Bibliofile

Separated At Birth
It was an insider’s view of their book launch parties versus ours. Permanent Black co-publisher Anuradha Roy was in London last fortnight for the launch of her debut novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, which will be out here next month. The experience was both exhilarating and edifying. In London, her publisher—the legendary Christopher Maclehose—had lined up three events, including a dinner party at Chutney Mary. Instead of the auntyji-uncleji free-for-all here, this launch party was exclusively for booksellers and trade magazine wallahs. Maclehose followed it up with another party in his own house, this time for literary editors. NB: only editors who’ve read and liked the book accept the publisher’s invitation. A lesson here?

Helter Swelter
July is fast approaching, setting quite a few publishers’ knees knocking. It’s that dreaded month when their distributors dump the first lot of books they haven’t been able to sell, euphemistically called "returns". Considering this has been a hyperactive summer, with over 20 big titles launched in a season traditionally considered the worst for everyone in the trade, including authors launching their new books, it will be a reality check. The buzz is that Shobhaa De’s latest is not flying off the shelves as fast as the retailers hoped it would.

Yours Truly
Here’s a handy tip for authors promoting their new titles: sign in a language other than English. Apparently, the exotic value of a signature in a vernacular script doubles the price of the signed copy, as a UK bookshop that specialises in signed first editions, Goldsboro, is doing.