Advisor to Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrit Prakashak Sangh.
Part 2
Indian Publishing looking at Itself
part ii • InDIan PuBlIshIng lookIng at Itself
authors and their publishers
7 The Author-Editor Relationship 42
Karthika V.K.
8 The Author-Publisher Relationship 47 Ravi Singh
9 The Editor:Then and Now 51
Adil Tyabji
literary agents
10 Emergence of Literary Agents in India 58 Kanishka Gupta
11 The Role of Literary Agents 63
Anuj Bahri
literary festivals and book fairs
12 National Book Trust 67
Baldeo Bhai Sharma
13 Jaipur Lit Fest 71
Namita Gokhale
14 Hindu Lit For Life 77
Rachna Singh Davidar
15 Bookaroo 81
Swati Roy
teaching publishing
16 Training Publishing Professionals 84
S.K. Ghai
17 New Ways of Teaching Publishing 88
Bishan Samaddar
india in the global publishing community
18 Indian Publishing from the Global Perspective 92 Emma House
19 Indian Publishing in Global Book Fairs 98
Prashasti Rastogi
InDIan PuBlIshIng lookIng at Itself Arguably, relationships are the bedrock of publishing and this section looks at the evolution of the most sacred of all publishing relationships. The author-publisher relationship, based as it is on mutual respect and trust has endured and sometimes has a life beyond the book.The role of the editor has of course changed in line with current dynamics of publishing but remains vital.The first three pieces are eloquent odes to the joys of this relationship in publishing.
Yet, as authors have become more aware and savvy, there have expectations that can be filled effectively by literary agents and this profession is therefore gaining credibility, according to the next two contributors.
After publishing, comes outreaching to readers and a wider audience and that’s where book fairs and festivals play a key role.The next four interactions with the founders of three major festivals and the iconic National Book Trust (NBT), tell their significant place in connecting readers to books and their authors.
How are publishing professionals created? Can you teach skills relevant to publishing or can they only be learnt on-the-job? We talk to both, one of the oldest, most enduring teaching programmes and another one, that is amongst the newest.
How does the global publishing community view the Indian market? Key members of the German Book Office (GBO) and the Publishers Association (PA) tell us how they immerse in and interact
with our market.
7 THE AUTHOR–EDITOR RELATIONSHIP “Involved yet detached!” Karthika V.K.
After twenty-one years in this industry, I can say with certainty that the best thing about a career in publishing is the people you get to work with. Colleagues, writers, reviewers, academicians, booksellers, literary agents, and of course the readers you get to meet or talk with—there are so many who are as invested as you are, in the fate of the written word.
At the centre of this web is the author-editor relationship that has been the mainstay of acquisition and publication of trade books anywhere in the world. Or so I had always thought and said to younger colleagues and aspiring editors. Until a new factor emerged in the equation: the primacy of marketing in the publishing process. Earlier, writers were keen to negotiate advance and royalties; the new focus is on marketing budgets and a publicity plan that could become the deciding factor for choosing one publisher over another.
Does that mean editors have become redundant in a time of selfpublishing and aggressive marketing? I had always imagined that the passionate commitment of an editor to a work and its creator was fundamental to the success of a book, but is that even true any more?
I decided for the purpose of this piece to ask a few writers what they thought of their relationship with, and expectations from, their editors. Here are some examples of what came back to me.
‘My editor’, said one writer, a novelist and poet,‘needs to be a sounding board who can evaluate my book idea for its potential and possibilities even if it’s just a mere thought; a fellow traveller who can help me get back onto the path when I veer too far away from it or get
hopelessly lost in the journey with a book; a friend who has faith in my
writing and in my ability to tackle a subject even through the darkest days and especially when I find myself asking—why bother?’ Another writer of non-fiction summarized it thus:‘My editor is the one person I trust implicitly while writing.This, however, is a relationship built over time.’
‘I am sure to get a considered response, sometimes as excited as I may be or sometimes different to my line of thought. Since we both are invested in the right outcome, it’s easy to take suggestions on board. In many ways, for me, my editor is like an artist. It’s not about the commas and periods.Their assured yet deft touches and insights can make a manuscript sing.’
That’s quite a tall order for anyone, I was thinking, when this popped up in my inbox from a young historian and author:
‘The ideal editor is that increasingly rare creature—one who “gets” your work but also knows just what will transform it from good to great. For writers, substance is often the primary motivation, but the editor helps give that substance its shape and final texture.Writing, after all, is a marriage between craft and art, your conscience and your creative energies, and an editor is your bridge, your first reader, your critic, and your friend who holds your hand where needed, guides you, and when it is necessary, shakes you up in the right way.’
