Children books pblishing

Kids & Teens

Let’s go ‘Bonkers!’

Indian book Bonkers! has recently won the 2014 Crystal Kite Award. Here, we met with the author Natasha Sharma and the illustrator Deepti Sunder to know more about the book that has created waves in the children world.Bonkers!, published by Duckbill Books, written by Natasha Sharma and illustrated by Deepti Sunder has won the 2014 Crystal Kite Award for the Middle East, Asia and India. The Crystal Kite Awards are given by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) to recognize great books from the seventy SCBWI regions around the world. Along with the SCBWI Golden Kite Awards, the Crystal Kite Awards are chosen by other children’s book writers and illustrators, making them the only peer-given awards in publishing for young readers.

Bonkers! plot line....

Bonkers! follows the adventures of a boy named Armaan and his overactive dog Bonkers. The story begins at the point when a brown and white pup, soon to be named Bonkers, enters Armaan’s life. What ensues is utter chaos as Armaan deals with puppy teething trouble, toilet training and Bonkers’ antics that unwittingly get Armaan into more trouble with the school bully, TT. Bonkers! talks about pets, responsibility as well as bullies.

Natasha Sharma, the author...

Natasha Sharma’s childhood had crazy episodes, featuring dogs, rabbits, ducks, guinea pigs, horses, buffaloes and the occasional squirrel, all in her backyard. She graduated in Math, did an MBA, worked as a brand manager, and is now happily doing what she loves most—writing books for children. Natasha’s other books include Akbar and the Tricky Traitor and Ashoka and the Muddled Messages (Duckbill Books), Icky, Yucky, Mucky (Young Zubaan) and Rooster Raga (Tulika Books).

Deepti Sunder, the illustrator...

Deepti Sunder graduated in architecture, but towards the end of her course, she knew she didn’t want to practise as an architect. She then went through this period of trying to decide what do next, which involved a lot of considering and dropping options. Somewhere in the middle of all the searching, she got the chance to do an internship with illustrator Tanvi Bhat. That was when she realised illustration was possibly the kind of career she had been on the lookout for. Following that, she applied to Duckbill and got to work on Bonkers, and ever since, there’s been no looking back!

Varsha: Tell us something about your award-winning book Bonkers!? 

Natasha: Bonkers! is completely inspired by real life! I grew up in a house full of dogs, with four at any point of time and often a litter of pups added in. With a whole host of doggy escapades, the idea had always existed in my head. Sometimes a wealth of ideas can overwhelm. I think I took time sorting through them before sitting down to write this one.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a dog of my own with the constraints of apartment living and incessant travel. My parents, however, have a young dog, all of one year, named Obi Singh. He is the current and original Bonkers and is by far the naughtiest dog we have ever had. He recently enacted the entire first chapter from my book Bonkers! much to my mother’s exasperation since she was left with a chewed up pair of spectacles. (We suspect Obi can read.)

Deepti: I still can’t quite believe Bonkers! has won an award! That said, however, I think it’s a brilliant book. Natasha has written it wonderfully, with her trademark sound effects, come-to-life-when-you-read-them descriptions, and all-around craziness and humour. I remember really loving the story when I read it for the first time. When you read Bonkers!, the story comes alive in your head, and I think this especially helped with getting the characters onto paper. The characters I was most excited about illustrating (apart from Armaan and Bonkers, of course) were Guvi and Beeji. I loved Guvi with his alliterative exclamations and love for food, and couldn’t wait to draw him. I also found the idea of a grandmother who was scared of dogs and kept screaming around Bonkers hilarious. All in all, I had a lot of fun illustrating the book.

Varsha: In your opinion, what is the hardest part of writing/illustrating a book? Why?

Natasha: I think this would be different for each writer since the process of writing can vary drastically. For me, I breathe easier only when I have some framework of a plot. Characters of all sorts keep popping up in my head. Often they lead me to find their story. At times it is a concept with a strong character. Laying out the plot is the hardest part for me. Once that is done, writing it is the fun bit.

Deepti: Well, I’ve never really thought of any part of the illustration process as difficult. For me, the step that takes the most effort is probably conceptualising the characters, but the time it takes can vary a great deal. Some characters just take longer to take form than others, and you keep working at them until you are satisfied. For instance, Armaan came to me rather quickly, but I drew many, many versions of Bonkers before I was happy with how he was looking.

Varsha: What factors are kept in mind while writing/illustrating for children?

Natasha: Age, conceptual understanding by level, vocabulary to some extent (I don’t worry too much about it since there will be some words they may not know, but it is good for them to be challenged). I use humour in my writing and have to make sure it works for a child and for that age group. While writing picture books, the reason for each word to exist in that book becomes important. Page turns become crucial to hold a child’s attention.

Deepti: I think the main thing to keep in mind is that the illustrations need to be relatable for children who will be reading the story. So it’s important to make sure the drawings suit the age group at which the book is aimed, and it’s also important to add details and objects in the drawings that children can identify with.

Varsha: What publishing advice do you give to aspiring artists of any age?

Natasha: If you love writing, stay at it. The more you write, the better you’ll get. Since writing is self-driven, you have to be disciplined and write often. Don’t take feedback, critiques and even rejection letters as personal affronts. They are great learning. Observe the world. Keep a notebook and jot stuff down before you lose the idea, phrase or dialogue.

Deepti: My advice is very simple, really. I would say that it’s important to believe in yourself, have faith in yourself and to keep trying. When you send in applications, don’t lose hope when you are rejected. There’s always room to learn and grow. Also, stay positive and keep looking ahead. Being an artist is essentially about you trying to better yourself at your craft every step of the way. Learn from others, but don’t get bogged down in comparisons.

Varsha: We live in a time when young people have numerous choices for entertainment. What would you like to say to children who may be hesitant about reading a book for "fun?

Natasha: Books are the most fabulous fun! Try many different authors, titles, series, genres and you’ll be sure to discover something you like. Everyone’s taste in books is different and sometimes the most unexpected books can be the ones that get you hooked on to. So be adventurous with your reading. There are also many review sites and online reading groups where you can discover new titles.

Deepti: Books can be the most captivating, exhilarating source of fun ever if you just give them the chance. When you are so deeply immersed in a book that you cannot put it down, all that will matter will be you and whatever the book is saying, and nothing else. So pick up a book you seem to like today, and read it. You won’t regret it!

