Most important changes in the books
and publishing industry over the past 12 years – Piyush Jha Author
E-books hit
the West |
like a Tsunami and e-readers became a necessary fashion accessory. But then,
the tide turned. Good old paper books came back in fashion. But, the wave
passed by our shores. E-book sales are still a mere trickle in India’s book
sales stream. Yet, some publishers like Juggernaut have sailed forth undaunted
and are riding the choppy e-book seas.
Bollywood and
books began a new relationship | Authors began writing books with films in mind and filmmakers took
to writing books. Film stars churned out their biographies, and book covers
began to look like film posters. Will this relationship last? Reading went
mobile. But, hey, books were always mobile weren’t they? People just decided to
strain their eyeballs a little more — they went from staring at paper to
staring at dazzling backlit mobile screens.
Many
bookstore chains grew and then shut down | and re-invented themselves with
the rise of online booksellers. Flipkart shone for a few bright moments like a
shooting star until Planet Amazon arrived.
Literary
agents | went
from being a nonexistent concept to being much sought after. Some made tall
claims, while a few ferreted out “the next big thing”. They can be identified
in a crowd by the host of young people buzzing around them at Lit Fests.
According to
documented reports, India became the sixth-largest book market in the world | The ‘Big
Six’ (Macmillan, Harper Collins, Penguin, Random House, Simon & Shuster,
and Hachette) of the world’s publishing industry finally realised that India
was good enough to pitch their tents here. The industry grew rapidly and sales
started trending upwards. The only thing that remained unchanged was the
advance new authors received.
Nielsen Book
Scan made an appearance in India | and publishers got a peg to
hang their decisions on. Some publishers made irrational ones even with Nielsen
staring them in the faces. But, generally, the playfield turned into a level
and number-oriented one.
Piracy
flourished in India, | and successful authors lost out big time while publishers
wrung their hands. The spiel, “Only a best-selling author’s books sell on the
street,” was the only consolation for
the poor author being robbed of his royalties.
Across the nation, Literary
Festivals mushroomed in the fertile soil of the Indian writer’s sense of
selfimportance. They became the new place to hang out for wannabe intellectuals
and people who are ‘World Famous in India’, myself included.
‘Self-publishing’
stopped being known as ‘vanity publishing’. Publishers big and small, who
earlier wouldn’t have given some budding authors the time of day, tripped over
each other to woo the very same authors after they selfpublished and scored
high sales. Publishers even launched their own selfpublishing imprints, the
irony of which is lost on them, one would think.
Commercial
fiction boomed. Some authors became famous. With rock star-like fan followings,
they started a trend of grand book launches that had musical performances and
film star appearances. Their books began to look like clones of each other, but
when last seen, the authors were still out hobnobbing with the glitterati.
Source | Hindustan Times | 29
July 2017
Regards
Pralhad Jadhav
Senior Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan &
Co
Upcoming Lecture | ACTREC - BOSLA Annual
lecture series (125th birth anniversary of father of library
science, Padmashree Dr. S. R. Ranganathan) on Saturday, 12th August 2017 at Advanced Centre for Treatment,
Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. (Theme | 'MakerSpace')
No comments:
Post a Comment