• Indian graphic novel publisher Campfire Books has begun exporting affordable Western classics to the US and other English-speaking nations around the world. • Among the advantages the company has is the ability to keep most of the work in-house. The company employs a bullpen of 20 full-time artists on staff to do with drawing and coloring, thus helping to keep …
India Gets Its First Homegrown E-reader
By Hannah Johnson Meet the Wink, India’s first e-reader launched by Bangalore-based digital publisher EC Media International. Launched Thursday, the Wink eReaders are available in Wi-Fi and 3G models priced at INR 11,490 ($247) and INR 14,990 ($323). The Wink supports 15 Indian languages (a good thing in a country with 22 official languages) and has access to the Wink …
Heros, Gundas: India’s Resurgent Paperback Pulp
By Emily Williams Much like our story from earlier this year discussing the popularity of Mills and Boon in India, The Washington Post has a fascinating glimpse into India’s fast-growing publishing industry through a look at the resurgence of old pulp fiction paperback novels including “campy vampire serials, supernatural thrillers, and a slew of Hindi crime novels featuring fast-talking detectives, …
Save the Date: GLOBALOCAL Confab about Post-colonial Publishing
By Mark Garcia-Prats GLOBALOCAL: The Forum for Content is a one day conference taking place in New Delhi, India on November 26, 2010. The Conference “will explore the domination of a largely western culture (or the ‘actual’ English speaking world) of the markets in the post-colonial economies and the emergence of the local player in the ‘other’ English speaking world.” …
Bye Bye Twitter, Hello Bubbly
By Erin L. Cox Just when you think you’ve mastered Twitter, there’s a new social media network that’s gaining ground, Bubbly. Started by the Silicon Valley and Singapore-based company, Bubble Motion — a global provider of mobile messaging and social media applications, Bubbly is said to act like Twitter, where you can follow your favorite voices using your cellphone. For book …
In the Age of E-books, Does the Cheap Paperback Have a Future?
By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead story discusses Penguin’s 75th anniversary campaign in Australia, New Zealand and India which has seen the company reissue backlist titles from their line at the low price of AU$9.95. The result has been sales that have exceeded more than 250,000 copies in their first three months — a phenomenal sales pace. The series has proved …
Can the Mega-author Exist Without the Mega-bookstore?
By Edward Nawotka In our lead article today, Liz Bury writes about the launch of Mills & Boon India, prompted in part by the widespread use of English, globalized communications and the growth of India’s middle-class, which likes to shop in the new chain bookstores and supermarket-style outlets in India’s metro centers and their newly-built shopping malls. The shift has …
Why Mumbai’s Hot for Mills & Boon
By Liz Bury MUMBAI: Of the numerous UK publishing houses to set up new operations in India during the past few years, Mills and Boon has perhaps the best brand recognition among its target audience. The publisher’s special formula of boy-meets-girl romance found a loyal readership in India during the 1980s and 1990s, when English language editions were first exported …
Oh, To Be in Rajasthan Today
By Edward Nawotka The Jaipur Literature Festival starts today and looks to have a stellar line-up of authors, ranging from local celebrities such as Shobhaa De and Chetan Bhagat, to international starts like Alexander McCall Smith and Roberto Calasso. The event, now it its fifth year was co-founded by Indian writer Namita Gokhale and British travel writer William Dalrymple, and is …
Global Trade Talk: Does Indian Fiction Lack Ambition?; Dylan Thomas Prize Goes Annual
By Edward Nawotka While much of world is enamored with Indian English-language novelists, those at home are not always so impressed. Looking at the shortlist for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize, Hartosh Singh Bal expresses his discontent with the current state of Indian fiction in the most recent issue of Open magazine. He asserts that “the literature of this …