Varsha: Which is your next book that readers can look forward to?

Natasha: Raja Raja and the Swapped Sacks - the third in the History Mystery series (Duckbill Books); Squiggle Takes a Walk (Young Zubaan) and Anaya’s Thumb (Pratham Books).

–Varsha Verma

Kids hooked to books for a day at Friends Club

Friends Club, Friends Colony (West), New Delhi, in association with All About Book Publishing, recently organised a Children’s Books Day, a library event for children (4-14 years). This fun-filled event for children and their parents aimed at engaging the curious minds! Children could choose and buy books they liked; interact with peers, authors, publishers; and enjoy interesting sessions.

The first session was a book reading session by Simi Srivastava: master storyteller and founder – Kathashala, a story telling institute for adults. She is the architect of numerous engaging and insightful workshops across the country on storytelling for teachers as well as parents. Children were enthralled and loved this interactive session, where Simi read aloud and performed on her book Give Back my Ball, published by Vishv Books.

This was followed by an eye-opening session for young parents by Dr Bindu Sehlot, professional parent counselor and author of Goodbye Mom & Dad See You in the Afternoon published by Sterling Publishers. Dr Sehlot has a vast experience of 20 years in the education industry.

Another story telling & story acting session under the guidance of Manas Ranjan Mahapatra from the National Book Trust, hooked the children as well as parents equally. Everybody got to write a story and few enthusiastic children even performed them. Manas heads the National Centre for Children's Literature division of National Book Trust, India. He is also an educational activist, editor, poet and writer for both children and adults.

Kids love to eat...so a session on Young Chefs: Hassle-free Cooking for Kids by Kavita Gupta from Nita Mehta Publications, was thoroughly enjoyed by children, who gathered around Kavita and learnt to cook lip-smacking delicacies, while their parents looked at them in awe.

Another interesting Storytelling session, which kept the kids glued to their seats was by Jason Quinn, who recited from his book Magical Animals published by Campfire. Progressing from comic writer to editor, to TV and back to comics, Jason is a man who carved himself a steady creative career. Presently, he is the creative content head at Campfire Graphic Novels.

And with ebooks progressing fast in the digital world, a session on Fun with eBooks: Learn Beyond Books With Multimedia by A2Z Teaching & Learning Solutions Pvt Ltd was truly apt. A2Z teaching and learning solutions endeavours to provide the best answers and solutions to all types of requirements of educational institutions under one roof, be it school library books, teacher resource books, children and activity books or school books.

And that was not all! Children even got into the splash pool with bath books from Dreamland Publications. Besides, Friends Club offered their old library books at throwaway prices.

The participating publishers at the event included Dreamland; Vishv Books; Macaw Books; A2Z Teaching and Learning Solutions, Apple Publishing, Quixot Publications, Sterling Publishers, Nita Mehta Publications, Aadya Books, Campfire and Little Pearl Books.

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“Books teleport a child to fantasy land”

shares the dynamic and successful children illustrator Nancy Raj.

Nancy Raj

Nancy Raj graduated with a master’s degree in Fine Arts and specialization in Graphic Design from Stella Maris College, Chennai. She has been in the field of illustrations and design for a decade, with hands-on experience with many children’s book publishers and organisations for children in India and across the world. Some of her important accounts include World Health Organisation, Deaf Child India (NGO), SRA McGraw Hill, Oxford University, Tulika Publishers, NCERT, Katha Publishers, Sesame Street, Chandamama children’s magazine, etc. Her book Days with Thathu by Katha Publishers, has been selected in the 101 Best Indian Children’s book list recently. While, Malli and Mala’s Silver Anklets by Tulika Publishers, has been recommended by CBSE for schools. Here’s more about this prolific illustrator.

Artist since child…

Normally, children exhibit their strengths right from childhood. “My interest to draw and doodle began when I was a child. The clean whitewashed wall of my little house was an inviting canvas. I remember making many mad curls, lines, circles, sun, moon, girl, boy, house, apple, mango, vegetables, flowers, leaves and so on. Every Christmas the house would be whitewashed and my mother would warn me not to "dirty" it again. Anyhow I would be at it - I would start with a small dot which later would transform into gigantic flowers,” laughs Nancy.

She started illustrating when she was in her last year of graduation. “It happened when there was an ad on “artist wanted” put up on the notice board of our department. I was the only one who got in touch with them. It was a small NGO for children with hearing impairments in rural schools. I drew simple pictures for flash cards, story boards, greeting cards, posters, etc. These study materials were used to teach the children with hearing and speaking disabilities. I loved making quick sketches of the boy and girl, mainly because the organizers liked my “style” – I drew “local” colourful south Indian scenes such as dark skinned cheerful children, fat rounded dads in “baniyan and lungi”, thin, dark and beautiful featured mothers with a big bun and jasmine flower around it. This style of illustrations helped the children connect to their real lives. I loved my first assignment, though it took me a lot of hard work to balance between my college assignments, and I was paid very less, or sometimes nothing,” she remembers.

Her actual commercially published first book was Malli with Tulika publishers. “It’s the same girl I drew for the flash cards for the NGO. Malli is an extremely cheerful girl, typically south Indian in style. This book is still a hit! I’m glad to announce that this book has been recommended by the CBSE for schools recently,” she adds.

The most difficult aspect of illustrations…

People may think the hardest part in illustration would be the anatomy, proportions, perspective and shading… but Nancy says that the challenge in illustration is to capture the spirit or rather exuberance and feeling of the characters, that's the life giving factor in a picture book. “It’s also the elements we combine to form a composition that adds to it. For example when I say " A south Indian grandfather, in his room" - I would show a wrinkled, toothless old man, lying in an easy chair, reading a book, and next to him is little window, and the curtain flowing in the breeze, a small coffee tumbler on the floor, a table with books and a pen and on the wall is a calendar, in the corner of the room is a mosquito coil...Bringing together these elements in a composition captures the feeling and the spirit of the character,” she explains.

