NBT, India: promoting books and authors!

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

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

Encouraging women writers …

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

Celebrating women…

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

Nav Lekhan Mela…

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

Promoting reading habit…

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

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

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

Promoting regional languages…

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

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

On a concluding note…

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

Liensed publishing: the road ahead

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

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

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

Market statistics…

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

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

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

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

On Indian licenses…

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

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

Before roping in a particular character… 

Licenced titles from Scholastic India

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

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

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

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

Books and beyond… 

Licenced titles from Sterling Publishers

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

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

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

On bestsellers…

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

Children and young adults: both love licensed products

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

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

On print runs…

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

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

Distribution channels…

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

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

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

Business quantum…

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

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

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

Print or digital: the verdict is clear

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

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

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

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

On a concluding note…

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

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

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

Children’s books: it’s not a child’s play!

Bookstores and book expos are full of beautiful children’s books, all clamouring for attention. It’s easy to miss that a lot of brain and sweat has gone into the crafting of a perfect children’s book. Varsha Verma and Shweta Khurana talk to children’s book publishers in India to know the nuances of the ‘little’ industry.

Currently, the Indian book market is the sixth-largest in the world (valued at $3.9 billion, according to Nielsen) and the second-largest in terms of English-language market (after the U.S.). “There are about 10,000 active publishers in the country who provide both English and Indian language books. There is a new crop of emerging writers appearing and that’s a good sign because readers get a variety of content to read,” says Shobha Vishwanath of Karadi Tales.

“Indian publishing is all about children’s books as it holds a major share of the market. This is because every young parent wants a book in his child’s hands. Thus, the industry is rapidly growing. The quality of illustrations has drastically improved, though there is definitely a foreign touch to the artwork that is happening in India. A deliberate effort is made to add some life skills to every story that a child reads,” adds Nidhi Kundra of Edu Hub Publishing Company.

“We have good content, good illustrations coupled with good printing. The industry has really grown and currently a lot of international publishers are buying rights from India,” adds Sandeep Kaushik, CEO & publisher, Macaw Books.

Indian vs foreign books

Manasi Subramaniam, commissioning editor and rights manager, HarperCollins Publishers India, says that children trade publishing is the largest growing market in India. “But, the market is largely dominated by foreign books,” she adds.

Similar views were expressed by Mudit Mohini of Vishv Books, who says that the number of Indian authors is quite less and the majority of children’s books available in India are by foreign authors.

So, is our children’s book publishing industry at par with its foreign counterparts? “We are a country that grew up on stories, so it comes naturally for us. We have some outstanding talent in our country. We have, over the last twenty years, worked with both Indian and International authors and illustrators. We choose who to work with purely based on the story. The only aspect that we could better ourselves is in marketing and packaging the products. There are heavy costs involved and hence we need to be cautious on what we spend on,” cautions Shobha.

While, Manasi adds, “The content produced in India is very strong and there are so many independent publishers like Tara Books, Duckbill, Scholastic, Puffin, Tulika Publishers that are doing a good job. At HarperCollins, we have both Indian and foreign authors. One of our books Did I mention I love You has rights for 11 different territories.”

Nidhi also shares that Indian illustrations have also come up and are at par with international ones. “Some publishers cater to Indian audience only, while a few cater to international audience. Some publishers cater to both Indian and foreign audiences. Hence, illustrations are designed to appeal to the target audience,” she says.

However, Sandeep feels that Indian publishers need an improvement in our systems to avoid fire fighting and focus should be on creativity. “Our maximum time should be focussed on creativity which adds value to the learning system,” he adds.

Main attributes of a children’s book

“I like the idea that we are creating readers of tomorrow. It gives me an immense sense of responsibility.” Manasi Subramaniam, HarperCollins

“A children’s book should be age appropriate (choice of words, word count) and friendly. It should be easy to read and understand, besides being interesting and offering some value. Most importantly, it should be light reading. The presentation of the book is very important. Children remember by sight, more so in wordless books. Think from the perspective of children. Make characters cool so that reading becomes a pleasure activity,” shares Mudit. She also adds that it is not important to segregate books on the basis of age. A book that appeals to a 5-year-old might also appeal to a 7-year-old. So let a child pick up what he likes and then move to the next level.

