Gamesmanships
Tough times are great times for writers to play musical chairs with publishers, especially with all publishers fishing in the same small pond of writers likely to deliver a bestseller. Besides Taseer, another author has slipped out of Random House India’s stable: Mark Tully. When Random House opened shop in India, Mark Tully had crossed over from Penguin with his India’s Unending Journey. But his next book, due in 2011 (volume 2 of his bestseller, No Full Stops in India), is back with Penguin.
Different Calibre
When cartoonist Sudhir Tailang invited, both Shatrughan Sinha and Amar Singh to release his book, No Prime Minister, he couldn’t have done better in getting publicity. TV cameras and crew lined up for the photo op of the day long before the show was to start at 6 pm. But an hour later, Shotgun hadn’t yet arrived. Moral of the lesson: Politicians attract TV cameras but don’t sell books.
