Publishers On Publishing

by Nitasha Devasar

  New Competition. When an offshore industry scales, some of the problems of the established markets, which first drove offshoring, get reflected back.As drivers of offshoring gradually become diluted—most importantly cost— coupled with the general economic situation of the region that the service is located in, new challenges emerge. Globally there is consolidation happening in publishing services and especially taken with the growth of capable rivals in other emerging markets (such as in Southeast Asia, East Europe, Latin America and even North America), the Indian industry will not only have to demonstrate that it can exercise continued cost leadership but also maintain the edge in technology and skilled resourcing.

  Grand Challenges to Solve

  Such grand challenges are no different from similar questions confronting other domains.The solution points at strategies aimed at developing overall competitiveness as well as opting for some tactics that help sustain the lead. Here are some suggestions:

  Continue the evolution in technology, providing streamlined solutions and service depth . This is an imperative if competitive edge has to be maintained. Sure enough, as in all technology-driven environments, the initial investment may be high, but insightful operational scaling can pave the way for growth ahead. Much of this needs to address the challenges the STM industry as a whole faces.As a respected partner, the publishing services industry can come up or support many solutions.

  Invest in high-level talent, and especially specialized talent. India possesses, whether in terms of editorial expertise, IT skills, or knowledge experts, a number of choices. Sometimes this leads STM publishers to simply offshore their own personnel or grow in-house programmes leveraging location, cost and skill which then drive their larger programmes and product development.Two examples I can claim familiarity with related to the scaling of my own programme as well as to other extended editorial management operations.

  Leverage domain expertise to continually support high-value tasks. Beginning from simple page making, service capabilities have expanded to putting in place complex workflows, systems, processes, content development support, market intelligence research, data support, legal and contracting support, extended project management and full-lifecycle ownership of the publishing process.As requirements of global scholarly publishing change in an era of digital discovery, many services companies are also playing a significant role in ontology development, support in developing better content and metadata for the semantic web to technology and platform development.

  Systematically manage knowledge (important in a high-attrition industry) and drive best practices: identification and adoption. Not simply to pay lip-service or to satisfy a management fad but to distil real world domain knowledge which then can be the foundation for the next set of strategic tasks.This was done once before and needs to be done continuously. Developing deep knowledge, leveraging statistical and data research depth, and throwing out the ‘way around’ mentality means to be

  taken seriously. If despite growing to several billions of dollars worth and

  supporting a global industry, negative perceptions at the start still persist, then they need addressing. Demonstrate agility. For clients a key issue is requesting course corrections in linear workflows for product improvements. Customers are as concerned as service providers that if you miss-step then chances of a cost-neutral change are low. Processes have to be manifestly adaptable, compartmentalized, and also modifiable if the need occurs (again possibly investment-driven), but it will keep the industry in tune and focused on the developments in media and content that are now arriving, whether they be dynamic publishing and or real-time updating while maintaining high quality.

  Invest in the right skilling programmes that one can harvest. There is business to be had from multi-language publishing and translations, even non-European.The lack of good language learning programmes in India has always meant that even skilled graduates have been behind this curve. Can it be addressed or improved?

  There are several other areas to potentially focus on, while keeping core strengths functional through continuous improvement and streamlining. In sum, build capabilities to produce and deliver content across media and markets. Build relationships exclusively through trust and transparency, which is the key to sustaining fruitful global partnerships.

  To end, I ask a question: could the industry get disrupted? If developments globally are any indication, the answer is most likely that it could. But it need not be, or one could leverage the disruptive moment to build something unique.

  anil chandy is Vice President, Major Reference Works at Springer Nature, where he leads Springer Nature’s global reference publishing programme including the well-known scholarly reference brands Springer Reference and Palgrave Macmillan Reference. He is based in Singapore.

  5 Book DIstrIButIon In InDIa “the book trade is a fulfilling business” Ramesh Chandra Jain

  Q: How and when did your journey in the book world start? RCJ: My eldest brother Satyaprakash was a Gandhian; he built up a very good library on Gandhiana and other things like nature cure.After a while, he ran out of money and space both, so he started selling the books. Because he had collected more than one copy of many books, he decided to dispose of the spare stock by setting up a shop at home. He started getting good response.The year was 1962, and customers would come by appointment. Soon a loyal clientele grew.And then one day we decided, why not start a book-selling outlet? That was in the mid-1960s; I graduated in 1964 and joined him.When it first opened in 1967, the shop was known as Prabhu Book Service. It was the second branch of its namesake; the original Prabhu is in Gurgaon, known for rare old books. A printing press came up nearby and, in 1967, we opened a shop on Ansari Road.A year later the family business was divided up and, as part of the settlement, I got the Ansari Road establishment. So I renamed it after my father, Manohar Lal Jain.

