Ravi Singh is the editor-in-chief of Penguin India, India’s largest publishing house, which he joined in 1994 as an editorial assistant. Penguin India publishes 200 new titles every year across genres, and its authors have won the biggest literary prizes in the world. Here in Nepal to launch Manjushree Thapa’s new book, Singh spoke to Amish Raj Mulmi about the exciting potentials of Nepali writing, and his belief that Nepal’s publishing market is growing steadily.
Edited Excerpts from the interview:
What do you think of the Nepali publishing market?
My experience is limited to the English language market here, which has been growing from what I have seen in the last seven or eight years. Some of my (Indian) colleagues have also been talking to authors here. So the market is growing, and the interesting thing is that the average sales for the books we do specifically for Nepal are much higher than the sales in India. (But) if it is a book by a big author, or there is a lot of marketing and promotion put behind the title, the numbers in India can be very big. That is unlikely to happen in Nepal. If you look at the mid-list numbers, a book sells 2,000-3,000 copies in India, but in Nepal, 3,000 copies is the average. So it’s slightly higher here.
I think there is a segment of the book-reading public here who will almost always buy a new book. I am not sure if that kind of dedicated readership exists in India. The numbers may be big, but I think people aren’t as enthusiastic as spending their money on books (there), which I think happens here.
What are Penguin India’s interestsin the Nepali market?
Our interests are essentially in good writing from anywhere in South Asia, because that is our primary market. So we are basically looking for good writing in every genre. We are looking for original voices, both in fiction and in non-
fiction—those who would compare with the best anywhere else.
Can translation allow Nepali literature to reach the global market?
I don’t know about global, because when we say global, we mostly mean the English language market in the U.S. and the U.K., which are notoriously closed to writings from other parts of the world. But it can happen. Our interests are more in the South Asian market, where if translations are done in English, the works find a much larger audience. That is what we hope to do, and therefore, we are doing translations from different languages into the English language. It’s also very encouraging to hear, for instance, Narayan Wagle’s Nepali book (Palpasa Café) has sold 50,000 copies and the new one has sold 10,000 already. So that’s really good. It would seem that the commercial prospects are also very good for translations of Nepali works into English.
For most Nepali writers in English, the market to crack is India. But is India a very limiting market for authors from other South Asian countries?
I don’t think that’s true, because if you look at Penguin India, and Rupa, we have been publishing authors from Nepal. We have also published authors from Pakistan and Sri Lanka. And this goes back to the 80’s, when we started publishing Shyam Selvadurai and Romesh Gunesekara from Sri Lanka.
I think the opposite is true. The Indian market is not limiting; instead, it helps literature in these countries grow. India is the bigger market, and also in terms of publishers, has the bigger names. Therefore, if you want to be published properly, professionally, to be taken to the entire South Asian market, and basically have some real chance at success with your book in English, then you would go to a good Indian publisher. So I don’t think it’s limiting at all. Rather, I think it is the opposite, which is that India is a bigger opportunity.
At the Jaipur Literature Festival, you highlighted the role of upcoming small independent publishers. But in a small market like Nepal, how can small local publishers compete with big publishers like Penguin?
Is it necessary to compete with publishers like Penguin? What is more important is to have a list that may be small but has a distinct character. It should be a strong list and have good writers. Being small does not mean that you cannot publish professionally; that you cannot do a very good job with the editing, the design, and the distribution of the book. So once you do that, you are in a very strong position. And you would actually be stronger if you did not think of competing with the bigger publishers in terms of the number of books that you do, and the visibility that your books get etc. Yes, Nepal is a small market, so the economics are going to be different. But there is enough here to sustain a really good small publisher.
You’ve been in the publishing industry for nearly two decades now. How has theindustry grown in South Asia in theseyears, and what are the challenges ahead?
Things have changed, and not changed as well. The market has grown, though this is happening more in India, where growth is driven largely by the retail sector in books. Book chains like Landmark and Crossword opened stores in different parts of major cities. So the growth is actually because of the growth in retail. Also, books have become news. Every big publisher has a publicity and promotions department, so they manage to get media space for books and writers. So all that has contributed to the growth, but what has happened is that the growth is the kind where a small segment of your business is actually doing very well. Which in this case translates to the bigger authors and also (heavily-promoted) books by debut authors. Chetan Bhagat is one example where commercial book publishing has grown. Mass-market publishing has come into its own, and that is one really significant development. All publishers are now seriously looking at the mass-market segment.
But if you take away these high-profile books, the mid-list hasn’t really grown that much. So it is a skewed kind of growth. And that is slightly worrying. There is a certain homogeneity happening, and when a market becomes so big that there is considerable money to be made by selling only a certain kind of book, then that is not necessarily good for publishing. So what is important is to guard diversity, publish across genres, look out for newer authors and fresher voices, and not just become what commercial cinema becomes, where you have a formula and you keep reproducing that formula.
What do you think about the competitionfrom the digital books movement?
Penguin Worldwide has arrived at an arrangement with Steve Jobs for the iPad, as have the other bigger global publishers. The idea is to approach this as an industry, rather than as individual publishers, and work out an arrangement. If you do that, you can negotiate market-friendly terms which can also work for the publishers and the authors. We are in talks with Amazon as well to ensure that it doesn’t really harm the publishing business. It isn’t just about publishers; it’s also about authors. I think there’s an opportunity rather than a threat there, but as long as all publishers work together and approach it as an industry. Because when you talk about books, it isn’t just the printed physical product, it’s the content. How you make it available to readers is not the central issue; the issue is to ensure that the content is good and that copyright laws are respected.
What are the most exciting titles that we willsee from Penguin India this year?
We just did this book by Fatima Bhutto, titled Songs of Blood and Sword, which is a family memoir. It’s a tremendous story and she has told it very well. That’s a very major non-fiction title from South Asia that we published last month. Then there is this fantastic novel called Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna. Somebody described it as The Thorn Birds meets Gone with the Wind. It’s a very astonishing talent, because we often make this distinction between mass-market and literary fiction, and the best works are those that kind of rubbish these divisions. Then there is this book called Jimmy the Terrorist by Omair Ahmad, which was shortlisted for the Man Asia prize. That will be out in October. Finally, the one book that I am really excited about is a non-fiction book called Beautiful Thing, which is on the bargirls of Bombay. It’s by Sonia Faleiro, and I think it’s probably one of the best non-fiction titles to emerge from India in several years. There are many more of course; there is a book by Wipro chairman Azim Premji; then there is a book on innovation at Reliance.
What’s your advice to youngunpublished Nepali writers?
To begin with, don’t be discouraged. Keep approaching different publishers, and respect an editor or a publisher’s decision. If they tell you it is a bad book, then you should look at your manuscript again and do something about it. But also remember that it’s subjective, so one editor may not like it, but some other editor may. It’s about finding the right person for your book. Look at your work closely and critically. Just because you have completed a book doesn’t mean the world should read it. Be mindful of the market too. I am not saying that you should write for the market, but always remember that if you are writing, you are hoping for readers. As I was telling someone recently, I am astonished by the number of young writers who say they are writing for themselves and they don’t care whether people like it or not. This is a strange thing to say, because after all, you do want your book to be published, you do want people to pick it up and read it. I think you have to move away from that kind of self-indulgence.
And take your writing seriously. Don’t do it as a hobby. If you are doing it as a hobby, have modest expectations. But if you really want to be a serious writer, then work at your craft, and on other things like pure discipline, spending at least 2-3 hours every day on your writing, revising, and maybe once in a while getting an opinion of people you respect. Approach your writing seriously, and be sure that you have something to say before you put pen to paper.