‘STMs would become 100% online’

OPINES VIKAS GUPTA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WILEY INDIA, IN CONVERSATION WITH VARSHA VERMA AND SHWETA KHURANA OF ABP. 

Vikas Gupta, managing director, Wiley India

All STM global players acquire authors and books in India, which are developed locally but published as a global edition. Printing may or may not happen in India. But the acquisition of books and authors is a robust business in itself in the areas of S&T (Science and Technology) and Social Sciences. But, medical publishing from India is not global. India publishes books on Health Sciences for third world countries like Africa, parts of Middle East, South East Asia, etc, where there are similar standards and acceptance.

Even a British textbook in Health Sciences does not sell in America, but it has big market in Commonwealth countries. American books in medicine are globally accepted,” tells Vikas Gupta, managing director, Wiley India, the Indian subsidiary of John Wiley & Sons Inc, a leading global publisher.

Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons Inc has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfil their aspirations. Wiley India offers a gamut of books and digital products ranging from IT and business books to local reprints of bestselling higher education textbooks at Indian prices. Talking about STMS publishing, Vikas informed that journal publishing in India is a growing field. “Most of these researches are in collaboration with foreign authors. The total articles published from India are dramatically increasing but they are not cited much. So, they do not have a big impact factor. China has a better impact, volume and value,” he adds.

Print vs online sales…

“Majority of research books in universities are going online. But a core textbook is predominantly printed one,” tells Vikas.

Challenges faced…

“One of the biggest challenges is the quality of writing as lot of people do new research but their papers get rejected in international journals because they are not properly written. So, publishers like Wiley are conducting seminars on how to write good research papers. Then, the authors need to be aware of the copyright issue and plagiarism. Another challenge is to find new topics. Besides, since there is no local recognition in India for research, so most of the researchers go abroad, which is not good for India. Another challenge is that many Indian publishers have good books but the quality standards are not up to the mark,” he shares.

Another important point he shares is that many Indian libraries do not understand the difference between remainder and new books. They buy books which are of no use to the researchers. “For libraries, volume is more important than value and price is a big issue for them. Certain publishers even repackage the old books to show that they have come up with new editions for the books,” he shares. ISBN authorities need to be fully functional.

“Besides, government is not giving enough funds for libraries. So, they have low budgets, which need to be checked,” he adds. “Looking at research as a commodity is a challenge for publishers and saddens thousands of societies we represent as publishers. Globally, research and academia work together but in India they are separate verticals and there is no co-relation between them,” he adds further.

What makes a good library?

“A good library is one which is a hybrid of print and digital. They should have a good indexing system so that there is a single place access for all information. Discoverability is very important and they should have the latest books and other resources,” shares Vikas.

Wiley’s STMS business…

Wiley's Scientific, Technical, Medical, and Scholarly (STMS) business serves the world's research and scholarly communities, and is the largest publisher for professional and scholarly societies. Wiley's programs encompass journals, books, major reference works, databases, and laboratory manuals, offered in print and electronically. “Through Wiley Online Library, we provide online access to a broad range of STMS content: over four million articles from 1,500 journals, 9,000+ books, and many reference works and databases. Access to abstracts and searching is free, full content is accessible through licensing agreements, and large portions of the content are provided free or at nominal cost to nations in the developing world through partnerships with organisations such as HINARI, AGO Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 450 nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace. “And this is our USP. The majority of Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry are Wiley authors,” he says. “Wiley’s Indian business is Rs 100 crore in prints and Rs 150 crore online. We publish about 3,000 books globally, of which 300 titles are published from India,” shares Vikas.

Future ahead…

“India is a market where print will remain but STMS publishing would become 100 percent digital. Focus would shift from books to subject databases. It will become a service-centric business. Open access publishing will co-exist with traditional publishing.

Publishers will offer newer services to researchers and scholars to help them write better and get them published. Plagiarism would be tackled where article published would have links to data used for the same. Discoverability of content would increase. But, there would be a new set of competitors, who will not be publishers,” concludes Vikas.

Is it a travel book or a comic?

It is both – a comic travel book. Ladakh: A Photo Travelogue is a fresh attempt at travel books. Here, Varsha Verma finds out what goes in making of this book, in conversation with the author Sohini Sen.Unlike any other book so far published on Ladakh — and quite possibly unlike any other travel book published till date Ladakh: A Photo Travelogue — is a travel story told through high-resolution colour photographs laid out in a comic-strip format. Two lady travellers arrive in Leh one local summer morning. In the course of their journey through Ladakh, they get to know about the war between ‘Nanak Lama’ and a demon and watch masked lamas offer a comic interlude amid serious rituals at the Phyang Monastery festival. On their way to Nubra Valley via Khardung Pass (altitude: 18,380 ft), the travellers meet animals with an identity crisis, and a donkey who will never lend its owner an ear again.

