Bibliofile

Not really, say Indian publishers, especially the small ones. According to Permanent Black publisher Anuradha Roy, shortlisted for a new International Young Publisher of the Year award and part of the eight-member team the British Council and the London Book Fair sponsored for a 16-day tour of the UK's book industry, nearly all small publishing houses in the UK, including those making profits, are supported by state funds. "Even small publishers in the UK do business of a couple of million pounds a year whereas here we don't go beyond a few lakhs of rupees," she says. Visiting Hay-on-Wye, Roy was impressed by how the little Welsh village with a population of 1,600 boasted 40 second-hand bookshops. And how over 80,000 people are attracted to a book festival started by one man.

Readers seem to react to bad reviews like flies to a honeypot. Sales of Khushwant Singh's novella, Burial at Sea, crossed a record 7,000 in the first three days of its launch. "If the critics keep at it," his editor told the veteran writer, "we have yet another bestseller on our hands."