But what if the relationship doesn’t go the way it’s intended to? Here is another author who emphasizes the connection between a writer and an editor but has also felt the lack of a connection:
‘I think it starts like a blind date in which you either get along or you don’t. If you are smart, you will spot the differences in the first meeting, but usually it takes a few chapter edits to figure it out and then it may be too late. It is not only about a copy edit, but also about understanding the “soul” of the book.The author has very high expectations, which are often at quite another level from that of the editor or “book doctor”.And if the “book doctor” is constantly giving out the wrong remedy, it may become a relationship that gets increasingly difficult—and yet it may be tough to break off because
the author and editor are tied together by the book and a publishing deadline. I have had a couple of editors whom I simply had no rapport with. I found they did not understand the book I had written and so I could not really respect their suggestions. Nor could I accept many of their suggested changes. But when the author respects the editor, and the editor immediately gets what the author means (even if he or she disagrees with them), then it’s a good relationship.Also, I do think that this understanding grows over the years.’
A fifth writer expanded on these ideas of shared commitment and responsibility when he wrote that the relationship between a writer and their editor is ‘akin to that of a sportswoman/sportsman with their coach. Not exactly, but in that zone, so to speak. So, for instance, if I’m writing a novel, it’s a bit like running a marathon or cycling on the Tour de France, say (with no other competition, only my own previous times to beat) and the publisher, ideally, appears at the pit stops, bearing reviving juices, organizes the massages and the repair-work on the body, gives advice on how to proceed on the stretches that await.The trainer/coach cannot run or cycle the marathon for you, but they can keep you feeling that you are not alone in this crazy endeavour.’
‘When the piece of writing is “done”, as in maybe first full draft, or nearing completion, then the editor-publisher is more like a dramaturge, this position that Germans specially have in their theatres.The dramaturge is not the producer, director or actor, s/
he doesn’t “tell” the director and cast how to play a scene or perform a play.They explicate or remind the theatre crew of the context, of what has gone before, of where they are placed in the creative world, they help cut out the selfindulgences, the potential bad mistakes, if necessary they help re-jig the whole production, but always keeping at the forefront what the director/ cast (read writer) were attempting to pull off. In other words, the editorpublisher doesn’t write the novel for you, they try and help you to arrive at the best shape for the novel that you are trying to write.’
‘Once the text is ready to be put between covers and sent out into the world, then the role of the editor-publisher shifts, weight is transferred from the editor part of the role to the publisher side. Some
writers are confident, bullish about what they have produced, others are less so, or the complete opposite. In any case, self-praise and crude selfpromotion sit badly on a writer’s shoulders, no matter the current fashion of many writers talking like tennis stars (‘I was great, my serve worked really well, my backhand was amazing,’ etc.). Hopefully, the publisher and their team would do the trumpeting, the flag-waving, the imaginative and energetic promotion of the book or piece of writing.’
Writer after writer seemed to articulate their idea of a working relationship as an intensely personal, all-encompassing friendship that extended beyond the page and the written word. Male or female, fiction or non-fiction writer, one-book down or fifteen-books-andcounting, they all looked to the editor to be critic as well as champion, and expected them to stay in their lives well after the editorial process was finished on the current book.They also signalled a desire for their editor to be more than a wordsmith in helping to shape their text, they wanted them to save some energy for the cheerleading that was required afterwards, when marketing plans were being written up and implemented.
The word, or at least the sense of it, that kept coming up over and over again in conversations with writers, was integrity.A deep unshakeable integrity that demands complete honesty at every stage. There is nothing to be gained from too much tact or forestalling of conflict, and everything to be lost.A writer I work with, walked out after a slug-fest of a meeting where we had struggled to find common ground between her aesthetic expectations and my financial compulsions and said,‘Well, that was a muscular conversation as usual!’We laughed and made up because both she and I knew we wanted exactly the same thing at the end of the day: a brilliant, beautiful book, which we could both be proud of.
Integrity, honesty, commitment, responsibility, confidentiality, as well as the original given, of skill and professionalism—if these are the expectations and the standards by which writers assess their editors, there is no doubt that every editor expects the same of their writers.And therein lies the beauty of this world we inhabit, where we demand and
give unstintingly of the best we have within us.There is not one editor I know who does not get hurt when an ungenerous review appears in the media or when a writer is disappointed by less than satisfactory sales. There are many writers I know who would put everything aside to provide a shoulder when their editor needs one.And each time I hear of, or see, or experience an instance of this sincere affection that lies at the heart of the publishing enterprise, I am reminded of why I am simultaneously challenged and at peace in this constantly changing world of publishing in India.
karthika v.k. is Publisher,Westland Publications. She started her career as an editor at Penguin Books India, and thereafter moved to HarperCollins India where she was Publisher for ten years. She joined Westland Publications, an Amazon company, in January 2017 to build a list that prioritizes literary fiction and narrative non-fiction. Over the course of her twenty-year career, Karthika has edited and published books in different genres including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and comics, and has worked with a
number of award-winning authors. 8
THE AUTHOR–PUBLISHER RELATIONSHIP “strong relationships of mutual trust with authors” Ravi Singh
Q: Share your experience of moving from a publishing giant to a new venture.
