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It’s time to book India
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As Penguin turns 20 in India. Mike Bryan talks about what’s on the pages !
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Photo S. Subramanium
Word power Penguin India Head Mike Bryan
“When I came to India in September, the immigration official checking my passport asked me which book I am carrying in my hand. And then went on to ask if it is any good. I have travelled around the world but have never come across such a literature conscious official at the airport.” Well, the book in question is Mohsin Hamid’s “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” and the avid reader is of course Mike Bryan who has recently taken over as the CEO of Penguin Group in India. The moral of the story, says Bryan, attests the literary tradition of the country and the reason behind India becoming the cynosure of publishers the world over.
Celebration time
Penguin is celebrating its 20th anniversary in India this year, and Bryan recalls how Penguin was launched in 1987 with David Davidar as the head of the operations. “My association with Penguin is longer than its presence in the country. I remember how we used to be satisfied with seven books a year. Today we publish around 200 books every year.”
On the occasion, the publishing house is starting Penguin India Annual Lecture, the first of which will be delivered by three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas L. Friedman on October 30. “His lecture will be built around his best selling book ‘The World Is Flat’ where in India plays an integral part in the global economic arena.”
Bryan feels its India’s emergence as the global power that has made the world interested in knowing more about India. “At the same time the country has come up with some amazing writers. There is increasing presence of Indians in Booker Prize list and the book fairs are abuzz with Indian books. Not to forget the increasing readership. The retail boom in the sector exemplifies this.” However, he points out that the boom doesn’t mean that Penguin is only looking for happy stories. “We are open to all kinds of stories. The economic prosperity has, however, resulted in the increase in the number of inspirational and self- improvement books.”
On the emerging trend of agents in the country’s literary circles, Bryan says this will help in filtering the content. As for agents making writers more conscious of their legal rights, Bryan quips, “It is hardly an advantage! But I must tell you some of my best friends are agents.”
International rights
Some of the writers are indeed facing problems while dealing with international publishers particularly when it comes to international rights.
“This is one of the reasons that I have been sent here.” In the recent years Bryan has been working as the International Sales and Marketing Director for Penguin in the UK and the US. Most recently, his team managed the sales of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” in the majority of export markets.
Talent hunt
Bryan feels there is nothing wrong in finding writers through talents hunts, one of which is being backed by Penguin. “It is just one of the ways to find the right content.” But is it the content or the name that clinches the deal? Bryan takes a long pause.
“Well, even when the name makes us sign an author for a considerable signing amount, the editor has an idea of what’s going to come out. So it’s the content.”
On the increasing tendency of five-star launches where at times the book and the author take a back seat, Bryan says it should depend on the content again. “Recently I attended Dev Anand’s book launch in Mumbai. It was full of Bollywood glitterati but I didn’t mind it. These are early days for me to comment but in no case a celebrity should get priority over the author and the book.”
Some of his other priorities include strengthening the regional language section of Penguin and digitisation of the content. “We are already publishing in Hindi, Urdu, Marathi and Malayalam and are working towards credible translation from other languages. We have a tie-up with Google for digitisation. However, I don’t feel traditional books will suffer because of digitisation. Both the markets will grow rather than eating into each other’s market.”
As for the upcoming exciting titles from the Penguin stable, Bryan shares there is Nandan Nilekeni’s “Emerging India”, Amitav Ghosh’s “Sea Of Poppies” (the first novel of his ‘The Ibis Trilogy’) and Shobhaa De’s new novel.
ANUJ KUMAR
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