Bibliofile

Market Dynamics

It’s not just Chetan Bhagat who pays for his publicist. More writers, especially first-timers, are hiring their own publicists. Fed up with publishers who do little to promote their books apart from sending it out for review, a new generation of writers are taking marketing into their own hands. They’d rather spend from their own pocket, they say, than see their books sinking without a trace. The cost: anywhere from Rs 70,000 to Rs 3 lakh. Amitabha Bagchi, for instance, says he got lucky as his royalties managed to pay for both his publicist and the travel costs of his book tour. And publishers accuse authors of writing for money!

Bared Fang

The last of the big boys, Hachette, is all set to launch their Indian list by May this year. Despite the slowdown, they are optimistic about it, and no wonder: it’s a list that steers clear of literary titles, going for potential bestsellers instead. After their world-wide success with the Vampire schoolgirl series by Stephanie Meyer (1,00,000 sold so far), the Indian branch has adopted the same model. The first title is a Mumbai love story, My Friend Sancho, by blogger Amit Verma, followed by Madhulika Liddle’s murder mystery set in Mughal India, a title preempted last year by Hachette for an advance of several lakh rupees.

The Write Fit

Readers may have already forgotten Union minister Kapil Sibal’s debut collection of verses, I Witness, but the cellphone versification is coming in useful now. Sibal says he doesn’t have to hire a sloganeer for his poll campaign but is composing his own slogans in rhyming verse.