Besides, another difficult and interesting thing is to keep the child engaged throughout a book. “While I’m sitting with my pencil and papers, squinting at my latest character with a big nose and maybe curly hair, and wondering if that is enough for my little reader... I'd rather finish by adding in the corner of the page a branch with a nest and a little bird it - this element would teleport my little reader to a new world of fantasy. I always think children like watching even the smallest and un-noticed things. I like doing it too; I go away from the actual story track and look into the details that will tour you to a sweet memory left behind in life…that’s the aspect I try to bring in my pictures. This is a kind of a creative exercise that helps creative thinking and imagination in a child's mind,” she adds.

Inspirations…

“My illustrations are strongly 'South Indian' as I am attached to the ethnicity of my land, the colours and culture. Local people and life around are my great inspirations - fussy children, loud hawkers, motorist, overflowing buses, shared autos, markets, greasy mechanics, grumpy neighbourhood and so much more to watch around. I love pets, I never miss to capture a pet in my story, and it could be a baby goat, cat, puppy, or a hen. These are some interesting motifs that one can always expect in my art,” she tells amusingly. And yes, artworks of other illustrators are inspirations too. “My favourite artists are Bill Watterson, Quentin Blake, and most of the children's book illustrators from publishers like Tulika, Katha, Tara, etc. I pick inspiration from anything that's interesting to watch,” she adds.

Publishing advice to artists…

“Well, the only advice that I can share with budding artists is to "love" what you are doing! This is not a get rich quick field, but there are many pockets in illustrations like newspapers, comic books, magazines, animation, etc. Just let your creativity wonder and do a mix of things. Don’t give up and this is where the loving what you are doing kicks in. Also keep watching, sketching, reading and spend time with children and pets…this will make you stay creative,” shares Nancy.

Encouraging reading habit…

Nancy hopes that more publishers, writers, illustrators, readers, buyers, critics, art schools will emerge and evolve in India as there are numerous choices for entertainment around that’s hiding books from children. “I would recommend parents to gift their children Indian picture books to encourage reading. For children, I would like to say that reading books is a hep and cool thing to do! And start with picture books, as the pictures in it will actually 'teleport' you a beautiful world of fantasy. Try it!” Nancy concludes happily.

New Saraswati House: another feather added to S. Chand Group

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Mergers and acquisitions seem to be a buzzword in the publishing industry. More recently, a major acquisition has been that of Saraswati House by a major conglomerate – S. Chand Group. Here, Varsha Verma talks to Shammi Manik — business head, New Saraswati House about this acquisition.Varsha: Tell us something about the acquisition of Saraswati House by S. Chand Group? 

Shammi: S. Chand Group has been very active in mergers and acquisitions for last three years. After acquiring established companies like Vikas Publishing House & Madhubun, S. Chand felt the need to further strengthen its portfolio by acquiring an established publishing house which has a sizeable market share at national level and growing market share in regional languages as well.

Varsha: How is this acquisition going to help both the publishing houses? 

Shammi: S. Chand traditionally has been very strong in plethora of subjects and there was a void for subjects like Hindi, Sanskrit, French and Art & Craft market. By acquiring Saraswati House, the group will have presence felt in these subjects other than its traditional and significant product portfolio. Being part of the S. Chand group, the largest education publishing group Saraswati House, renamed as New Saraswati House India Pvt Ltd will witness enhanced investments in people, infrastructure, processes and products.

Varsha: What is the new organisation structure? 

Shammi: In the new organisation structure, we have created professional positions like legal, IT, Corporate Communication and HR to support the ambitious growth plans and cope up with the expectations of evolving market and customer needs. The regional sales & market structures are being strengthened in order to increase our outreach and to service customers efficiently.

Saraswati House has grown from a very modest level to a decent size organisation in terms of people and revenue of over Rs 100 crore. It was a family owned and run business. The New Saraswati House will attempt to retain its traditional values while introduce modern practices.

Varsha: What genres are Saraswati catering to and are there any new subjects coming up? 

Shammi: Saraswati House is very strong in languages like Hindi, Sanskrit, French and 9-12 segments of CBSE schools. They have also made inroads into state specific subjects across the country.

Varsha: Tell us about the expanse of Saraswati, in terms of the branches, Indian/overseas sales, etc? 

Shammi: New Saraswati House has its head office in Delhi and has 14 branches and marketing offices across the country and employs 500+ people. We have reasonably good revenue coming in from the overseas markets like Africa, Middle East and other SAARC countries.

Varsha: As the business head of the organisation, what are you aiming at? 

Shammi: It's a huge responsibility of maintaining the traditional values of the organisation and bringing in innovations across levels. We aim to create a forward looking people friendly organisation.

Varsha: What are your targets for this year and the long-term perspective, say five years from now? 

Shammi: It’s very interesting to know that company of this size has never believed in assigning revenue targets and inspite of that has been growing at the pace of 25 percent year on year. Going by this track record, one can expect to double the turnover in about five years.

Shammi Manik has over 27 years of experience in publishing industry; starting his career with Orient Longman (now Orient Black Swan) way back in 1986, he later joined Oxford University Press as sales executive in 1993 and rose to the level of sales & marketing director - Education Division. In 2008, he had a stint in Taylor & Francis Group India as managing director.

Practise makes a writer perfect: Anand Neelakantan

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Growing up in a village in Cochin with more temples than was necessary, it was no wonder that the Ramayana fascinated him. Ironically, he was drawn to the anti-hero of the epic – Ravana, and to his people, the Asuras, and that became the title of his first book. He did not stop at this; his second book Ajaya has Kauravas of Mahabharata as his heroes. Meet Anand Neelakantan in conversation with Varsha Verma.Anand Neelakantan is known for his debut novel Asura Tale of the Vanquished & AJAYA: Epic of the Kaurava Clan - Roll Of The Dice. Anand’s debut work Asura: Tale of the Vanquished was a surprise bestseller of 2012, breaking into the top seller charts within a week of its launch. And so is Ajaya.

So what is Ajaya all about? “If Jaya is the Mahabharata of Pandavas, Ajaya is the Mahabharata of Kauravas. Ajaya is Suyodhana’s (Duryodhana is more popular parlance) Mahabharata where Kauravas are heroes rather than the despicable villains they are usually made out to be. The first part of the book- Ajaya epic of Kaurava clan, Roll of the dice has been published on December 1, 2013 and the second and last part, Rise of Kali (note: Kali as in Kaliyuga) is slated for release by mid August this year,” tells Anand Neelakantan.