Sandeep puts it simply as, “A perfect package is the result of the combination of ageappropriate subject and content, which deals with language complexity expertly, good illustrations and a great cover. The story should be interesting and the young reader should be able to derive meaningful value.”

Similar views were expressed by Nidhi who says that there should be some value in a children’s book and that it should not be boring. “A child should be able to read and understand it himself. The illustrations and words should be in sync with their cognitive abilities,” she adds.

Talking about the attributes of a children’s book, Shobha shares that the story should appeal to the readers and illustrations should strike a chord with them.

For Manasi, first, it should be a good book. Second, is it a book I would want to read? And third, is there a market for the book? “If it is a book I can’t put down, then it is definitely what I want to publish,” she adds. Talking about illustrations, Manasi shares that their relevance increases with increase in age group. She particularly recommends wordless picture books for age group till 7 years.

Manuscript’s appeal: voice, characterisation or plot?

“It is unlikely that the digital space will ever replace the print book. I can see them existing side by side.” Shobha Vishwanath Karadi Tales

“For ages 7 and above, plot is very important, while for ages 5-7, characterisation is important. And for ages 3-5, voice is the most important aspect of the manuscript,” defines Mudit clearly. For Shobha, storyline and writing style matter; while, for Manasi, plot comes first, style and voice later.

But, for Nidhi, voice of the manuscript is most important: “It should be a kind of read aloud, and that which instantly spurs imagination,” she says.

The Language divide

By far, English seems to be the most preferred language for children’s books. “We have over 100 titles in English and several picture books, audio-books and DVDs of stories in Tamil and Hindi.

Karadi Tales has sold rights of several of our titles and has translated books into French, Japanese, Chinese and so forth. We have also bought rights to some outstanding books and translated them into Indian languages,” shares Shobha.

Mudit shares that all language books have their market. “Hindi section also does well but availability is a problem.”

Even, Sandeep adds that regional languages are evolving. “NGOs are publishing in multiple languages and some of the new publishers are also going into regional publishing. Book released in 7-8 languages simultaneously has become a norm. Once you have a good distribution network, it makes a lot of sense,” he shares. As per Sandeep, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Malayalam are the top 4 regional languages in India. Macaw Books has a rights catalogue of 5000 titles, of which 600 are published in India “These titles have been translated worldwide in 22 languages, and 6 Indian languages. We are diversifying into Hindi books as we see a great demand. We are also looking at translating our books in 6-7 regional languages,” he adds.

“A child should be able to read and understand it himself. The illustrations and words should be in sync with their cognitive abilities,” Nidhi Kundra Edu Hub Publishing Company

But, according to Nidhi most of the Indian languages are struggling for survival. “English, of course, has a good hold in India as it is a global language,” she says. “At Edu Hub, we will be coming up with Hindi story books as there is a great demand for it.”

Average print runs & prices

“The print runs for English editions is 5000 copies, Hindi is 2000 copies while regional language editions have an initial print run of 1000 copies only. The price of our books range between Rs 50 and Rs 200,” tells Sandeep.

As per Manasi, their print runs are higher for books placed in schools. “Else, we do a print run of 3000 for middle grade and 5000 for activity books,” she adds. “Since India is a pricesensitive market, we have to keep our prices competitive. For example, a picture book has an MRP of Rs 75, while a middle grade book is priced less than Rs 199 and a young adult book is priced at Rs 300.”

Mudit shares that the first print run ranges from 500-3000 copies, depending upon the kind of title. They have around 800 titles, of which 100 are in Hindi language.

While, Shobha says, “We do on average 3000 copies of each title and price starts from Rs.175 onwards.” For Nidhi, the average print at Edu Hub is 10,000 while pricing depends on the kind of book, content and paper quality. “Hindi books sell at a cheaper price,” she adds.

What gives publishers the kick?

“I like the idea that we are creating readers of tomorrow. It gives me an immense sense of responsibility,” shares Manasi. Similar views were expressed by Sandeep, who says, “The best thing is that we are shaping the young minds who will be the future of our country. It gives us immense satisfaction when we get emails from parents telling us how much their children loved our books and how the books helped their children learn new things.”