In the valley, a 32-metre tall statue of Maitreya Buddha shares the limelight with double-humped camels. The ladies are bowled over by their names. Readers can enjoy the journey to Pangong Lake (altitude: 13,900 ft) and back, which has quite a few highpoints — Shey Palace, Thiksey and Hemis monasteries, the Chang Pass, and the curious case of the frozen marmot. Also, one can find the Tso Moriri lake (altitude: 15,075 ft), which is visited by very few tourists. The book is written by Sohini Sen, who has enjoyed two successful careers as an assistant editor with The Telegraph newspaper and a senior manager with Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. Now a full-time travel writer and photographer, instead of chasing deadlines, she is chased by camera-shy yaks and was once ceremoniously kissed by a dolphin. She has been a freelance travel columnist with the Financial Chronicle newspaper, New Delhi. Her other books are The Talking Table and Other Stories, a book of short stories for children, and Yatra Pathe Rabi—a collection of photographs taken by her; matched with Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s autograph-poems.

Ladakh: A Photo Travelogue has over 400 crisp photos, and the easy, humorous writing style. So, how did this new concept of travelogue came up? “Will, I have been very fond of comic strip Asterix from my young age. And I believe that people do not read much as they have short attention spans. So, I was looking for a medium which can hold their attention and what better than a graphic novel. So, this book will appeal to casual tourists, serious travellers, and even those keen on armchair travelling,” tells Sohini.

“Since it is a travel book, pictures form an integral part of the book. But, a picture is incomplete without words and so it is a mix of both, making it a harmonious whole,” she shares. Sohini spent 20 days in Ladakh and took thousands of pictures on her travel. “I was charmed with the beauty of Ladakh and when I came back and saw the pictures, I thought of putting it together in the form of a book. So, for six months, I worked on the text, design and layout of the book. When I submitted my book to Niyogi Books, it was finalised in just 10 days of submission,” she shares.

As an advice to young aspiring travel writers, Sohini shares, “Be prepared for lots of hardships as travelling is not easy. Mingle with a lot of locals and blend with the atmosphere to bring the true spirit of place. Be ready to live with basic facilities.” And Sohini, being an avid traveller, is now working on a photo travelogue on Bhutan. “I may look at a series of similar travelogues,” she concludes.

The Courtesans of Karim Street – by Debotri Dhar

The Courtesans of Karim Street – by Debotri Dhar

Debotri Dhar is a cultural theorist, traveller, storyteller. She has lived multiple lives in India, the USA, the UK, and other named and unnamed countries in-between. She is passionate about higher education and interdisciplinary research and enjoys giving public talks and teaching in the university. Her new book The Courtesans of Karim Street is a love story set in India and the United States, that straddles the historical past and contemporary present. Here, Varsha Verma finds more about this book.

Debotri Dhar

I believe the best stories are those that draw creatively from our own worlds, the spaces we inherit and inhabit. I have attempted to do that, in order to create authentic characters and a fastpaced, audacious (but hopefully still believable!) plot, with mystery, history, romance, ideas, interpretations.... The geographical settings in the two countries, from Princeton and Newark on the US east coast, to Delhi (New Delhi as well as the old city), are those I am personally very familiar with. Travel in all its complex dimensions has been a recurring thread in my life, so I was able to draw from that. The university classroom scenes are inspired by my own experiences as an academic in America, just as the references to music draw from my training in Hindustani classical music. The research had mostly to do with the courtesan culture of our yesteryears, the stories of the courtesans’ lives, loves and longings against a shifting political, cultural and material landscape. I wanted to take these themes, transforming them to weave a very contemporary love story, tells Debotri

Response so far…

“Well, the book has just been released in India. I flew down from the US for the launch… The response has been quite heartwarming. Several readers from across the country have written to me to say they have enjoyed the lyricism of the prose, the conversations between cultures, the friendships, the love. We have had launches in two cities in India so far, Delhi and Kolkata, where the audience was so lively and engaging. I also did a book reading and talk at JNU, at an event organised by the English department and the Forum for Mutual Learning at JNU. It was a joy interacting with the students, especially the Ph D students. A wonderful review in the Sunday Guardian described my novel as having succeeded in addressing the historical silencing of courtesans in public discourse and presenting an alternative reading of the present and future through an array of Indian and American characters. I am really looking forward to more readers reading the novel, bringing to it their own interpretations, and deciding for themselves if I’ve told a good story,” she shares.