The book has featured in the top position in booksellers lists like Crossword, Landmark, Oxford, etc. “The response and reviews of the book has been fabulous so far. What is icing on the cake is that my first book Asura: Tale of the Vanquished is still in the charts,” he shares. The book has recently been launched in Tamil language and is receiving rave reviews.

And this is just the beginning, Anand is working on a few more books, all related to mythology. On asking why, he replies, “An author writes what he or she is most fascinated about. For me, it is mythology. I am working on Mudrarakshasa from Rakshasa’s view point. Traditional tellings say Chanakya’s story with Rakshasa as the villain. My novel will take the story from Rakshasa’s view point, at the eve of Alexander’s invasion of India.”

Since all such books make interesting trilogies, we asked Anand if he’s planning one. “Yes, I am planning a trilogy soon. Though, I prefer to work on single books as it gives a sense of completion to both author and readers. However, certain stories need a bigger canvas and I may have to write a trilogy for something I have in mind, as the story requires it,” he shares.

So, what’s the most satisfying and difficult part of writing? “When I write my first draft, I write for myself. That is the most satisfying part of writing. Nothing can beat its satisfaction. The hardest part is editing the first draft. Every word has been put with a lot of passion, but when I read it after a few days, I start doubting my sanity and writing ability. Editing out chunks of what I have poured my heart on is painful, but necessary,” tells Anand.

Anand feels that his journey so far as an author has been wonderful. “Three years before, I used to wonder whether anyone would ever read my books. Today, when my books are topping bestseller charts, it gives me a lot of satisfaction. I hope to write more and more books and perhaps try my hands in television or films,” he adds.

Cartooning remains his first love and he likes reading comics and children’s books. “The best thing to happen in the world is Tom and Jerry series, which I enjoy watching with my children. Other than that, I love to do oil painting,” laughs Anand.

As an advice to aspiring writers, Anand says, “Keep writing. The craft improves as you keep practicing. A musician practices for many years before he dares to perform in public, a sportsman spends most of his childhood practicing, yet many people who want to write expect that their first attempt to write would get published and they will earn universal fame. Writing is no different from any other profession. Practise makes a writer perfect.” 

“Read my books just as another fiction. They are not research papers and I am not a scholar by any stretch of imagination,” concludes Anand

Stem vs hss

"India is the only market where STM budgets are larger than HSS"

ys Nitasha Devasar, managing director, 
Taylor & Francis India and a seasoned academic publisher, in an exclusive interview with Varsha Verma. 

With a 216-year-old strong legacy behind them, Taylor & Francis India is celebrating 10 years of its existence in South Asia servicing both professional as well as academic markets. Here, Nitasha Devasar, managing director, Taylor & Francis India, tells more about their presence in India. 

Varsha: What are the major challenges for STM publishers? 

Nitasha Devasar

Nitasha: In today’s changing market dynamics, there are a few pertinent challenges that are common to all publishers: currency change, distribution network, taxation issues, attrition, paucity of funds in government institutes, ever shrinking budgets and discount structures. 

The sheer quantum of number of titles and research available today in STM (Scientific, Technological and Management) is exhaustive. India is the only market where STM budgets are larger than HSS (Higher Social Science). It is the opposite across the world. Continuously upgrading the research in books is another challenge for all the STM publishers. 

Varsha: How is T&F adapting to changing scholarly landscapes and other challenges? 

Nitasha: At T&F, we take pride in understanding the challenge of today’s market dynamics. We constantly analyse new opportunities for advancement of research excellence and ensure that our products and sales models constantly evolve, our copyright policies are friendly while protecting the rights of our partners. 

To move ahead with times, we have launched cogent OA, which is our open access programme that puts author interests at the heart of everything we do. We like to see ourselves as a tailored and friendly publisher running our business on environmentally sound principles with a strong backbone of social responsibility. 

Varsha: What plans T&F have with respect to making content accessible via digital and mobile devices? 

Nitasha: We have a passion for digital distribution (we are one of the world’s leading publishers of online journals and ebooks). We are also committed to the widest distribution of our journals to not-for-profit institutions in developing countries. 

Our content is available via our user-friendly mobile applications through Taylor and Francis online that provides access to, and information about, all journals from Taylor & Francis, Routledge and Psychology Press. Whether you are looking for a specific article or simply interested in the latest research within your subject area, you can find everything. 

Varsha: Social networking is becoming a mainstream component of scientific research. How does T&F approach / utilize the social networking phenomenon? 

Nitasha: Taylor & Francis is very active on social networks. We invite authors to submit their papers online, tweet latest research and citations online, run campaigns regularly on Pinterest and offer customized information on Facebook. We also regularly share latest information about our events and happenings through our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Varsha: Please share a brief history of T&F and its operations in India? 

Nitasha: Taylor & Francis is an Informa business. Informa is a multinational information provider for the academic, professional and commercial markets with offices in over 40 countries. It is one of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly books, journals, ebooks and reference works. Our content spans the humanities, Social Sciences, Behavioural and Life Sciences, Technology and Medicine. 

We began our operations in November 1998 as a liaison office and became a 100 percent branch of Taylor & Francis Group in 2004. We have our own imprint, ‘Routledge India Originals’ and have published 307 titles, including 15 series on issues and themes central to contemporary Indian scholarship, in the past 10 years. 

Our Indian Journals programme is committed to showcasing innovative South Asian research in the global arena with dedicated support for editors, authors, publishing partners and learned societies. T&F India’s reprint programme continues to make high-quality content available to student and research community at affordable prices. 

We are a proud 100 plus employees with sales representatives spread across the country to look after our business interests. Taylor & Francis staff provide local expertise and support to our editors, societies and authors and tailored, efficient customer service to our library colleagues. Our knowledge outsourcing units, such as Europa, BIS and IT comprises different teams who work in direct liaison with our head office to generate world-class content used by universities across the world. 

Varsha: How many different books and journals are there at T&F? 

Nitasha: We publish 1,700 journals, 40,000 ebooks, 3,600 new books every year and 60,000 specialist titles. 

Varsha: What is the USP of T&F? 