“The best thing is that you have the power to create fantastic and wonderful worlds for children to dwell in and to experience those worlds yourselves,” adds Shobha. Similar views were shared by Mudit, who adds that she becomes a child herself when she reads a children’s book. “It is a magical thing…actually!” she says.

“It is an exhilarating experience. I feel like a child again. Also, it is a continuous challenge to bring something that appeals to children,” adds Nidhi.

Digital vs print

“A perfect package is the result of the combination of age-appropriate subject and content, which deals with language complexity expertly, good illustrations and a great cover.” Sandeep Kaushik Macaw Books

Notwithstanding the feat that digital will take over the print, the two mediums have been going hand in hand for the last couple of years. “It is an important add-on and every publisher, including Edu Hub is going for ebooks. Digital has a very strong role in children’s books,” tells Nidhi.

“There are limited sale of digital books as they require right gadgets and conducive infrastructure,” tells Mudit.

“It is unlikely that the digital space will ever replace the print book. I can see them existing side by side and every publisher today is working to make content available across several platforms. We are no different,” shares Shobha.

Similar views were expressed by Manasi, who say that they too bring out digital editions simultaneously. But, children’s books, according to her, do not translate well in digital; therefore, digital book is unlikely to replace its printed cousin.

Challenges in the value chain

Nidhi says, “Innovation is a huge challenge in children’s books.” While, Shobha adds, “Apart from the usual rising costs of publishing a book and keeping up with technological advancements that seem to change every week, I would say the hardest thing is developing a readership. Children today have so many things to choose from. To cultivate readers in this environment is challenging to say the least – reading is a lifestyle-changing endeavour, hence there are few buyers.

Publishers, parents and schools need to proactively work together and create an opportunity for children to enjoy reading. It’s an ongoing effort.” Manasi shares that perhaps this is the only segment where the person who buys the books is not necessarily reading them. “The purchasing power rests upon parents and teachers. Hence, books have to be packaged in a way that’s appealing to parents while content has to be impressive enough to hook children,” she says. Besides, another challenge Manasi mentions is the marketing of the book.

Talking about the marketing costs, Mudit shares that it is indeed a costly affair and publishers cannot spend money on promoting all books. “Besides, distribution is also a major challenge. There are so many lovely books that are not able to reach the readers because distributors are only looking for discounts, because of which returns are very high,” she says.

Another challenge she mentions is that since volumes are low publishers are not able to invest, research and find good authors. “With the advent of selfpublishing and print-on-demand, some writers do not work with traditional publishing houses.

Also, with rising print costs and other additional expenses associated with publishing and marketing a book, using technology to reach more readers seems like the way forward. In terms of mindset, people are beginning to realise that the younger generation are spending less or no time at all reading. It’s almost like a ‘conscious wake-up call’ and we definitely want to reverse that trend,” adds Shobha.

“Plagiarism and system of circulation of money stress us out. People of the industry should work together and look for solutions to overcome challenges,” adds Sandeep as a matter of fact.

Inculcating reading habit

“Work with children to understand the genre of books they like. Do not force them to read books they have no interest in. Doing so will only make them further dislike reading,” warns Shobha. To this, Nidhi adds a note of caution by saying, “Parents should ensure that the book a child picks has good content as well. He might be attracted to beautiful illustrations, but if the content in the book is not good, the whole battle is lost.”

To encapsulate every view, Manasi says, “I think schools should have a compulsory summer reading programme and should encourage children to read 20 books every term. Also, more libraries are required to enhance readership. Besides, while selecting a book, a child makes a decision; so basically, he reads what he likes.” “Books should be for enjoyment and parents need to encourage their children to read,” concludes Mudit.

“Try something different… be a smart buyer. Efforts need to be made to develop reading habits in children,” concludes Sandeep optimistically.

Helping the publishing industry to collaborate and grow…

An upcoming distributor wishes to foray into publishing, while a publisher seeks to become a distributor, but they do not have the required know-how. Here’s where the role of publishing consultant comes in. Here, Sahil Gupta of Publishingconsultant.in shares how they can help publishers, authors and technology companies to overcomes the hassles and grow together, in conversation with Varsha Verma.

