What should the publishing industry do differently?

However, with the threat of Covid still looming over us, and the third wave of the virus imminent, we asked the publishing fraternity — What does the book publishing industry in India need to do differently in 2022?

In a post-Covid world, online book retail has become even more dominant than before. But, according to Parth Phiroze Mehrotra, editor-in-chief, Juggernaut Books, online shopping doesn’t promote book discovery in the same way as browsing in a bookstore does. You type the name of a known book or author in the Amazon search bar, and you can’t find what you don’t know you are looking for.

Mehrotra says this makes marketing critical. “Even when commissioning a book, we need to think about how will we market the book, how will we talk about this book to newspapers, TV, and event organisers, in a way that makes it interesting to them and their consumers,” he asks.

The second point Mehrotra mentions is the competition from other medias. “We are living in an age where OTT platforms are competing more aggressively for people’s time and attention. We need to commission and publish books that make people want to read them for entertainment, not just books that are “worthy”, but also books that are a pleasure to read for a layman,” he adds.

According to Himanjali Sankar, editorial director, Simon & Schuster India, the book publishing industry does need to rethink and discover newer ways of being – have more diversity in the workplace so that it leads to changes in the way we think and produce books. “If editors, marketing and sales teams could be recruited from outside the same tired pool that we always tap into, the industry would be reenergised and reflect the moment we are living in with greater authenticity and relevance,” she says.

Piyush Kumar, director, Prabhat Prakashan, says publishing in India needs to grow rapidly if we have to become a superpower. He suggests four areas of improvement — first, spreading reading habits; second, more bookshops at malls, railway stations and airports; third, better content and fourth, more and better publishers.

Senior consultant Sridhar Balan says, the pandemic seems to have forced a change on publishing in ways that could not be foreseen. This change, once embraced, cannot be jettisoned. He gives an example: A leading trade publisher has adopted the ‘sub and pub’ model for books that it considers will only have a ‘niche’ market. Such books are put on short-term digitals (STDs) and are only published as eBooks. The print edition on print-on-demand (POD) only happens if there is a subscription.

(l-r) Himanjali Sankar, Piyush Kumar and Sridhar Balan

“Instead of progress, we seem to have regressed, says Balan, “In my book, Off the Shelf – On Books, Book People and Places (2019), I had said that Dean Mahomed’s Travels in India, Ireland and England was published by subscription. He was lucky, his benefactor George Baker had a huge extended family. Mahomed’s book was published in 1794, making him the first Indian author in English.”

In another example, Balan says, another leading publisher embraced change so much so that her publishing eschewed print and went completely digital. She gave books that could be read on your laptop, palmtop, iPad, eReader, mobile phone and even your wrist watch. All this proved to be counter-productive and she has now reverted back to a combination of print and the eBook.

Thus, Balan suggests the following for publishers to keep their heads above water.

1. Publishing needs to be a combination of both print and digital; let consumers have a choice. This is, unless a specific market demands only eBooks such as medical reference publishing.
2. Publishers need to be far more proactive with authors. It’s a relationship that’s built on trust and respect and one that will yield dividends in the long-run. Do not look at authors as investment in mutual funds — as short-term dividends.
3. Publishers need to do a lot more on promotion. Once the book is out, it’s like a baby that has to be nurtured. Just like one can’t deny parenthood, the book is a joint responsibility of both the author and the publisher. The author has entrusted the publisher with the book and this trust cannot be betrayed regardless of how many books are being published every year.
4. Promotion cannot be routine. It has to be inventive and innovative. Not only social media platforms need to be tapped aggressively, but also the sales force needs to be trained on the salient features of the book. Simple distribution of the advance information sheet is not enough.
5.  Publishers need to look at self-published authors, too, and offer contracts to promising books. Some years ago, the country head of a leading trade publisher was transferred to the headquarters of the parent company to precisely look after such a division.
6. The relationship between the publisher and the author can develop only if communication channels are kept open. The author must hear from the publisher and vice versa. It’s a partnership and both have to keep an eye on the ball (or book).
7.  “In short, the new publishing model is simply a case of doing all the basics right. The publishing industry seems to have drifted away from this,” Balan concludes.