Nitasha: The USP of Taylor & Francis India is a collaborative approach to business founded on open communication and intelligent engagement. We bring to our customers local market knowledge with global exposure coupled with high-quality products and services tailored to their needs. Our imprints CRC Press, CRC Medical and Garland Science are world renowned for their content and are an inseparable part of any researcher’s collection today. Our stand out USP is the length and breadth of our publishing. We publish in big areas as well as niche areas. That makes us stand apart. 

Let’s make children happy with fresh, interesting, affable content!

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Children book publishing is a huge market with lot of scope of innovation and creativity. There’s lot of thinking, hard work and time involved to create a perfect children book, which can entice our little ones. What’s the status of our industry and what efforts are being taken to offer the best reading material for children, finds out Varsha Verma.

The statistics… 

The children book publishing market in India is very huge, progressive and growing steadfastly. It is reckoned among the top seven publishing nations of the world. “India ranks third after the US and UK in English language publishing,” tells Rajneesh Chowdhry, director, Goodwill Publishing House proudly. “And it is the 7th largest worldwide, when all languages are counted,” adds Mudit Mohini of Vishv Books. 

But, there are no statistics available for the industry. There are guesses and all seem to say that the industry is huge and the market is growing. “It is very difficult to answer the size of book publishing market in India or children publishing. If the guesstimate, of having more than 20,000 Indian Publishers producing a 1,00,000 books or more each year in multiple Indian languages and generating a revenue of around USD 2.5 billion or so (includes academic/non-academic books) is to be believed then the children’s publishers market is around 30 percent of this number. Within the children publishing, the language split is around 50 percent for Eng/Hindi alone vs other 28 or more languages produced. But for sure there is no doubt that, India is one of the fastest growing publishing industry across globe, may it be printed books, digital books or STM’s, etc,” informs Himanshu Giri, CEO, Pratham Books. 

While SK Ghai, managing director, Sterling Publishers, feels that the market is approximately Rs 750-1,000 crore. Sahil Gupta of V&S Publishers adds, “Given that half of India’s population is under the age of 25, it’s no wonder a large part of the book trade is dominated by academic and children’s books, which account for 40 percent and 30 percent of the market respectively. The remaining 30 percent constitutes trade publishing or other categories. Total value of books produced in India each year is roughly about Rs16, 000 crore.” 

“I cannot be sure of how big the market is, but some estimates say that children's books account for 25 percent of the market, shares Anushka Ravishankar, a well known children author, who now runs Duckbill Publishing. While, Anurag Mehta of Nita Mehta Publications adds, “The children book market is one of the biggest book categories in India and the only one which is growing despite the advent of digital content.” 

While, Radhika Menon of Tulika Books adds, “What we do know is that the market penetration of children’s books is very low at 3 percent. There are 300 million children in India and we produce three books for every 100 children compared to the UK which has six for every child.” So, there’s still a lot of scope in the children book publishing market. 

Industry expands… 

“Based on impressions, assumptions and some speculation we can say that the growth is somewhere between 20–30 percent annually. But in my personal opinion majority of this is based on contributions from the ever growing school books consumption at the primary level and supplementary material for children, but overall landscape is prefect for a robust growth barring the challenges of the recent economic downturn and reduced purchasing power. So because of increasing awareness, globalisation, stress upon education and literacy as also because of the increase in income, the future of children book publishing market seems quite bright,” adds Vineet Sharma, MD, Parragon Publishing. 

So in this time when publishers are crying a slowdown in the industry, why are newer players like Duckbill Publishing coming in? “We were told by a few people that we were being foolish by starting this at a time like this! But on the one hand, people say publishing is slowing down, and on the other, there seems to be a great demand for children’s books from schools and educators, and we constantly read reports saying that children’s publishing is growing. But frankly, we didn’t think of any of these things when we decided to start Duckbill. What drove us was that we wanted to see a certain kind of children’s books in the market — contemporary, fresh, unusual, reflecting the realities of Indian children today. And we realised that the only way to get the books we wanted out there was by publishing them ourselves,” adds Anushka as a matter of fact. 

While, Sayoni Basu of Duckbill adds, “We believe that there is no wrong time for good books! Children’s trade books in India, especially fiction, need diversity, vitality and excitement, and we are happy to contribute to that. Since we are small and independent, we are still relatively free of commercial pressure, so we can publish only what we want and when we want, and are not obliged to publish a certain number of books in a year. As a result of this, we have the luxury of publishing only what we truly believe in, and also we can give each book the time it needs to be become the best book it can become.” 

Indian children books vs. Foreign counterparts… 

Many a times, we find ourselves comparing Indian and foreign books. So, what do our publishers think about it. “The Indian parent often lament about the quality of children’s books published by Indian publishers, the poor paper quality, the insipid illustrations, and the moralistic nature of the content. They compare our books with beautiful picture books from France and the US and wonder when the industry will ‘come of age’. But often, what they don’t realise is that our situation, our stage and our needs as a culture, economy and industry are completely different. Contrary to popular belief that the reading habit in India is dying, children’s books in India are thriving and growing. The awareness is growing, the variety is growing and Indian parents are seeking much more than the ubiquitous nursery rhymes and fairy tales books. With this the publishing Industry is also changing and the publishing houses are striving hard to offer better quality books at affordable prices,” tells Vineet. 

“We cannot compare our industry to international counterparts. Firstly, the emphasis on children reading have been huge internationally. In India reading is mostly limited to schoolbook reading. Internationally books have been written and rewritten. They have been researched. Their authors and illustrators have become seasoned over the years. Indian books have a long way to catch up with them. But given the resources some publishing houses are producing excellent books. Cost is another factor. We cannot expect indian publishers to produce same level of quality for one-tenth of the price the international publisher is selling,” shares Mudit. 

“In terms of authors and illustrators, I would say India has tremendous talent offering quality similar to the west, having said that creativity neither can be compared nor is restricted by boundaries. All we need is platforms that connect this talent to publishers and facilitate content creation. As far as production quality is concerned I think there is a tremendous change and we can achieve the same quality as anywhere else in the world but certain aspects need to be worked upon such as sharpening the input material costs, delivery timelines and the QC processes,” adds Vineet as a matter of fact. 

