Growth of Tamil publishing industry

As on date 1,000 publishers – big and small – are in the field, says T. Stalin Gunasekaran

The rich, vibrant and vivacious Tamil publishing industry is one of the oldest in the country. Thanks to Christian missionaries, the first Tamil book was published in the 16th Century. Then on, it has passed through various phases. As on date 1,000 publishers – big and small – are in the field.

Almost 50 per cent of those are small players who operate on a limited scale. Around 400 publishers are active and of those 200 are have publishing as their full-time business. And most of these are less than 20 years old.

According to The Book Sellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) the publishers come up with about 6,000 Tamil books a year, of which 1,000 are re-prints. This means 5,000 new Tamil books enter the market. The publishers can be classified as those who bring out text books, all genres of books, literary and philosophical books, research books meant mostly for libraries, translated works, only astrological books and religious and children's books.

Full report here Hindu