Journey as an author…

“I ’m an ear ly career academic, so academic research and teaching take up a lot of time. When the day job ends, the night job of writing fiction begins. When I wrote my first novel, I was an undergraduate preparing for final exams! In the years that followed, I was only able to write short stories as I completed a Masters degree from Oxford University and a Ph D from Rutgers University. Some of them were published in literary journals in the US, UK and elsewhere. One, I remember, won a literary award…I was so thrilled! These were later published as a collection. It was only when I was close to completing my Ph D in 2013 and had a lectureship that I wrote this novel on the courtesans. A friend owned a beautiful home on the outskirts of Princeton, and I wrote some portions of it there, the parts that are based in Pennington, US. It’s been a very interesting journey for me as an author, an academic and an individual.

Future plans include academic books, non-fiction as well as fiction. I’ve currently joined the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, so may be that setting will inspire a new novel. I just want to keep writing…,” she shares. So, as a writer, what does she aim to achieve? “To tell a good story and connect with my audience. Academic writing and fiction are two different forms of writing, different audiences. Since I already write for a specialised audience as far as academics is concerned, I want to make that my fiction is more fast-paced and readable, with romance, humor, adventure, eccentric characters and attractive, entertaining storylines,” replies Debotri.

Most difficult part of being an author…

“I would say the hardest part of writing a novel is definitely the marketing aspect! Perhaps it seems harder to me, in comparison to those writers who are gifted with a keener sense of selling. Earlier writers could afford to be reclusive, but these days the writer is a commodity to be consumed in the market. I am an idealist, I live in a world of ideas, even while recognising the role and importance of the market. One has to learn new skills everyday…,” she shares.

What reading means to her?

“There is such cacophony in the world sometimes… relaxing with a book will always remain a great option. Besides, what other form of entertainment allows us to retreat into beautiful worlds of ideas and expressions? Yesterday, a young reader confessed that she had hesitated to pick up The Courtesans of Karim Street. Turns out she was worried a novel written by an academic would be boring! But then she found it such an engrossing read that she stayed up the entire night and finished it in one go!” shares Debotri.

What next?

“I’m doing a non-fiction book on gender. As far as fiction is concerned, a work of social satire is already underway. It’s a humorous story of a young woman, set against a backdrop of contemporary local and global politics,” concluded Debotri.

Add-ons in children books make them more attractive!

–shares Ved Chawla of Dreamland Publications in conversation with Varsha Verma. 

This month, All About Book Publishing (ABP) invited a veteran in publishing to their office in New Delhi. Meet Ved Chawla of Dreamland Publishing, who shares his opinion on the Indian children publishing segment. Excerpts.

Challenges before Indian publishers…

Ved Chawla

“The Indian publishers today face a lot of challenges, dearth of talented authors being one of them. Besides, the Indian market is so price-sensitive, it is difficult for publishers to deliver quality content at these prices. Indian customers are not much concerned with content and production quality, they decide to buy books on the basis of price. Though they are willing to pay more for the imported books, they are hesitant to pay the same price for Indian books,” shares Ved Chawla of Dreamland Publications. Talking about the textbooks, Ved opined that parents and teachers should first read the content of the book and then decide if it is suitable for their children. “They should not rely much on guide books, help books and internet,” he added.

On education publishing…

“The giant publishers are doing a good job but the mushroom publishers are bringing out low-quality books with low quality content and illustrations. This kind of publishing should be stopped. Talented teachers should check all the books thoroughly and recommend quality books for their school,” opined Ved. “The textbooks should be of such high standard that children should not feel the need for helpbooks, guidebooks or even private tuitions. Content should be easy to understand. Sometimes, authors use such words, for which a child has to refer a dictionary to understand its meaning. So, it is important to use the scripts in accordance to the age group of the child. If textbooks do not serve this purpose, it is a big question mark on the capability of the publisher,” he added.

Tips for improving content…

“Whenever a child picks up a book, he should feel that he has become a part of that fantasy world. Thus, in any children book, illustrations play an important role. Bright colours with attractive designing give a new dimension to the quality script. Dull and black colours are not good for children and they are not even attractive to them,” told Ved.

On exports…

So how can Indian publishers improve their exports? “On the basis of their production quality and using good quality paper stock, they can improve their exports. Besides, content should be meaningful and appropriate, services should be prompt and they should work on time-bound schedule,” replied Ved.

