Delhi’s date with books

It’s almost like a mini-paradise for book lovers and distributors, as the 17th annual Delhi Book Fair kicked off in the Capital on Saturday. With over 300 publishers participating in the fair, there are thousands  of books to choose from.

“This year, the theme of the fair is travel and tourism. We have 625 stalls and 300 publishers who are participating, and we also have delegates from countries such as UK, Pakistan and the US,” says Shakti Malik, general secretary, The Federation of Indian Publishers.

Among the participating publishers are Penguin, Rupa & Co, S Chand, Pustak Mahal. Besides networking opportunities for publishers, the fair is also a great venue for book launches and workshops. “People coming into the book fair and browsing through the books is a very different experience from checking out books at a store that can stock limited number of books. At our stall, we will be talking about two books - Pakistan Beyond The ‘Crisis State’ by Maleeha Lodhi and The Punjab Bloodied Partitioned And Cleansed by Ishtiaq Ahmed,” says Kapish Mehra, managing director of Rupa & Co.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Authors brainstorm on corruption at Delhi Book Fair

Inspired by Anna Hazare's ongoing fast against corruption, writers, poets, playwrights and other authors are set to brainstorm on practical ways to tackle the social menace at the 17th edition of the Delhi Book Fair.

Beginning in the national capital on August 27, the week-long fair will see a seminar on "Corruption: Different Dimension" organised by the Authors Guild of India.

"There are movements all over the country and everybody today is talking about corruption. We thought, however, that as authors we should discuss the issue in an objective manner and try to find possible solutions," S Awasthy, General Secretary, Authors Guild of India told PTI.

Established in 1974, the guild with a membership of 1800 authors, has been participating in every edition of the the Delhi Book Fair.

The Book Fair organised jointly by the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and The Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) is attracting as many as 300 Indian and foreign publishers and organisers say they expect 5 lakh visitors this year.

Full report here Outlook

Scrap FDI in pubishing, say Indian publishers

Some Indian book publishers are concerned over the "invasion" by their foreign counterparts and demanded that the government scrap the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the industry.

"We demand the government scrap the FDI in the business of publishing to give a breathing space to Indian publishers,"Anand Bhushan, advisor and former chairman of the New Delhi-based Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP), told IANS in Chandigarh.

The government allowed 100 per cent FDI in book publishing in 2000. The domestic industry has been seeking a reversal of the policy ever since. "Foreign publishers have big capital and full support from their governments. They have badly invaded the Indian market and Indian publishers cannot compete with them,"he said.

Bhushan, also joint managing director of Pitambar Publishers in New Delhi, said the domestic market was increasing every year but foreign players were eating into their profits in a big way.
Foreign publishers have invested around Rs 20 crore in India in the last 10 years and taken away profits worth over Rs.100 crore, he said. Bhushan was in the city recently to head FIP's 12th national convention that saw the participation of publishers from across the country.

"Every year, over 80,000 new books are published in India. Hindi language books constitute the majority as around 25,000 books are in Hindi while about 20,000 books are in English, and the rest are in other vernacular languages,"he said.

Asked about the threat of e-books, Bhushan said: "E-books have stormed into the market and they will certainly create their monopoly one day. But for the next 10 years, we face no threat from them as this technology will take time to make room for itself."

According to official figures, book exports increased from Rs 80 crores in 1998 to Rs 1200 crores in 2008.

However, publishers are not impressed with the growth in exports. "Despite this huge figure, we stand nowhere in the international market. This figure is just a fraction if we compare it with the number of books exported from countries like the US, Canada, Russia and the UK,"Harish Jain, owner of 28-year-old city-based Unistar Books Publishers, said. He said that the situation was not very rosy since "banks are not giving us loans as they do not consider books as a security".

Even the government does not give enough importance to the publishing industry, he said. "In countries like Russia, there is a separate ministry of book publishing that takes care of publishers' interests,"Jain said.

Ramanjit Sandhu, a leading exporter of books to the US, said Indian books have high demand in the overseas market. "India exports books to 110 different countries and America has emerged as a big market of Indian books, especially based on Sikhism due to the presence of a large Indian diaspora there," Sandhu said.

Chandigarh to host national convention of Indian publishers

The Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) in association with Punjabi Publishers’ Association, is organising the 12th National Convention of Indian Publishers from 13-14 March 2009 at the Punjab Arts Council Auditorium, Rose Garden, Sector 16-B, Chandigarh.

The theme of the Convention is ‘Indian Book Publishing: Present and Future Perspectives’. The convention aims to to bring together publishers and book specialists on one platform to realise their strength and identity and to share their experiences and views in search of a better future for language publishing in India.

Discussions are planned on subjects like – Copyright: How to enforce it?; Publishing in Regional languages (Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English); Problems of Publishers and Booksellers; Publishing of Translations; and Authors: Their Problems and Perspectives and Readership: Is it Declining? Leading publishers from all over India and prominent literary luminaries are expected to participate in and address the Convention.