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The camaraderie is infectious. Their
zest and spirit will put the top rugby team to shame. They back
one another like there is no tomorrow. The world though labels
them and their writing as irreverent. Irreverent they are, but
only about the fact that they are competing for the same space
under the arc lights. You guessed it. I am talking about India's
brand new generation of pulp fiction writers - chick lit, lad lit
et al.
The support these young writers lend to one another goes beyond
'likes' and 'comments' on Facebook. A young first-time author,
Faraaz Kazi, launches another debutant novelist Sweta Srivastava
Vikram's book in Mumbai while he himself turns to a more
established Tuhin Sinha for his own novel. Tuhin incidentally
belongs to the bunch which really 'started the fire', along with
Chetan Bhagat and Tushar Raheja.
Our young Faraaz then goes on to review another young novelist
Aditi Talwar Sodhi's book on an online forum while yet again
manages to get an established Anuja Chauhan to do the honours for
him in Delhi. And the cycle continues. Sujata Parashar, Amrita
Suresh and Sonia Kundra Singh - names like many others that you
may not have heard of in the literary circles but who are writing
prolifically, and writing with a vengeance - to find not just
their place in the sun but their identity too.
These young novelists share an interesting symbiotic relationship
with book e-commerce sites like Flipkart, Landmarkonthenet and
Infibeam. The sites attract eyeballs thanks to them and the
authors don't have to lose their sleep over a Crossword or a
Landmark effectively stocking and replenishing their books. A
chain store with effective inventory anyways sounds like an
oxymoron in modern times. That calls for another extensive article
though.
Now, compare it to how publishers in India collaborate (or don't).
The only time you would see an inclusive and eclectic bunch of
publishers together would be under the aegis of a foreign
institution. Reverse discrimination apparently is something we
continuously hold close to our hearts. Most of the other times,
you would see members of federations and associations playing
musical chairs in their respective executive bodies, much like
their more infamous Indian sports federation cousins.
Talking about foreign bodies, credit must be given to the German
Book Office (GBO), Delhi, for doing exceptional work in Indian
publishing. Their recent MoU signed by Jurgen Boos, president of
the Frankfurt Book Fair, with the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad
to jointly set up a long-term training programme for students
interested in publishing is a praiseworthy and welcome step.
These though are challenging and exciting times for the desi
publishing industry. It needs the vigour of youth and their
enthusiasm to think out of the box and steer it forward.
Remaindered books, poor and mismanaged supply chain, lack of fresh
talent across fields like sales, promotion and editorial and many
other issues need immediate redressal. It is imperative that we
get together to face these challenges and make the best use of all
the technological advancement before it is too late.
In the meantime, there is no harm in taking some team spirit
lessons from our young author friends.
Shobit Arya is the
Founder and Publisher of Wisdom Tree which has recently started a
special imprint called Offshoots for young novelists. Some of the
authors mentioned in the article are published by Wisdom Tree. He
can be contacted at shobit.arya@gmail.com.
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