Davidar ties up with Rupa Publications

Noted publisher and writer David Davidar, who last year exited as CEO of Penguin’s international division amid controversy, has tied up with Rupa Publications, India to set up a new literary firm, the Aleph Book Company.

Announcing the partnership in a press statement on Monday, Davidar said: “Each book published by Aleph will be distinctive, original and of outstanding literary quality.” It will be headquartered in the capital.

“Our books will be creatively packaged and innovatively marketed through traditional retail and grant outlet as well as digital and other channels,” the veteran publisher said.

Kapish G. Mehra, managing director of Rupa Publications, said the new publishing partnership with Davidar was a “perfect way to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Rupa as the new company will complement and round out Rupa’s existing publishing”.

“Rupa has an excellent publishing relationship with retailers nationwide. It has seven offices around the country and reaches deep into the market. So every Aleph book and author will have an excellent chance to succeed in the market,” Mehra said.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Book makers

Publisher Rupa & Co completes 75 years of cracking the mass-market formula

At a busy Big Bazaar in Gurgaon, recently, there was more than the usual clanging of shopping trolleys. In one young man’s purchases, you could see toothpaste, a ketchup bottle and, right on top of it all, a copy of Chetan Bhagat’s The 3 Mistakes of My Life and Kishore Biyani’s It Happened In India . Kapish Mehra, Managing Director of Rupa & Co, smiles as he narrates this incident, which comes as no surprise to the publishing house which has an alliterative tagline: “Reach, Range and Reading pleasure”.

As it celebrates 75 years of publishing books, Rupa also has an enviable mass market appeal. “Books now are an impulse buy. We have titles in fiction, non-fiction, biographies, self-help, sports, religion and business management, and these are at a price that people are comfortable with. You have to be happy to pick up a book, and that works for us,” says Mehra, of the company’s pricing mantra for the last seven-and-a-half decades.

The story of Rupa has a humble beginning — Mehra’s late grandfather Daudayal Mehra started the business in 1936 by publishing two volumes of Bengali poetry and Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. Today, of course, with a Chetan Bhagat Five Point Someone available across the globe, the publishing house has some of the highest figures in the Indian publishing industry.

Full report here Indian Express

An evening dedicated to books

At the age of 14 LK Advani read How To Make Friends And Influence People, Advaita Kala has still not sold the rights of her book Almost Single, Gautam Bhimani has taken a lighter take on cricket in his book and calls himself the light side of the game. Chetan Bhagat is getting ready to pen down another book. For Jaswant Singh books are one's best friend. Writing is Gulzar's lifeline. But why are we discussing books and people? That's because a leading publishing house recently completed 75 years and hosts, RK Mehra, Kapish G Mehra and wife Dr Asheena Mehra, made sure no one missed out on good times.

MY VIEW: Every guest got talking to us and shared their views. Whereas, Advani stressed that authors should be readers too, Chetan taught us how to handle embarrassment, "If you are embarrassed, embarrass others!"

HOST KAUN? In the middle of all the revelry, we saw the surprise guests – Vishal Bhardwaj with Rekha Bhardwaj. But later the duo along with Gulzar vanished from the scene. We heard them discussing, "Let's go and have chicken." And when the host stopped them Vishal said, "Hum mehmaan nahi host hai, aap apne mehmaano ka khayal rakhiye hum apna rakh lenge." What a relief, Mehraji, no?

Full report here Times of India 

Readers, the new 'in' thing for India's oldest publisher

At 75, when people usually bask in their past achievements, one of the oldest book publishers in India is adapting to the fast changing market trends, entering new genres and firming up expansion plans overseas, always keeping the reader in mind.

"For us the reader is the new 'in' thing," says Kapish Mehra, Managing Director of Rupa & Co, the publishing firm which introduced into the Indian market aggressive marketing and pricing trends along with genres such as campus and corporate fiction, chic-lit, even experimenting with pre-teen authors.Graduating from a bookseller's representative in 1936, to an independent publisher, Rupa & Co set up by D Mehra had played a role in the freedom struggle supplying books to Allahabad's Naini Jail where the frontline soldiers of the movement were lodged.