Sahil Gupta

Publishingconsultant.in, with its digital publishing consultancy knowledge, intents to help publishing companies to adopt highly competitive and flexible publishing operating models, and drive publishing cost reduction in order to grow their businesses. “We work with a number of retail and distribution partners in India and abroad, guiding and enabling publishers from planning and budgeting, to finished products, including apps, IT infrastructure, and for sale of print and ebooks,” says Sahil Gupta, publishing consultant, specializing in digital rights and ebook sales. He advises publishers on all aspects of digital publishing through this consultancy business.

An experienced negotiator, with expertise in digital contracts for both selling and acquiring ebooks and other digital products, his expertise includes copyright law and publishing rights, including complete understanding of digital technologies & publishing.

Service for publishers…

“We are aiming at optimising the small and mid segment publishers, who have amazing good content but are not able to sell them enough due to some hurdles either in their resources, infrastructure or their work culture. Our main purpose is to advise, consult and connect them to appropriate vendors and chalk out a plan to overcome their problems,” told Sahil.

“One of the major challenges for the publishing industry is ‘being digital,’ which is no longer an add on to the physical publishing business. Over the next ten years, the entire environment in which content is used and transacted will undergo a complete overhaul.

Publishers need to reengineer their businesses and for this they will require new systems to take the new digital enterprise from product to consumer. We help publishers connect to the right technology partners, who are not only cost-effective but can also provide quality services, told Sahil.

“Moreover, we can help publishers get in touch with the technology providers who offer services like book editing, checking for original content, print on demand, marketing and promotional software, email marketing , social media marketing etc,” he added.

Besides, Publishingconsultant.in can also help publishers in promoting, marketing and selling their product globally through eBook vendors such as Apple, Google play, Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, B&N Nook, etc. “We can also help you in listing your product on book aggregators such as Bowker.com and Nielsen.com,” told Sahil.

Service for authors…

“Many a times I have seen authors with an excellent manuscript, with poor editing, which makes it difficult for them to find a publisher. At Publishingconsultant.in, we help them to vet their manuscripts and find the right publisher. We also help them bring out an ebook, told Sahil.

Service for technology providers…

Technology companies play a vital role in the publishing industry in this digital age. “We help technology companies in designing apps and test packages related to the publishing industry. Besides, we also help them connect with the publishers,” told Sahil.

Looking ahead…

“Many a times, publishers do not have clauses for ebooks in their contracts, which can become a big problem in future. So, we help in legal vetting as well. These are just a few problems; infact we get to know of different problems at both micro and macro levels. We are looking at more collaborations in the industry so that the overall industry grows,” concludes Sahil.

London Book Fair 2016 Making words go further!

The three-day event attracted publishing professionals from 124 countries where the show floor was abuzz with various conferences, seminars, one-on-one meetings, rights selling and more….Varsha Verma and Shweta Khurana of ABP bring a comprehensive report of the event. 

Sukumar, Sapna Kirtane, Sunil Kumar, Jacks Thomas, Srinivas Gotru , Pranav Gupta, Amy Francis and Mehraj Waghu

The London Book Fair welcomed publishing professionals from over 124 countries, authors and aspiring writers to a successful 45th Fair. From top authors visit – Julian Fellowes, Jeffery Archer, Peter James, Marian Keyes, Judith Kerr, Tracy Chevalier, Jeanette Winterson and more – to sixfigure book deals brokered and the best new talent discovered, the 45th London Book Fair 2016 was a vibrant showcase of international publishing and a bustling centre for rights negotiation.

Top deals & trends…

In a Q&A with London Book Fair 2016 director Jacks Thomas, Julian Fellowes discussed his new Belgravia app on 12 April, and why ‘serialised’ publishing is back in vogue thanks to modern technology. The London Book Fair also revealed a research showing that 41% of 18-23 year olds read serialised fiction on a monthly basis.

Public libraries were a hot topic at this year’s fair as children’s author Philip Ardagh participated in a lively panel debate entitled No to Library Closures – the benefits of the public library in the UK and beyond; is the library an unaffordable luxury in the digital age?

