Fail-Safe Tactic
If you thought Penguin’s slew of big books and fat advances means it has not been hit by recession, think again. It’s the mid-listers who are being squeezed out. After waiting for nearly a year after their MSs were accepted, they’ve been told to wait some more. Books scheduled for the first half of 2009 are shifted to the second part of ’09; those in the second half to early ’10. It’s the big bookstores that Penguin blames, accusing chains of “playing safe” by refusing to order and stock new releases in sufficient numbers. With reduced shelf space, it seems to be rethinking which titles—and how many—to send out to the bookstores.
The Malcontents
With so many disgruntled mid-listers, it’s not surprising that there’s some serious poaching going on. Author Jaishree Mishra has crossed over to HarperCollins a few months ago. And the latter is going all out to promote authors: instead of a glitzy five-star book launch, they’ve opted to take her on a bookshop tour across the country: Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai. Others who’ve bolted the Penguin stable include Crossword award-winning translator Ira Pande and Binoo John, who delivered two bestsellers when he was with Penguin.
Watch Over Wards
You know what they say: no one wants to be on a literary prize list with writers like themselves on it. Although the Man Asian longlist is out, with 12 of the 24 names being Indian, no one is impressed—as yet. Quite unlike the first longlist in 2007, when publishers chased each of the (Indian) writers on it, not caring how good or bad their MSs were.
