India’s publishing industry is exploding, writes Akshay Pathak at Publishing Perspectives. An estimated 90,000 titles are produced each year, with annual growth estimated to be around 30%. Production standards are improving, there’s fresh investment in retail, and there’s a growing consumerist middle class.
But there’s not a lot of hard data yet. Bookscan only covers some of the bigger bookstore chains, and while there are an estimated 19,000 publishers today, no single professional association has more than 1,000 members.
Pathak—who works from New Delhi with the Frankfurt Book Fair—identifies some areas for growth. India needs more editors who are better trained, he writes, as well as a better retail infrastructure, and so far literary agents haven’t really emerged as a resource for identifying strong writing and making sure it sees print.
One thing he doesn’t focus on much is the potential for ebooks and digital distribution to solve infrastructure problems, especially in a market where mobile devices are common.
Read the full article at Publishing Perspectives.
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