It’s time to build a better product

This is one of the most important times in the history of the publishing industry. This is an era of transition – from printed to digital, from long-runs to short-runs, from traditional to self-publishing and so on. It is the time when content has myriad forms. The brick-and-mortar bookstores are giving way to online stores. The market has increased as there are no geographical boundaries in publishing world. And that’s not all…the attraction towards printed form by millennials is also on the cards…and when offline stores are winding operations new ones are opening as well. It is in fact very difficult to analyse the exact situation of the industry but one thing is clear – publishing houses are making profits (though less?) and the industry is gradually expanding, bringing in more allied services under its wings.

In such times, it is important to focus on the end product, which should not only be competitive in terms of quality and pricing, but should also stand apart from its counterparts. The product should sell for itself. It is often seen that the production quality of Indian books is not very good in order to tap the price-sensitive market. Inferior quality books are not at all salable globally. Since there are no geographical boundaries, the product should be good enough to compete globally. Only then, one can sustain and benefit in this transition age. It is time to build better product.

International book fairs like the recently concluded London Book Fair and the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair give publishers a wonderful opportunity to showcase their products/service to a global audience. These venues serve as a perfect platform to network, share and learn. A detailed report on the London Book Fair and a prelude to the Frankfurt Book Fair is presented in this issue.

There are other interesting features like self-publishing, viewpoints of production managers in top of the line publishing houses, print on demand, besides our regular features.

Happy reading!

SK Khurana
sk@smediagroup.in