“We believe some of the books published are at par with Western counterparts, and some are not. The difference always lies in how much the publisher is willing to invest in creating the books. Indian children’s books are priced relatively low, which means that the publisher has less money to invest in illustrations and production. So it is simply a choice which each publisher makes in terms of quality. Some, like us, believe that impeccable quality is of paramount importance, and will spend the money required to attain that. Some believe, and it is a valid choice, that it is more important to have cheap books, and therefore are willing to settle for lesser quality if that means that they can sell the book cheaply. The industry needs both kinds of books, so both choices are equally sensible—though of course one would always wish one could have superlative quality at low prices,” comes a thoughtful reply from Sayoni. 

Similar views were shared by Sahil, who adds, “We are way behind from publishers of advanced nations. The scale and size of market is not present. Literacy is low. Affordability is absent. Innovativeness is lacking. Presentation and paper quality leaves much to be desired. Uniqueness in ideas is poor. Foreign publishers have the capability to write the same story in an altogether fascinating manner. Moreover, India is not a homogeneous country but a heterogeneous one with people, to a large extent, preferring to buy publications in their mother tongue. This restricts an economically viable scale because of segmentation in the Indian market. Publishers are guided by the market demand. Meeting demands from different language segment imposes a huge limitation on size of print-runs. If the publisher doesn’t sell a title in large numbers, the earnings shrink. This puts paid to commissioning authors who could drive demand. Same limitation restricts usage of top illustrators, superior page usage, etc. However, with the growth in literacy, and disposable income in the hands of people, demand for books will grow; publishers then can visualize publishing books with large print-runs; catching up with the publishers of advanced nations.” 

But, there have been steady improvements in the quality of production and content in children books published in India over the years. “We are at par with the foreign publishers or even better,” adds SK Ghai. 

Production quality: “In terms of production quality, some international publishers use very high quality paper but that tends to increase the price of their books. Indian publishers, on the other hand, sometimes have to compromise on the quality of paper to keep the price at an affordable level,” shares Rajneesh. 

But it is not easy to maintain the quality. As Radhika puts it, “Though the quality of our production is good, it is not something we can take for granted. Even good presses need a lot of close overseeing, especially with picture books.” 

Content: Indian authors, illustrators and editors are as learned and qualified as their international counterparts. “They have excellence in their respective area of work,” shares Rajneesh. While, Himanshu feels that our country has very good authors although many of them need strong editorial support to write for a very heterogeneous readership. “Our illustrators and production quality shows much room for improvement. But there are a number of publishing houses that are doing a very good job of publishing some excellent books given the price sensitivity of the market and the low prevalence of book buying except for educational purposes,” adds Himanshu. 

“We have some great authors and illustrators too, and the best of them are definitely comparable to the best in the world, but we don't have as many high-quality writers and illustrators as they have in the west. The reasons for this are mainly the lack of visibility and the lack of importance given to children's books in this country. Indian children's books are usually consigned to a corner of the bookshop. There aren't many awards, there are very few reviews that appear for children's books and children's book authors are not treated with the same respect that is given to authors of adult books. And the remuneration is not great either. So how will the best talent be attracted to the industry?” laments Anushka. 

While, Anurag feels that the content writing is perhaps at par but as for the illustrators we still lag behind our western counterparts. While, Radhika has a different perspective to share, “Only about 25 percent of the books perhaps match the quality of good foreign books. There are, of course, a large poor quality produced foreign books as well, and these can be seen at any international book fair. In India, specialised children’s publishing started much later than other areas of publishing, and so it will take some time before we have the kind of talent in writing and illustrating that would make for really good books, which could vie with the best anywhere. To achieve this, we also need to produce a distinctive body of children’s literature, and not just churn out books which imitate the west in appearance and content.” 

There’s another dimension to this discussion. Do we really need to measure our industry against them? “I think we need to get over this mind-set of always measuring ourselves against foreign counterparts as our trajectory has also been influenced by our history and we need to develop our own standards and idiom that reflect our realities,” adds Himanshu. 

On languages… 

English language publishing is a big market and therefore a very dominant section of publishing. Worldwide also English language publishing has a long history and tradition and India with its sizeable population that understands the language constitutes an important market. “However, it doesn't lessen the importance of Hindi and other Indian languages. Books written in Hindi, Urdu, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi, Punjabi, Bangla, Malyalam, and others have their own importance and are equally popular. We have almost 1500 titles covering a wide variety of subjects. Most of them are in English, while 8 to 10 titles are in Hindi,” tells Rajneesh. 

While Anurag adds, “The big retail stores have more sales of English titles as compared to smaller stores. Right now we are only publishing children titles in the English language but we do publish a number of cookery titles in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and other regional languages. We have over 70 titles in children books.” 

“Indian languages are lagging behind when it comes to children's publishing. Most literature that children are exposed to is in their text books and they are published in very large numbers. Books for the pleasure of reading are very few when you consider that the population of 0-14 year olds is about 300 million. We believe that with increasing numbers of children going to formal school, there is a most urgent need to democratize the joy of reading by having books for the reading pleasure of all children in all Indian languages. Pratham Books has 226 titles in English out of a total of 260 unique titles. But nearly all our books are in at least six languages and some in 14 languages,” adds Himanshu proudly. 

While, Tulika Books has about 250 titles in English and about 175 titles in each of the other eight languages – Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Bangla. “So if you look at our entire list, more than 75 percent of our books are in the Indian languages. The sales percentage is along the same lines,” adds Radhika, which is in fact good news. 

Similarly, Parragon Publishers has around 1000 titles in English and about 45 titles in other languages that includes Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada. “We also intend adding about 40 more titles in Gujrati and Hindi by this year end,” adds Vineet. 

Promoting regional languages… 

Pratham Books' mission is to see a book in every child's hand which is a big vision and it can be realized only if we publish in as many Indian languages as possible. “We like to call them Indian languages rather than regional languages. Given the number of children in the age group that should be interested in reading, it is clear that there is a market available there. What remains to be explored is the complexity of that market. How price sensitive it is? What are the distribution networks if they exist at all? What are the bottlenecks? How do we find authors who will write for children in languages where there is no tradition of books even though there may be a rich tradition of storytelling? We grapple with these questions in the course of our work and continue to publish books. Our focus has been towards early readers as the problem of poor reading skills among primary school children are a well documented fact now. In an effort to scale up our work we have adopted a number of innovative strategies that allow for the larger community to participate and contribute,” tells Himanshu. 