Ravi: If the move had been from one large multinational publishing company to another, or from one boutique subsidiary of a large company to another, the experience would have been less satisfying. There would have been the same pressures to play it safe, to crowd the list with commercial and literary stars, which means turning away from new voices—unless they, too, mimic the stars in style, content, sensibility. There’s also a tendency in the larger houses to glamourize books and authors—even the business of publishing.There’s some merit in all that, but overall it discourages risk-taking, finding and nurturing new talent, and staying with veterans who aren’t the flavour of the season.
In a smaller, independent company there’s greater room for diversity, and room for some mavericks, too.That’s the kind of publishing my colleagues and I enjoy. Of course, we need to be profitable, that’s crucial, but if we can learn to live with reasonable profits and not be chasing huge margins all the time, it’s liberating.All of us at Speaking Tiger earn less than what we used to, but there’s greater satisfaction.
Q: Share the opportunity and challenges you faced.
Ravi: The opportunity is in being a little freer of market trends and pressures.We can—in fact, we have to—think up interesting books, find fresh voices.And we’re able to build a balanced list.
The greatest challenge is money—we lose some good books,
especially those represented by foreign agents, because we can’t win any
auction.The corporate-backed companies will always outbid us. So we almost never consider books offered by foreign agents. Another challenge, also to do with resources, is that we are a small team, and that is not likely to change, so we’re always working overtime.
There’s also the question of brand—there are authors who’d want the Penguin logo on their books, for instance, because of the global history of the brand. But we’ve been lucky in that we’ve acquired a distinct profile and some fantastic authors prefer to be on our list than any other.
Q:Tell us something about author relationships in this context. Ravi: As I’ve said, there are authors who prefer to work with us—their support is crucial.We wouldn’t survive without strong relationships of mutual trust with our authors.Which is why it’s extremely important to try to give every book equal attention.
Q: How have you managed a good relationship with your authors, right from your time at Penguin to Aleph and now Speaking Tiger? How do you ensure they keep coming back to you for their next release?
Ravi: I haven’t thought much about that. I suppose the thing to do is to respect your authors, work closely with them and not lie to them—about the quality of their work or your own limitations and constraints. Get to know them well, and the best way to do that is to read them with commitment and interest. But it’s also important to remember that only a few authors will be friends, from whom you can expect genuine regard and loyalty. Never, ever let them down.The others come and go.
Q: Share your branding strategy and the establishment of this new imprint.
Ravi: It’s easier building an identity if you’re focused on a specific area or genre of publishing—writing by and about women, for instance, or art books. But we wanted an eclectic list. So we knew it was a certain sensibility that would define us—a clear commitment to diversity and
quality, and being equally clear about the kind of books we would not
ravi singh 49 publish.Taking chances that the others may not—because the subject is tricky or a little radical or the theme or the author isn’t marketable— that’s important to us. Publishing translations of non-fiction—like Daya Pawar’s memoir, Baluta—when most others privilege fiction; publishing Wendy Doniger, the brilliant scholar and writer whose books two publishers had chosen to withdraw rather than defend; publishing shortstory collections and poetry, which are traditionally considered hard to sell; bringing great new fiction to Indian readers from Africa,
South East Asia and Eastern Europe—these are some of the initiatives that have helped us build a distinct image.
Q: How do you handle demands for censorship and banning of books? Speaking Tiger has just published Wendy Doniger’s new book: how was it dealing with or responding to withdrawals of her earlier book by Oxford University Press and then Penguin? Ravi:We’ve had no problems. The Hindus is widely available. Our view at Speaking Tiger is simple—once we’ve taken a considered decision to publish a book, we’ll defend it. If we must fight the battle in court, we will. If the higher courts rule that we cannot continue to publish a book, we’ll have no choice, but we won’t withdraw books under pressure or do secret deals with people seeking bans. If there’s threat of violence, we’ll take precautions—we certainly don’t want to put our colleagues and associates at risk; but it’s the police we’ll turn to first, it should be their responsibility to ensure our safety.
Q: In a highly competitive as well as fickle environment with readership declining, how did you manage?
Ravi: Well, every day is a bit of a battle, but every day we also grow a little more confident.What’s working for us is that for the most part we strike a balance between new voices and established names.And while we’ll always take risks, we’ll also always look for books that have the potential to be bestsellers but aren’t the usual, lazy mass-market stuff.
We’ve found that it’s also important to give every book equal attention —focusing on a few big books and star authors and neglecting the rest,
which will always be the larger proportion on any list, is bad strategy. As for readership declining, I’m not convinced about that.There are readers out there, but we won’t find them if we think of them as a homogenous mass and if we all publish the same kind of books. It makes good business sense to publish across a range of genres and styles, identify different segments and cater to them.
Publishers On Publishing Page 6