Judge a book by its cover

If you do not like this book, return it and you shall get your money back. That’s the promise publisher Hachette India is making with their latest release, Delhi Durbar, a political thriller by Kishan Partap Singh. While there is no information on just how many people returned the book, the ploy is a first for publishing in India.

If the reader will not come to the book stores or portals, then let us go in search of them, seems to be the credo. Penguin India’s Spring Fever, a nine-day open air festival of books, was held in Delhi’s India Habitat Centre. “The idea was to reach out to the potential customer, which we did with the participatory nature of the event, especially the evening sessions where writers read and discussed with audiences,” says Hemali Sodhi, vice-president, marketing and corporate communications, Penguin India.


A brave new word
Think new books just half a decade ago, and the traditional promotion was a book launch, very occasionally extended to a book tour for authors deemed big enough to warrant it. “A book launch is a waste of money,” confided a disgruntled prominent publisher footing the bill for such an event at a luxury hotel. Out-of-the-box promotion meant a seminar, and innovative meant quiz. Even when Advaita Kala’s bestselling Being Single was released in 2007, it was more word of mouth promotion, points out the author. Book promotions definitely did not mean food festivals, fancy merchandise, cross promotions, tent cards, viral marketing, excursions to… dare one mention it… tier-II towns such as Chandigarh, Jaipur or even Raipur. Add vampire parties and yes, return gifts, and it begins to resemble an after party in a fashion week. In high season now, read most of the year, especially in the new capital for publishing in India, Delhi, there’s hardly an evening without a book launch, and on occasion, even big ticket ones by rival publishers have overlapped.


Full report here Financial Express

Amish Tripathi's going digital

If you think that number crunching may be this IIM Kolkata graduate’s favourite pastime, you will be mistaken. While Amish Tripathi, the author of The Immortals of Meluha wanted to be a historian, the dream of a plump salary cheque paved his way to the reputed business school. But the 35-year-old confesses, "I would be a historian if I had the money. I was interested in writing on philosophy but my family told me it didn't pay. So, it was finance that I followed."

A first-time author, Amish was in no doubt that it would be difficult for him to bag a top-notch publication house. Instead, he decided to rely on his management and marketing skills to make sure that the market was ready to receive his book. He says, "I would be lying if I said that I was sure I would get a big publisher for my first novel. I was a finance guy and a staunch believer in digital marketing that has a better reach in the books market. It actually puts up a conversation rather than a two-minute wire on the same."

Full report here DNA