Coming to children books, Ved shared that books that give a toy like feeling are in great demand for exports. “Books which have add-ons like electronic add-ons like CDs, drawing/ stationery items are in vogue. In Europe and America, books are even sold with small toys, which becomes an additional feature of attraction to kids,” he added.

On imports…

Talking about the children books imported in India, he told that only branded books like Disney, Archies, Batman, etc are imported in India. “Otherwise, equally good quality books are produced in India that there is no need for importing them,” he told.

CPG: eyeing on acquiring Indian titles on culture and computer science

China Publishing Group is a large-scale national publishing institution in China and they are planning to participate at the upcoming New Delhi World Book Fair 2016 in a big way. Here, Li Yan, vice president, China Publishing Group Corporation, shares more about CPG, in conversation with Varsha Verma.The Chinese publishing industry is significantly large and China publishes around 4,40,000 titles every year, growing at a rate of 3 percent in 2014, told Li Yan, vice president, China Publishing Group Corporation.

Li Yan

“In 2013, the industry was growing at 4 percent while the growth rate in 2012 was 8 percent.” Talking about digital publishing, Li told that the growth in digital publishing has been 20 percent per annum. China Publishing Group (CPG) is a large-scale national publishing institution, founded in view of intensifying the reform and accelerating the development in publishing industry. Granted by the Central Government of China, the Group was established on April 9, 2002. The Group consists of ten large publishing houses and three publications wholesalers, namely, the People’s Literature Publishing House, the Commercial Press, Zhonghua Book Company, Encyclopaedia of China Publishing House, China Fine Arts Publishing Group, People’s Music Publishing House, SDX Joint Publishing Company, CTPC Publishing House, Orient Publishing Centre, Xinhua Bookstore Head Office, China National Publishing Industry Trading Corporation and China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation. Besides books, CPG also deals in 55 periodicals related to social science and news.

“In fact, we are the largest publisher of trade and professional books, including encyclopaedias, dictionaries, academia especially social science. We export printed copies as well as sell rights to foreign countries. China Publishing Group has been rated as one amongst the top fifty publishers of the world. CPG dominates more than 7 percent of the domestic retailing market for thirteen years now,” told Li.

Talking more about the exports, he told, “We are largest book exporter and importer in China. We annually export books worth $14 million while copyright export amounts to more than 600 titles.” On asking about the Indian publishing industry, Li replied, “CPG has many cooperations with Indian publishing. Last year, Encyclopaedia of India-China Culture Contacts was released in India. Its Chinese counterpart was published by CPG. We are also closely working on Indo-China Classic Works Project in which Indian works are translated in Chinese and vice-versa.”

He also talked about their title – Sino India Maritime Strategies imported and published by China Democracy & Legal System Publishing House (under CPG). Since CPG is working on Indo-China Works Project, CPG is now focusing on participating at upcoming New Delhi World Book Fair 2016 (January 9-17, 2016). “The president of CPG will probably be there at the show and there would be at least ten publishers from the group,” told Li.

So what kind of Indian books would CPG be interested in? “Culture is the foremost focus for rights exchange and so is the computer science,” he said. As a message to Indian publishers, he said, “Both India and China are neighbours and have rich culture and heritage.” Infact, Li has majored in history and has learnt a lot about Indian history and country. He personally feels that India has lot of mystery around it and he would really like to know more about it.

“Chinese are the most humourous people in the world”

says Liu Zhenyun, a well-known Chinese author, who is known for his humourous streak in the saddest of situations in his books.Liu Zhenyun is a famous Chinese writer, whose works include novels such as Yellow Flower Under the Sun in Hometown, Going Around in Hometown, Hometown: Noodles and Flowers (four volumes), Cell Phone, My Name is Liu Yuejin, One Sentence worth Ten Thousand, I Did Not Kill My Husband, etc. He has also penned famous short stories such as Company of New Soldiers, Chicken Feathers Everywhere, Reminiscing 1942 etc. One Sentence worth Ten Thousand was awarded with Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2011. Throughout the years, Liu’s works have been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch, Russian, Hungarian, Serbian, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and other languages.

Liu Zhenyun

Indian readers can read English version of his novels I Did Not Kill My Husband, Cellphone, and others, published by Skyhorse. “The response for the English version of my novel has been very good. The New York Times had reviewed the novel and said that Chinese also have a sense of humour and they are not serious or mysterious,” told Liu.

