Publishing a book is an intimidating, frustrating and confusing endeavour at the best of times. The pandemic is the worst of times. People ...
Publishing a book is an intimidating, frustrating and confusing endeavour at the best of times. The pandemic is the worst of times. People are reading fewer books. Publishers are commissioning fewer books. Bookstores are shutting down. “I would be lying if I said it was business as usual for us,” said Manasi Subramaniam, Executive Editor and Head of Literary Rights, Penguin Random House India.
“The fact of the matter is that the lockdown, which was necessary for reasons of health and safety, did disrupt our publishing operations,” Subramaniam added. “In the early phases of the lockdown, the sale of physical books, online and offline, became a challenge. This also created a kind of backlog for us, almost like a problem of plenty.”
Santosh Pandey, a manager at India Book Distributor (Bombay) Ltd. agreed. “Offline book distribution is very bad. There are hardly any customers visiting stores. Many major book chains have closed stores, and many more are on the verge of shutting down.”
“The coronavirus, just as it invades vital human organs, has also infiltrated various essential aspects of the publishing business,” said Teesta Guha Sarkar, Senior Commissioning Editor, Pan Macmillan India. “Acquiring editors are compelled to be more selective than ever as publishing lists...