  Q:What are the changes you have experienced over the years in book-distribution patterns and how is the journey so far? RCJ: It has been a wonderful journey.When I started, most of the PhDs were in history. Everybody was studying political or administrative history, but now it’s multi-disciplinary, we have people studying social history, history of wine or education. Earlier authors and scholars were focusing on personalities. Famous Indian historian Sarvepalli Gopal also

  continued as a student at Balliol, earning his DPhil on the vice-royalty

  of Lord Ripon in 1951. Now people are writing on sati, intoxicants, military history and other new topics. When I was growing up in the book trade, there were a few distribution houses, which were distributing imported titles. India Book House was one big name, which was primarily importing academic books from the UK and America.And then there were other distribution houses that were distributing paperback fiction, popular literature—all imported. Indian publishing was nowhere; it was very small, and most of the books were imported. Since we were coming out from colonial domination, we still had titles, which were written long back.

  In the 1960s, there was one publishing house—Asia Publishing House—which was Bombay based.And others were Calcutta based. But gradually all of them disappeared and later new publishing houses like Vikas, etc. were established. In late 1960s and 1970s, Indian publishing expanded exponentially. So it was the time we needed distributors to sell these books.A Kanpur-based company, UBS, opened its office for academic and textbooks distribution; they did really well for nearly 20 years.And we had two others publishers—Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd and Motilal Banarsidass, who were publishing a lot of stuff to be distributed. So it was obvious that dedicated distribution houses were needed.

  Q:What are the challenges experienced in the past and how does the situation look now?

  RCJ:The initial years as an independent bookseller were tough. Help came from the US, where about 18 universities set up academic centres of Indian studies around that period. Scholars who joined these centres needed specialized books on India. I would send catalogues to the American universit
ies.Word-of-mouth publicity helped.

  Challenges are always there; 10 years back everyone said printed books would disappear and e-books would replace paper books; thankfully that phase also got over. I feel logically it’s not possible to have e-books every time.They are good for reference.And most of our readers

  are also comfortable with printed books; they are not happy with the

  32 book distribution in india idea of reading 600 or 800 pages on any screen.And now online selling is causing substantial damage to the book trade. Most of the business has been taken over by online booksellers; their competition is unhealthy. It’s all about discount and not about quality.

  Q:What is the current situation of distribution houses in India? RCJ: Coming to distribution, I feel we still lack good distribution houses for Indian books. Now what is happening is that every publishing house is looking for distribution houses, which are not catering to a large number of publishers. For Indian titles, it is difficult to find good distribution house; every publishing house is looking for individual distribution channels, like Penguin goes to Prakash Book House and OUP doesn’t distribute through anyone. But if we have one good consolidated distribution house, where we can find around 40-50 publishers under one roof, it will be a good option for buyers. If one wants to acquire books for a library, one needs to visit 10 different places or sources to procure them, which is very tiresome.After UBS, no one attempted to have big distribution house, DK Company Distributors, have tried, but now they have nearly folded up.

  Q: How has the emergence of technology impacted distribution? RCJ: Working model has changed substantially; previously it was all offline. Now online operations are more prevalent, but distribution channel is still very important for academic titles. Out of so many changes, there are several improvements as well, like logistics was never simpler.We can maintain the whole data and see the number of titles sold in any particular territory. So I feel the distribution channel is much more efficient and easy now.

  Q: Book distributor or publisher, which one will you choose? RCJ: Distribution and publishing are two different ballgames.You need a good manuscript to have a good book, which also needs lots of professionals like editors, designers, marketing team to bring it out.

  Whereas distribution is simple: all you need is a good number of titles.

  Finding a good book or manuscript to publish is very difficult and different, but getting one is easy. I enjoyed both. Q:You have spent 50 years in the book trade, how do you feel? RCJ: I feel publishing is a noble profession; I thoroughly enjoyed my entire journey. Only anyone who is serious can stay for long. I feel a lot of work still needs to be done.We are bringing to light good work done by scholars; they need to be published. I enjoyed my publishing career so much that I still want to be surrounded by books even after 50 years. It’s a very fruitful and fulfilling experience. God gives us one life, so we have to give back to society. I have published more than 1,500 titles; it’s so fulfilling.

  ramesh chandra jain is the founder of Manohar Publishers & Distributors. Initially selling only rare and out-of-print publications, Manohar soon branched out into local sales and export of new books published in India, and thereafter into publishing scholarly works under its own imprint.

  6 DIstrIButIon anD

  suPPly ChaIn management

  “e-commerce has impacted traditional supply channels”

  Ramesh K. Mittal and Pranav Gupta Q: How has the book distribution network evolved?

  RKM: Traditionally, the publisher used to sell books to certain recognized wholesalers, and these wholesalers would sell them further to bookstores or suppliers for onward sale to the end customer. Over a period of time, with the advent of internet and other market facilities, the role of book wholesalers continued to diminish, and the publishers themselves began selling directly to bookstores and even to the end customers.