On asking about whether he is happy with his translated works or do translations lose the original flavor, Liu replied, “All translations are done by sinologists who are high-quality translators. They always try to maintain the original flavor.” Liu started writing when he was in college and his first book was published in 1992. “I have something to tell to the world. But, all my novels are a mix of fact and fiction as only a fiction novel cannot be of top quality,” he shared. Liu has written a novel set in the famine in 1942. “But, it has a sense of humour too as life is even sadder than the description in the novel,” he added.

His books are so interesting that they have been adapted to films as well. Two of his books - One Sentence worth Ten Thousand and I Did Not Kill My Husband – will be soon adapted into films.

FLTRP: a complete educational service provider in China

Tell us something about the role of FLTRP in popularizing foreign language education in China?

Zhang Siying with Varsha Verma

Zhang: Aiming for higher goals, we have been actively exploring innovative transformation and expanding our business scope. Educational training and service, online courses have become our new strengths.

New Concept English, first published by us in 1996, is still selling very well today. It is the bestseller in the English language learning market. In 2001, FLTRP and Macmillan Education jointly complied and published New Standard English, based on the currently new curriculum issued by the Ministry of Education. So far, more than 500 million copies have been sold.

In the past decade, FLTRP has provided training to about one million college and school teachers. The annual FLTRP National English Debating Competition was first held in 1997, and there after attracting students from hundreds of universities every year. FLTRP initiated the annual National English Public Speaking Contest in 2002, the National English Writing Contest in 2013 and the National English Reading Contest in 2015.

What have been the changes in the industry since the inception of FLTRP?

Zhang: Over the past 36 years, we think the biggest change in the industry has been the transform from print copies to the digital ones. And embracing the digital age, FLTRP also made endeavors in developing new products like online learning materials, the E-pen, Apps, etc to provide better, easy to learn and more advanced services to our users.

Describe FLTRP as a complete educational service provider.

Zhang: FLTRP started as a language education publisher, and has expanded into more subject areas. The formats of our products have extended from print to digital and mobile. And the age groups of our learners now cover pre-school kids to adults.

FLTRP has now built itself into a language publisher to an educational solutions provider. We provide training courses, online education services, assessment services to target users, as well as organize types of competitions including English debating, speaking and writing competitions.

What kind of books are published and in what languages?

Zhang: Our publications range from academic and educational works, to humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, and to the mass reading and children’s books. We now publish in 47 languages.

Which are the most popular languages and why?

Zhang: The most popular language of all is, of course, English, since it is the most frequently used language in the world, and has highest number as far as speaking is concerned. Other major European and Asian languages, like French, Japanese, German, Korean, Spanish, and Russian, are also quite popular in China.

How many books have been published so far?

Zhang: We now have a backlist of more than 9,000 titles, and we publish more than 1,000 new titles each year.

What are the average print runs of these books?

Zhang: Print runs may vary with different titles. For textbooks used in the school system, the print runs can be over 10 thousand, while for less popular titles like the teacher’s handbooks, the first print runs would be around 1,000.

Also, are these available as ebooks as well?

Zhang: This also depends on the types of books. For textbooks, we usually provide E-pen applicable print copies to facilitate users with more ready-to-use audio materials, and we also provide online resources and platforms to assist teaching and learning. For readers, we often provide ebooks.

What is the process of selection for authors? And how do you ensure that you publish authentic information?

Zhang: Our process is in fact quite simple: we first establish our publishing plan according to the demands of our readers and the local market, and then we find the suitable potential authors for the projects. We ask all potential authors to write sample units, and make evaluations according to the quality of the samples before making final decisions on the right authors to employ.

To ensure that we publish authentic information, we always cooperate with leading foreign publishers and first-class authors. We also train our editors, and send them to various language-teaching related conferences to get the cutting-edge information.

What are your views on the increasing competition of digital publishing to printed ones? Do you think it is a threat to the print? Why/Why not?

Zhang: We cannot deny that the competition between digital and traditional publishing is getting fierce. But we think that instead of being a threat to the print, digital publishing can be a very useful supplementary tool to the print if applied in the right way. Digitized materials are more convenient, and can make learning more vivid and interesting, and make teaching management more efficient.

Since you also publish dictionaries and other reference books, how has digital publishing affected the sales of these books?

Zhang: When the digital age first came to affect the publishing circle, the sales of dictionaries and reference books did suffer from a rapid decrease. But the negative effects only lie in the format of publishing, not the contents. What we need to do is to adapt the formats to a more convenient form, so that readers are given the freedom of shifting from print to digital.

What about your distribution system for offline and online sales?

Zhang: We have our traditional offline distribution system, and are working with major online stores in China. We are also building our own online flagship store.