"I would say the reader is coming back to the books. I probably would not have said that earlier but look at what the success of Chetan Bhagat's 2 States which sold two million copies already and is still clocking sales," Mehra told PTI in an interview.Since its inception, India's only publisher-cum- distributor, says Mehra, has been constantly ahead of the curve by anticipating the reader's needs.In its platinum year the firm which prides itself as a mass market publisher with a wide variety of books ranging from anthology, non fiction, self-help and management books among others, is now looking to expand operations.

"We are already very strong in Middle East and some East Asian countries. We want to deepen our presence in smaller B towns in India as well as are looking to grow our networks in East Asian markets in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines among others," says Mehra.The 27-year-old director who helms the firm points out that to maintain a market position they strive to bring out books that mass readers would like to pick up."A book is a noble product. We believe it should be affordable to the reader rather than pricing it so the reader can afford to buy it," he says.

Full report here IBNLive

The reach of Rupa

This August, Rupa completes 75 years in the publishing world. Managing Director Kapish Mehra talks to about its humble beginnings from Kolkata

Providence chooses its people. Otherwise, late Daudayal Mehra would have passed away trading in hosiery, and worse, there would have been no Rupa & Co.

Seventy-five years after his late grandfather set sailing the journey of Rupa in the world of publishing and book distribution on a humble note, company managing director Kapish Mehra talks of having a list of nearly 2000 book titles and “a front list that is growing by leaps and bounds.” With its present well-entrenched as the frontrunner in the mass English readership, and the future already etched on the drawing board, Rupa is indeed at a defining moment in its platinum year. But its past is equally inspiring.

Relates Kapish, “It was by accident that my grandfather got into publishing. Late K. Jackson Marshall, the India representative of Collins dictionary, noticed his salesmanship in hosiery business in Calcutta's New Market and persuaded him to sell their dictionaries.” It, however, didn't take much time for Mehra to develop a liking for books which led him to start Rupa at College Street corner, “near Presidency College and the Sanskrit School, the hub of intellect and the litterateurs” to be precise. Kapish fills in, “His first customer was Humayun Kabir, who later went on to become the Education and Culture Minister of independent India.”

Full report here Hindu

Man who sells tales with atta and dal

“Books are a boring product,” says the writer who has changed the face of Indian publishing.

Chetan Bhagat, whose latest book 2 States is selling a copy every two seconds, feels that the challenge is how to make books interesting for today’s youth, “who have so many choices to spend their money on”.

His titles — 5 Point Someone, One Night @ the Call Centre, The 3 Mistakes of My Life and 2 States — have sold over a million copies each. “If you sell a thousand copies, you break even, if you sell 10,000 copies, yours is a best-seller, but I sold more than 10 times over, and a copy of 2 States is selling every two seconds,” the IIT-IIM alumnus said recently while interacting with the students of the Bengal Institute of Business Studies in the city.

While Bhagat attributes the success of 2 States to “Indians loving love and marriage” he also stresses on innovation.

“5 Point... is a book by, for and about Indians,” he pointed out. Besides, the pricing also helped. Chetan says he had asked his publisher Kapish Mehra of Rupa, “How low can you keep the price?” He knew he was selling to students and couldn’t price it above Rs 100. Mehra said Rs 95 and the price hasn’t been revised since.

Full report here Telegraph

Seminar on green publishing

The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) and the German Book Office (GBO) are organising a seminar on publishing and ecology on March 14.

Pathways to Green Publishing 2009: Industry perspectives on the economics of ecological practices is an event which aims to create a common platform for stakeholders from the publishing, paper manufacturing, and printing industries to interact and find clean-green solutions for this sector. It will also bring together policy makers from the high echelons of the Indian government to deliberate on issues related to sustainability.

The conference will try to provide a common platform for the media, corporates, the world of writing, and education to interact and find solutions for a greener tomorrow.
It will also provide a unique opportunity to share the immense knowledge of the best known names in the publishing and printing industry and the media to the participants who attend the conference. The conference aims to offer the intellectual research base of TERI to the participants for conducting energy audits in their respective organizations and also put before the members research carried out by TERI in the field of publishing, waste management in printing, paper etc.

Among those expected to participate are Manas Saikia, Managing Director, Cambridge University, Kapish G Mehra, Managing Director, Rupa and Co, Chetan Bhagat, author, Himani Dalmia, author, Paro Anand, Urvashi Butalia, Director, Zubaan Books and Prof Ramu Ramaswamy, Scholars without Borders.