Bibliofile

Beguiling Fit

Writers despairing of getting a good deal from their publishers will do well to take a leaf from dietician and fitness trainer Rujuta Diwekar’s methods. She may never have dealt with a publisher before but the debut author of the bestselling Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight knew exactly how to play off rival publishers vying for her first book. She asked them to send her their terms, including their marketing plans, and compiled it into a neat chart. The contending publishers knew exactly where their rivals were scoring over them, and kept upping the terms until she was won over. Perhaps Rujuta can now start training writers in how to negotiate with their publishers just like she trained Anil Ambani for the Mumbai marathon.

Appetite For Ideas

How well a book sells is sometimes a question of timing. Take Amartya Sen’s Idea of Justice. Even his publishers were a little nervous about how the book would do on the stands, considering the subject was hardly bestselling stuff. But, to Penguin’s surprise, the first print run of 20,000 copies sold out within a record 20 days. Which was lucky, because if the book had hit the stands on the same day as Jaswant Singh’s Jinnah, it would have been a grim struggle for the number one spot.

Doctor Fluff

Remember those days when all fiction written by Indian writers in English wanted only to be literary fiction? Times have changed: a professor from Calcutta has written to say that she is seriously considering suggesting to her students a PhD on chick lit!