on family learning and references, but we see a real shift now. Even with licensed products, we have come up with books with family learning and values, coupled with the entertainment factor. Since we started participating in Comicon, our books have become quite popular with the masses,” she added.

On Indian licenses…

Though most of the publishers are offering foreign licensed products, they are now looking at Indian licenses as well. DK India has tied-up with Green Gold Animation, an animated content provider and creators of the popular cartoon character Chhota Bheem, to launch a bouquet of print and digital products for children in India. "DK is recognized all over the world for its high quality learning books for children, and we are thrilled to be collaborating with Green Gold Animation to introduce a range of fun yet educational books in DK's iconic style, specially for the Indian child," added Aparna. “We would like to explore more and might pick up a few more properties.”

While, Sterling Publishers offers Pepper, their indigenously designed character. “This is very popular and we have given rights to countries like France, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Papua Guinea, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore,” said Ghai.

Before roping in a particular character… 

Licenced titles from Scholastic India

“The obvious factors while selecting a property are TRPs, product portfolio across categories, and merchandise, if any. These factors help in mapping the strength of the character. Of course, probably the most important thing to keep in mind is the life of the brand/property. Whether it would be sustainable in the long-term is major aspect of creating a publishing program around the said property/character,” said Shantanu.

Similar views were shared by Sanjiv, who added, “Some of the licenses we have, have been there for a very long time, like Disney, Mattel (Barbie, etc). When we select a new license, we see if there are any movies, if it is on the TV channel then on which channel and the consumer products available. That’s the way we would like to work for new license.”

While, Aparna added, “We look at something that has not just a mass appeal but also right value. For example, when we picked up Chhota Bheem, we looked at his personality which has an element of naughtiness and rebellion but has a good character. The character is very influencing for that age group. So, in our series on Chhota Bheem, there is learning and value, besides entertainment of course. These books encourage reading and enhance general knowledge. This was quite different from what we were offering, but this was something which has helped us penetrate further in the Indian market, way beyond the niche market DK currently enjoys. Our workbooks in this series are very popular. They are international quality workbooks at competitive prices. We are going in for a reprint for the first set in Maths and English. We also brought out a journal, which is at a higher price point and is taking little longer to establish itself. Looking ahead, we are planning four story books for Chhota Bheem by the end of this year. And by next year, we plan to come up with a Character Encyclopaedia as well. We have rights to sell these products in the Indian sub-continent initially but we might look at other regions also. We are also in talks to create digital workbooks as well.”

For Ghai, sale is the hardcore criteria for selecting a particular character as royalty depends on that. “Characters like Disney sell more as the reach is more,” he added.

Books and beyond… 

Licenced titles from Sterling Publishers

When it comes to licensed products, publishers do not just offer story books, they go for more. Parragon offers book plus items like stickers, add-ons to the main products, activity books, etc. “Infact, 60% of our licensed products is colour sticker activity books,” shared Sanjiv. “The idea is to add an impulse factor for the parent and the child, so that it is visually appealing for them to pick it up. For Disney alone, we come up with 200 new products in a year. At any point of time, we have an active list of 500-600 titles for Disney alone.”

DK offers encyclopaedias, story books, series of readers, activity books, sticker books, etc. The prices range from Rs 500 to Rs 899. “Since parents are the buyers of these books for children, they wish to have some value to the book. So, we offer different products to cater to them,” added Aparna.

Sterling Publishers offers white board books, wipe and clean books, colouring books, activity books, story books, fun packs, workbooks, My Carry Along Books, sticker books, copy colouring books, paint books, activity books, story books, jigsaw puzzle books, board games etc. “We have 100+ titles in books and 50-60 in toys in this category,” added Ghai.

On bestsellers…

“In India, Marvel is most popular, with Batman and Avengers also topping the list,” said Aparna. “We do Character Encyclopaedias with LEGO, which are again very popular.” While, Sanjiv said, “Some of our bestsellers include Book of Secrets, Stories & Treasures, Magical Story, and library copies of Dory.”

Children and young adults: both love licensed products

So, do licensed products work only with children or with young adults as well? “It most definitely does. I mean, look at some of the major properties out there: DC, Marvel, Disney, Barbie, LEGO, Star Wars. They’re all strong brands that target the children and YA segment,” told Neeraj.

Similar views were shared by Aparna, who said that series like Star Wars is a big hit with young adults. In fact, DK has some amazing licensed books for adults as well, which include the world famous James Bond books.

On print runs…

“Parragon International does 200,000-300,000 copies for each titles, for all offices across. We are sensitive to editorial and production. We choose UK English language for India,” said Sanjiv.

While, Ghai shared that they print approximately 3000-4000 copies initially, which might go higher for certain titles. “For some classic games, the print runs are upto 20,000 copies. The price of our books range from Rs 35 to Rs 1999,” he added.

Distribution channels…

Talking about the distribution set-up, Sanjiv shared that they have multiple distribution channels like trade channel, modern retail, distributors and co-editions with key distributors where they sell bulk quantities. “We are very active on social media and do cross-promotion and other activities. Our books are also available on online platforms like Amazon and Flipkart,” said Pooja Kapoor, assistant manager marketing, Parragon Publishing India.

While, Aparna shares that they use the Penguin Random House distribution network for their products, which in itself is quite huge.

“We have our own sales team and we also sell through online and retail channels. We have our own manufacturing unit as well,” said Tarun Monga, head-sales & marketing, Sterling Publishers.

Business quantum…

On asking about the percentage of the total business of licensed books vs. other products of the publication house, Sanjiv replied that it would be to the tune of 35-40% and they are offering these books for the Indian sub-continent and few licenses in Middle East and North Africa.

Sterling Publishers offers their licensed products in not just India, but certain licensed products are sold in Sri Lanka, Middle East and Africa. “We also do worldwide exports for such products,” added Ghai. “Our licensed products would account for 50% of our total business,” he said.

While, Aparna shared, “In 2015, Licensing accounted for 22% of DK’s global frontlist.”

Print or digital: the verdict is clear

“In our experience of selling licensed products over the past 15 years, we’ve seen that print tends to rule the roost when it comes to TV and movie characters,” told Neeraj.

Similar views were shared by Sanjiv who said that ebooks are not value for money, so print rules in such products.

But, Aparna hopes that digital might work on licensed content also as there is an element of attraction with those characters or properties that children enjoy through games and social media. “But, print works much better for the kind of content we offer. Nevertheless, enhanced epubs of Marvel and LEGO work good,” she says.

But, publishers are working towards e-versions as well.” We are developing the e-version for our indigenous character Pepper,” said Ghai.

On a concluding note…

Aparna shared, “There is definitely a market for licensed products and DK harnesses it very well with learning material for children.”

“I hope everybody like our books and keeps on buying,” told Sanjiv. “Things are dynamic; one has to adapt and look at innovation in production, which is a key to marketing. The touch, feel and smell of the book are important,” concluded Sanjiv.

With so much happening in this industry and with new properties coming out every now and then, this segment in sure to grab eyeballs and come up with really interesting, creative and innovative products.