Few of the top deals closed at the show include: Hutchinson to publish The Raqqa Diaries: Life Inside the Islamic State by Syrian activist Mohammed; Nobel Laureate Ohran Pamuk and Costa-winner Sebastian Barry signed “major” new deals with Faber, while publisher Mitzi Angel has snapped up two “provocative” titles from UK academic Jacqueline Rose; Nadiya Hussain, winner of “The Great British Bake Off ” in 2015, will write three contemporary women’s fiction novels for Harlequin imprint HQ; while the ultimate makeup book, Face, by sibling bloggers Sam and Nic Chapmen, has been acquired by Blink Publishing. To mark the 150th anniversary of The Jungle Book, Macmillan Children’s Books has inked a deal for world Englishlanguage rights to a brand new survival book from Bear Grylls.

Aimed at 10+ readers, the book is inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s title and is full of survival tips and will be published in October. There were many more such deals closed at the show.

The Shakesperience

2016 saw LBF commemorate 400 years since the death of the bard, with multi-lingual performances of some of Shakespeare’s most-loved works at the onsite Globe Theatre.

From Arabic to Hindi and Polish to Maltese, actors took to the specially constructed mini Globe Theatre to delight the passing crowds with some of Shakespeare’s best-loved sonnets. Literary heavy-weights Jeanette Winterson and Tracey Chevalier were Authors of the Day at the fair. Both writers have recently penned modern re-telling of the bard’s works.

International Excellence Awards

The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards were presented at a prestigious awards ceremony to a global list of winners including Actes Sud (France), Readings (Australia), Words Without Borders (US) and Jieli Publishing House (China). The LBF Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Gail, Baroness Rebuck, DBE, chair of Penguin Random House UK.

31st International Publishers Congress

The London Book Fair played host to the 31st International Publishers Congress, where keynote speaker Arnaud Nourry, CEO of Hachette, gave a rousing and optimistic speech on the state of the industry. Later, author Philip Pullman gave an enlightening talk on the four revolutions which have impacted the book business over the years.

Quantum conference

At Quantum, the fair’s rebranded agenda-setting pre-conference, a futuregazing speech from artificial intelligence (AI) expert professor Nick Bostrom opened the proceeding, followed by an inspirational address by Gail, Baroness Rebuck. Delegates later enjoyed an engaging and upbeat conversation between Waterstones managing director James Daunt and Faber & Faber CEO Stephen Page.

Author HQ

Crowds gathered at Author HQ on the show floor, where a full seminar programme over the three days provided clear, concise advice for how authors can interact with the publishing community. Agent one-on-one was fully subscribed where agents, authors and publishers imparted insights to a host of authors.

Market focus 2017: Poland

At a special event on the final day of the fair, The London Book Fair in partnership with the British Council, the Publishers Association and the Polish Book Institute celebrated the launch of LBF Market Focus Poland 2017. Market Focus Poland will combine an extensive professional programme with a comprehensive schedule of cultural events throughout the year to celebrate the very best of Polish literature and writing.

---

Exhibitors and visitors agreed that the 2016 fair had been a brilliant showcase of the publishing industry. Here’s what Indian exhibitors have to say:

Sunil Kumar of CAPEXIL says they have taken a delegation of 19 member exporters to the London Book Fair 2016 sponsored by Government of India Ministry of Commerce & Industry and supported by Department of Commerce & Industry under the Market Development Assistance (MDA). The delegation of Indian exhibitors was led by Pranav Gupta, managing director, Prints Publications Pvt Ltd, as the chairman of CAPEXIL Ramesh K Mittal could not attend due to other commitments. National Book Trust, India and CAPEXIL had set-up a combined stand in the fair. Srinivas Gotru, Minister of Culture for the Indian High Commission and the director of the Nehru Centre, London visited the stands of Indian publishers and printers and interacted with them to understand their success stories as well as difficulties in exporting their items. Sunil Kumar said that Mittal, chairman of Books Division, is very positive about taking up the members’ problems before the concerned departments of the Government of India in order to solve the industry’s problems. He also said that Books Division has plans to participate in various international book fairs in the coming months such as in Manila, Beijing, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt, Guadalajara, Mexico, etc.during 2016-17. CAPEXIL is also planning to organise a Reverse Buyer Seller Meet in India wherein overseas buyers would be invited to interact with Indian exporters to expand their business from India.