Main attributes of a children book… 

A book is a complete package, as Radhika says, “A well-written story, imaginative illustrations, good design and good production have to come together to make a good book that is a delight to read, to look at and to hold. Very often in children’s books there seems to be a focus on just one or two of these aspects.” 

“The most important attribute is that it should not talk down to the child. It should also not preach or be didactic. Otherwise the attributes would be the same as those for any book - it should be well-written and of the highest quality that it can be. Children deserve the best and we should not give them lesser books just because they are shorter than us,” laughs Anushka. 

While Himanshu adds, “That would depend on the genre of course but broadly, it should be attractive to look at and have a story that is engaging for a child. It should avoid overt messages and moralising and resist the urge to 'educate' the child as if she knows nothing. It should encourage reflection and introduce the possibilities of language.” 

“Nita Mehta is the founder of our publishing house and because of her close interaction with women (she is India's No 1 Cookbook author and also heads many cooking institutes and restaurants) she understands that parents want their children to understand the Indian value system. Through our books, we try to educate and entertain children at the same time. Our company motto is 'Inculcating Values & Wisdom' and the company tag line is 'Enriching Young Minds,” adds Anurag. “Children books need to be entertaining, and should also have a subtle message which the child can relate to. It should be educative without the child knowing that he is being taught,” he adds. 

While Rajneesh adds, “A children book should concentrate on easy and stress-free comprehension. Its language should be child-friendly, and it should be so designed as to readily attract a kid's attention towards itself. It should stay true to the fact 'learning in a stressless, fun way.' We serve our readers differently as we don't compromise on quality and strive to produce the best quality books consisting authentic and reliable information. We believe in the principle ‘Education for all’, and hence we provide our books at affordable prices,” adds Rajneesh. 

While, Himanshu says, “We are a ‘not for profit’ publishing house and thus keep our ears close to the ground. We create attractive, well produced books for children at an affordable price in different Indian languages that we hope children will pick up on their own in their school or community libraries and enjoy the experience. If they do that, their reading skills will be strengthened and hopefully this will lead to a better shot at education. If the children become independent readers they can also become autonomous learners.” 

While Sahil adds, “The content, the presentation and innovative thinking differentiates us from other publishers. Another out-of-the-box creation is our caricature style illustrations in our children’s books. That too in black and white, instead of the usual clamour for colour productions. We continue to create novel concept to draw attention of children as well as parents.” 

It’s not just the story and illustrations that matter, font is important too. “The font size should be large enough to hold a child’s attention. Thereafter comes the utility part of the book. It should be meaningful, simple to read and understand. It should convey respect to Indian tradition and culture,” adds Sahil. 

How to choose the right book… 

Choosing the right book is very subjective. “The first step is for parents and teachers to keep themselves informed about the books on the market as more and more good publishers are emerging. This in itself is a difficult task as bookstores are no longer an option, as they are not interested in keeping good Indian books. Going online too is not an option for everyone,” tells Radhika. Schools can play a significant role in creating an awareness of what good books are available by building up their libraries, organizing book events, author readings and book fairs. Librarians have to be trained to select good books so that they become pivotal in creating this awareness. “The RTE act making school libraries mandatory and the CBSE and NCERT putting out recommended lists of books are welcome and much needed initiatives by the government in this direction. More than a hundred of Tulika’s titles are included in the recommended lists. These lists have become a starting point for schools to build up their libraries,” adds Radhika smilingly. 

Rajneesh says that teachers and parents play a very crucial role in selecting the books for their kids. “They should ensure that their kids read authentic and carefully produced books inculcating in them not only knowledge but values also. They should develop in the kids good and healthy reading habits during the formative years to ensure a lifelong inclination towards reading,” he adds. Similar views were shared by Sahil, who adds, “Parents/teachers need to look for books that they believe carries wisdom and knowledge for children in an easy and simple language. The books should be such that children can read on their own and draw meaningful conclusions. The guardians should encourage children with activity books; drawing pictures and colouring them and other playful activities builds confidence in children and makes them extrovert. To help children in out-of-the-box thinking, give them something new and uniquely created in a novel way.” 

“While choosing the book, the first and foremost thing is that it should be attractive for the child. A book of great information will not be of any value if it does not interest the child and attract to be read. Thus as publishers our responsibility is to package good content in child friendly attractive manner,” adds Anurag. While, Anushka elaborates, “Let the children choose. The best way to put children off reading is by forcing them to read things that don't interest them!” 

Similar views were shared by Himanshu who says, “We'd like to request parents and teachers to listen to children better. Children should have the freedom to choose from the widest selection and can be trusted to choose the books that have genuine integrity of communication. Parents and teachers should resist the urge to 'teach' and educate their children through their selection as this is likely to put off children from reading altogether.”

Besides, Mudit also shares important points, “Choose books that reflect your child’s concerns, such as fear of the dark or some classmate. These books help children realize that their feelings are normal and that they’re not alone. These books also help your child learn how to handle their anxiety in a positive way. On repeated readings the book should offer fresh revelations or details that may not have been caught the first time through. And quite simply, not all ‘old’ books are classics! Just because we have loved them doesn't mean that they are still relevant.” 

Age classification – is it really required? 

Sometimes, it is difficult to classify the books according to age groups, for one book might interest a 4-year-old and also an 8-year-old. As Anushka puts it, “Our books are targeted at ages six to young adults, though we don't classify the books by age so much as by reading levels, because children's reading levels vary greatly even at the same age.” 

Average print runs and pricing… 

Prices vary from book to book and so do the print runs. But, all the publishers try to keep their pricing such that it reaches more number of children. “The print runs depend on a number of factors. There are no set rules. Print runs for fiction rarely exceed 1,000 copies. For well established writers, first print runs can go up to 5,000 and a bestseller is often a book that has sold only as many as 10,000 copies. As for pricing consideration, we know that Indian market is very price sensitive. We, therefore, price our books conservatively, keeping affordability of majority buyers in mind. Most of our books fall within the range of Rs.100-150. However, there are titles that cost more, depending on the subject matter,” tells Sahil. 

