Contours of Indian Publishing

It is not too often that one comes across a comprehensive book on Indian publishing. We grew up on A Career in Book Publishing and 15 Years of Indian Publishing by Samuel Israel, the doyen of India’s publishing industry. One of the earliest books on publishing is BS Kesavan’s (First National Librarian of independent India), History of Printing and Publishing in India in three volumes. We also have BG Verghese’s  edited essays in Indian publishing titled Beyond the Headlines.

Of late, there is a spate of guide books for the wannabe authors so that they can navigate the publishing world better equipped. Meghna Pant’s How to Get Published in India stands out in this category. Publishers & Publishing: Inside India’s Book Business edited by Nitasha Devasar and published during the last decade made some impact. 75 Years of Indian Publishing, a tome edited by Ashok K Ghosh and brought out by the Federation of Indian Publishers is perhaps the most reliable compendium in terms of facts and data. Apart from these, we have occasional autobiographies tracing the experience of great publishers, among which Late D N Malhotra’s Dare to Publish easily comes to mind.