Sunil and Pranav Gupta met Reed Exbibitions’ country manager and sales directorSapna Kirtane and Mehraj Waghu respectively, Jacks Thomas, director, London Book Fair, besides interacting and facilitating Indian printers and publishers at the fair.They were happy to see extensive participation by Indian publishers and printers. The total Indian participants were around 54 exhibitors and 100 trade visitors. Next year, CAPEXIL is planning to participate in a bigger way from India. On the whole, Indian participants were happy and wanted to come back in the future.

Bharat Rai Mediratta and Nidhi Kundra of Edu Hub Publishing said, “London Book Fair 2016 was a landmark event in the epic history of an year old Edu Hub Publishing Company. There was much to learn from the fair about the means and ways of international publishing. The welcoming weather of the city only added to the wonderful experience. LBF is a B2B fair offering a platform to interact with world leaders in the field. One gets to know the publishing giants very closely. We were able to speak with the like of Nielsen and Baker & Taylor, an interaction that made us aware of the requirements for global presence. The fair certainly reiterated the fact that print media has a long way to go as long as book lovers continue to throng the fairs. Also unfolded, an undisputed fact, is that children book industry demands great creativity and insight as far as target audience is concerned. The clientele is aware and the emphasis on quality now is much more that what it was ever before. Yes, the level of competition is far more, however, for a focussed seller, it is not unscalable.”

Abhishek Kejriwal, director, Parksons Graphics, said, “We have been participating for over 4-5 years. We are focusing on UK, Scandinavia and Australia. We are adding 1-2 clients every year; we are here to serve existing ones.”

Ravi Shroff, managing director, Nutech Print Services, shared, “We participated in London Bok Fair for the first time in 2004, and since then we have been here to meet existing customers. We prefer not to move to newer territories and are focusing in London, UK and a little bit in Europe.”

Ankit Vij, president, Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers, said, “We have been participating at London Book Fair for 20 years but this time there is lesser crowd due to Visa issue for countries like Africa, Sharjah, etc.”

Manish, Orient Press, shared, “We are participating for the first time and are exploring new markets. We are focusing on children book segment. We already have a market in US and UK and are looking at markets from Ghana, Nigeria, etc.”

Vishal Salgotra, Alpere Technologies, shared, “Europe is the biggest market for us, with good presence in Asia, and now US will come into play by next year. LBF is a step towards it.”

Apurva Ashar, executive director, e-Shabda, said, “LBF is an important event for us.”

Mudit Mohini, Vishv Books, said, “LBF is a good experience for us. Through this fair, we get good business from Asia and Africa.”

Trisha & Bikash Niyogi, Niyogi Books, said, “LBF is good for rights selling. We are getting good response for art and culture books.”

Saumya Gupta, managing director, New Age International, said, “The fair is well focused and we got some walk-in customers also from countries like Vietnam, Greece, China, besides our prereserved appointments. We have over 3000 titles, including 200 new books and revised titles every year. We also have 150 titles in New Academic Science, UK, with our offices in New Delhi, London and Nairobi.”

Sandeep Kaushik, Macaw Books, shared “Since Bologna Book Fair and London Book Fair are closer together we do rights selling in Bologna and trade sales in LBF, which works very well for us.”

Anuj Chawla, Dreamland Publications, said, “It has been a busy time for us. We are looking at good sales for books here.”

Varun Johar and Sanjay Kharbanda, Micro Prints, said, “We are doing business only in India; we are at LBF to explore export opportunities.”

Purvesh, Sheth Publications, said, “We are expecting good business at LBF.”

Ajay Mago, Om Books International, said, “We are exhibiting in the children pavilion and expect good business for our books.”

Apurv Garg, director, Brijbasi Art Press, said, “We participated in Bologna Book Fair and now we are at LBF to explore our opportunities further.”

Gulshan Dadani, Gita Publishing House, said, “Since Dada JP Vaswani visited the LBF, our stall garnered huge response as people thronged our stall to meet him.”

PG Bandhu, director, CBS Publishers & Distributors Pvt Ltd, said, “LBF is always special for us. We are here to meet our existing customers as well as new ones.”

Sagar Jain, Art Factory, said, “We have been participating since 2015 and we are here to sell rights.”

Nitin Jain, B Jain Publishers Pvt Ltd, said, “We are here to meet our existing customers and also generate new leads.”

LBF 2017 will be held at Olympia Exhibition Centre from March 14–16, 2017.

‘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.