“The English and Hindi print runs are 2,000 each and the print runs in the other languages vary from 250 to 500 copies. These are completely unviable numbers in publishing; but because we combine the print run of all languages, this works for us. We reprint according to orders in these languages. The strategy works for us. The average price of a book is Rs 80,” tells Radhika. 

The average print run at Parragon Publishing is 10,000 copies and the retail prices for the books vary roughly between Rs 90 to Rs 595 as average. 

Goodwill Publishing House publishes books on a wide variety of subjects including English Grammar, Essays, Vocabulary, Idioms & Phrases, Proverbs, Quotations, Religion, Astrology, Palmistry, Numerology, Management, Health, Sports & Games, Baby Care, Skill Building, Jokes & Riddles, Sudoku, Puzzles, IQ & Quiz, and many more. “Average print run for each of these is 2,000-5,000 copies per annum,” tells Rajneesh. “But, children books published under the imprint of Young Learner Publications are illustrated and child-friendly. All the books-Storybooks, Colouring books, Activity books, Nursery Rhymes, Moral Stories, Picture Dictionary, Cursive Writing, Encyclopaedia, and many more are designed and written by experienced authors as to make learning process enjoyable, fun and without any stress on tender minds. Average print run for each of these titles is 20,000-25,000 copies per annum.” 

At Duckbill, the first print run is usually 3,000-5,000, and the price varies from Rs 125 to 275, depending on the number of pages and the print run. While, at Nita Mehta Publications, the average print run is 5,000 copies per title and the average price is from Rs 150 to 200. 

The average first print run at Sterling Publishers is 3,000 copies and price range is from Rs 50-250. While, at Vishv Books, it varies from 500 to 10000 per print run. Price also varies from Rs 30 to Rs.200. “Some of our pop-up books are priced at Rs.400-Rs. 1000,” adds Mudit. 

While, at Pratham the books are very affordable. “As a ‘not for profit,’ we also take risks that other publishing houses may not. If some of our cheapest books were Rs 10 we have gone a step ahead and created an even cheaper book-like product called a story card which will have a full story colour illustrations with lamination and can be made available at Rs 3. Similarly, we have put up a number of books for free download on a Creative Commons platform where anybody can use them in terms of translation, remixing the illustrations, even repricing them after giving an attribute to us. Our print runs vary between 6,000-12,000 copies and the average price is Rs 35,” tells Himanshu. 

On exports… 

A lot of children books are exported. At Nita Mehta Publications, since their content is mainly of Indian origin, they are exporting to countries which have Indian population like UK, USA, Canada, etc. While 30 percent of books at Parragon India are exported to countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh as well as the Middle- East markets including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Bahrain. 

“We export under the names of 'Goodwill Books International' and 'Chowdhry Export House'. Having been in the export trade for more than 40 years now, we export to countries in Africa, Middle East, South East Asia, Indian Subcontinent, Europe, and Latin America. About 40 percent of our total production is exported,” tells Rajneesh. 

Ebooks – still in infancy 

We know digitization is inevitable. It has invaded the advanced markets but India is far from it. “When many people can’t afford to buy printed books, purchasing digital books way below their disposable threshold limit. Moreover, one needs to have devices to read these digital books. Acceptability is creeping in the Indian market but it may still be a decade or more before impact on printed books could be felt,” tells Sahil. 

“I don't think digital adoption is going to change drastically in the next year. We already do all our books as ebooks, so we will continue to do that. We haven't yet found that the sales of books are very high; the print books are definitely selling better than ebooks right now. We would like to do digital books that use the medium in exciting ways, but we'll only do that if we get conceptually interesting ideas/projects,” tells Anushka as a matter of fact. 

Similar views were shared by Vineet, who says, “Digital children’s books will have their space in the complex content dissemination matrix and may not be that successful in the near future in India as it has done in the west. Eventually it will transform but currently it will stay to be a niche phenomenon!” 

One thing is sure, ebooks are an important part of the business and publishers cannot shy away from it. As SK Ghai puts it, “In India, digital has started playing its role with the upper middle class, as the children have started playing games, colouring and learning on their iPads/Smart Phones. We are also gearing up to face the challenge.” 

“There is no doubt that digital is the future. But it is still very unorganized and scattered. The technology is moving with such a fast pace that if one makes one style of digitalization in no time it becomes obsolete. But everyone is gearing up for the digital market and converting their printed versions to digitalized version. We too have books in digital format. Both story books as well as some of our academic books,” adds Mudit. 

“I don’t think a clear business model has emerged for e-books in children’s publishing, and this is particularly true of picture books. This is so everywhere, not just in India. Despite that digital publishing for children is becoming a very crowded space, and it is easy to find free interactive ebooks - I am talking about picture books - for small children on the web. The challenge to publishers is how to make their books stand out in this crowded space. It means quite a lot of expenditure on interactive features, imaginative - even if limited - animation, good music and so forth. This becomes a long and expensive process, and yet it’s necessary to keep within the accepted price range whatever it costs. The recovery of costs can be a long haul. The only viable way is to put out an interactive ebook with standardized templates as quickly as possible. Spending the kind of time taken to publish a book is just not an option in the digital space. Far from being a space where distinctive and imaginative digital books stand out, such books are completely lost in the clutter of mediocrity that prevails on the net,” tells Radhika. 

“We plan to grow our business margins by implementing an e-business solution and total automation of our whole business procedure to make operation smoother and robust. With a continual support from our whole family of workforce, we seek to scale greater heights in near future,” adds Rajneesh. But, there is more that ebooks can do, besides crossing geographical boundaries. “Hopefully, this will lead to more translations, more languages and many more uses of our books than what happens with a physical book,” shares Himanshu. 

His views were echoed by Radhika, who adds, “We will continue exploring and experimenting in this space especially with books in different languages and bilingual books which offer great teaching/learning opportunities in classrooms. There is a huge need and a demand for good digital content in Indian languages as government and NGO run schools are equipped with computers, but do not have good content.” 

Industry blooming… 

To summarise it, we can say that the children book publishing industry in India is booming, despite all odds. Children books and authors/illustrators are now gradually getting the recognition they deserve. “The good news is that things are changing. There's much more interest in children's books now than there used to be, and we're seeing some wonderful new writing and illustration and hearing fresh voices,” concludes Anushka.