  Q:Why does it remain so Delhi-centric even now? What happens for regional markets?

  RKM: Up to around the country’s independence, Kolkata used to be the hub of publishing, which shifted to Mumbai, and continued there until the 1970s. Ever since the 1980s, Delhi happens to be the main centre of publishing. Perhaps, because the weather conditions for printing as well as preservation of books are favourable; and second, because it is the capital city. Regional markets are also thriving because majority of regional publishing happens in the language of that region, besides English.

  Q: Has the same changed over time?

  RKM: Yes, it has changed over a period of time, as indicated above. There are high-end bookstores in some of the regions, and those publishers, especially from the textbook industry, having good market

  share in any particular region, come up with branch offices in those areas. Q:What are the current challenges and the road ahead? RKM: Like each industry, the book industry is also facing challenges. School textbook publishers are coming across with the government’s policy to introduce more books published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

  Piracy has also impacted a great deal, since a lot of books (especially school and college textbooks), are either pirated or photocopied to fulfil the needs of the students.

  Copy-paste publishing is another challenge for well-researched publications.The book industry has, and will continue to, improve content besides keeping textbook prices moderate. Publishers who have a good standing give due significance to well-researched content, good editing and good production.

  Q:What are the challenges of collections, if any? Getting money from the book trade has always been tough: why is this the case and can it be addressed?

  PG: Getting money from the book trade has always been a problem for publishers, and more so in recent years.The reason behind this is that there is no proper registration required to start or close a book business. There should be some sort of registration (regulation) for publishers and booksellers, where certain mandatory compliances are regularized. The laws to protect the beneficiary from bounced cheques have to be stringent.The book industry should also come together to ensure that nobody ditches any of its stakeholders as far as payments are concerned.

  Q: How has e-commerce impacted traditional supply channels? Is it complementary, supplementary or replacing?

  RKM: The advent of e-commerce has definitely impacted the traditional supply channels. E-commerce is indeed complementary and helps in making any book available to even the remotest corner of the country/world, including those places where there are no bookshops. Moreover, one can find a greater number of books in an e-store than in

  a physical bookstore.As such, the end customer has more choice when

  36 distribution and supply chain management it comes to buying. E-commerce is, however, replacing bookshops. As a result of which, a number of bookshops have closed down or are diversifying their interests to other areas of business.

  Q: Has the supply chain improved over time?

  PG: The supply chain has certainly improved with the use of electronic orders, queries, invoices, fast couriers and excellent transport services.

  Q:What have been the major changes in printing technology? PG: There has been a lot of improvement in printing technology over the past couple of decades.Automation and precision in the industry have changed/improved the quality of books a great deal.With the possibility of keying in and pre-setting the entire book using state-ofthe-art software, it hardly takes a couple of hours for a book to be ready for printing.Also, printing itself does not take as much time as compared to the past.

  Q:What is more —print-on-demand, offset or digital? What are the opportunities you see in the same?

  RKM: Print-on-demand is generally used for books where smaller quantities are required by the market. It could even be as little as one copy.Whereas, the majority of printing takes place through offset process. E-books are altogether an independent product meant for a certain section of customers who prefer digital over printed material. PM: While print-on-demand is grow
ing, offset printed books will also continue to have a good market. Despite the fact that e-books have impacted the printing world, at least with respect to certain section of consumers, we believe that all three modes will continue to exist and survive.

  Q: Do you think quality is a consideration in the books market? Quality versus Price—what would you say is more important? RKM: Quality definitely is a big consideration in the market. But, at

  the same time, the consumer always looks at the prices.Though the cost of content writing, editing and paper differs a lot in terms of quality. But in terms of printing, the difference is not expected to be much. So publishers should maintain a feasible price structure, while continuing to keep up the quality of their books.

  Q:The number of books printed and publishers have increased in spite of the advent of e-books.What future do you see in the next five years?

  RKM: Yes, the number of books printed and the number of publishers have been increasing continuously despite the advent of digital/e-books. The future of printed books still continues to hold well. In fact, statistics from developed countries show that sales of e-books have been declining slowly.

  pranav gupta is Director of Prints Publications, an exporter of Indian publications since 1966. He is Member, Regional Committee, Northern Region for the Books, Publications and Printing Panel of CAPEXIL; and is also on the Executive Committee of the Federation of Indian

  Publishers. Pranav is Director of the Afro-Asian Book Council, and regularly participates in various social welfare programmes.

  ramesh k. mittal is Director of D.K.Agencies, an exporter of books and publications since 1968 and bibliographic services provider since 1973. He is also Director of LiFi Publications. He is Immediate Past President, CAPEXIL and ex-Chairman, Books, Publications and Printing Panel, CAPEXIL. He is Secretary-General of the Afro-Asian Book Council and the Indian Reprographic Rights Organization, and