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 …