Global pandemics certainly change our lives in more than one way.
The enlightening session at the time of the Litfest 2021, which was held on September 25, 2021, explored the way the pandemic had affected the Minutiae the publishing industry that focused on its consumers, i.e.
Reader.
Session speakers are Swati Daftuar, Senior Commissioning Editor – India HarperCollins, Kanishka Gupta Literature Agent, and Pragya Sharma, PR Business Pr Business on Amazon India, in conversations with the Mukherjee Dipankar from the chair.
Of the many changes registered by the speaker that the pandemic had been brought in their work, the first included the delay they had to face in payment.
“Progress comes late.
The payment schedule is also slightly tilted for the contract.
The publisher doesn’t want to pay too much money,” Kanishka said.
However, he believed the pandemic years to be the best years for him.
Literature agent because he can find time to read the manuscript in peace, besides the time he can take for his writing.
While Swati appreciates now to give her a very necessary break from the deadline deadline, allowing him and likes to retreat and review their list as a publisher and really reflect on what they do.
“It encourages us to find new ways to handle things.
We suddenly look for new ways, new ideas and we ask questions like, ‘things have changed a lot, what people will read,’ Like guessing forward.
”
Pragya, which comes from a slightly different but related work field, adds that reading as a habit of coming to the front line during a pandemic, especially for children.
Children’s books, graphic novels and regional books are some genres that see incredible sales increase.
However, the fact that he was able to provide a sales platform to affected entrepreneurs was the main source of his satisfaction.
While the definition of reading is not immediately affected by a dynamic and unchanging state contemporary simultaneously; Changes at the end of sales related to specific genre cannot be missed.
Pragya also highlighted how travel restrictions forced people to travel reading to feed their nomads.
Talking about the downside pandemic for the publishing industry, Kanishka explains how new writers must suffer.
Deciphering further, Swati added difficulties that they as editors were faced in encouraging new writers to the center of attention and expanding their reach to a larger and varied audience.
The current generation can be defined by digitalization.
Everything from clothing to food can be used in front of someone’s door with one click.
Convenience with which books can be accessed in audio form and extraordinary e-book.
During times where the world stops and we are all locked up in our homes, a clear increase in the sale of these alternative forms can be expected intuitively.
But it was surprisingly revealed that physical books continue to be better tariffs than their digital contemporaries despite lack of accessibility during a pandemic.
In addition to accessibility, discovery is a major concern for online sales platforms such as Amazon where the presence of many titles blocks the list of creation.
To overcome this problem, the concept of book bazaar was brought to the internet.
Pragya described, “India has been home to this ancient book bazaar for years.
They have spread across the many cities but during pandemics, we partnered with thousands of Pan Indian book sales for bringing their experience online.”
Partnerships and connections are also very important for the publication of the house to overcome obstacles that hold new writers.
“We cannot clog our social media by promoting every book so we have to use ties and promotions,” Swati said.
This session was concluded with the speaker who handled wide gaps in the best in the foreign writer’s room and new Indian writer.
“If literary fiction does not get award or recognition or a kind of validation from the West it will not sell more than 500 or 1000 copies at best,” Kanishka said the tone was a mixture of disappointment and sadness.
Suggest a decent solution for this problem, he added, “We need to have King Stephen King and JK Rowling.” And we strongly agree!
(Byline: Bhavya Sharma)