Blame Chetan Bhagat. After his debut novel Five Point Someone became a massive hit in 2004, English-educated Indians were instilled with the hope that they, too, could become overnight sensations. Since then, more a hundred such authors have gone on to publish their debut novels, taking their life experience as their subject. Many of these books have been resounding commercial successes, inspiring thousands more imitators.
While all this is good news for aspiring authors, publishers, readers and booksellers, this publishing boom has had one negative side-effect: the sudden proliferation of shady literary agents in India.
In the West, most writers engage literary agents to represent their works and assist in the negotiation and sale of their book to publishers. However legitimate literary agents are still relatively rare in India — over 90% of the authors submit their manuscripts directly to the publishers — and the concept of “representation” is itself relatively new.
Full report here Publishing Perspectives
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