Prabhat Prakashan: Publishing two books every day!

Prabhat Prakashan publishes books in multiple genres like children books, books for competitive exams – UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railways, etc.; fiction and non-fiction books – Money management, Mind Body and Soul, Inspirational Biographies and Autobiographies, Personality Development, Business, Politics, etc. Here, Dr Piyush Kumar, Director, Prabhat PrakashanPvt. Ltd, shares more.

AABP: Is it true that Prabhat Prakashan publishes two books every day?

Dr. Piyush: Yes, it is true that Prabhat Prakashan publishes two new books every day on an average. At times, this number touches 2.5 books per day. This high volume of publishing is enabled by our streamlined workflows, strong operational and editorial teams, SOPs, marketing capabilities, and diversified subject coverage in Hindi and English, and translations in both languages, catering to wide readership interests across all age groups from 5 years and above.

AABP: What are Prabhat Prakashan’s strengths as to publish over 700 books every year?

Dr. Piyush: Some of our key strengths that enable publishing over 700 books annually include:

• We deal in multiple genres in both Hindi and English languages to have a wider access to readers all around India and abroad.
• Experienced and efficient editorial and pre-press teams that carefully evaluate proposals and refine manuscripts to ensure we publish only quality content.
• Operational excellence through standardized systems and processes that drive efficiency at scale.
• Multi-format approach via paperbacks, hardbounds, eBooks and audiobooks to suit diverse reading preferences.
• Close engagement with our author community through fair royalty structures that has allowed us to maintain good and long-term relationships with authors and attract fresh talent as well.

AABP: What are your marketing strategies to sell so many books?

Dr. Piyush: Our multi-directional marketing approach involves:

• Our 1000 plus A category booksellers Retail partnerships: In-store displays, counter collateral and staff recommendations at landmark chains gives our titles heightened on-shelf visibility for wandering booklovers. Corporate tie-ups also drive bulk orders.
• Institutional sales: We cater to all government departments across India including Digital Libraries.
• Influencer and bloggers outreach: Our authors’ and prolific book reviewers’ authentic perspectives during interactions, reviews and launch events helps spark organic conversations driving word-of-mouth interest in our books among their extensive followers.
• Social media promotions: Our creative branding across Facebook, Instagram anda bouquet of YouTube channels engages over 1 million subscribed followers through interesting bite-sized content, videos and authors Q&As. Targeted paid promotions ensure we reach wider demographics beyond existing social media communities aiding discovery.
• Online & offline campaigns: Multi-format digital promotions across search, display and YouTube balanced with strategic print advertising aims to penetrate diverse target groups like aspirants, youth, etc., as per their media consumption patterns for optimal reach.
• Internal cross-promotions: Email newsletters, homepage banners, in-app updates and online store collections enable upselling our wider catalogue to customers already familiar with our offerings.
• Ecommerce advertising: Amongst top advertisers on Amazon and Flipkart commanding visibility across best seller banners, search pages and suggestions.
• Global Promotions: Not only in India, we also have our International Marketing Budget.

AABP: Do you promote first-time authors?

Dr. Piyush: Yes, we discover and empower first-time authors solely based on their talents and the authenticity and creativity they put in their writing irrespective of their age, origin, gender, language or any other aspect. We publish books of around 50-60 first-time authors every year. Like recently, we published a fantasy-fiction novel – Abigail Swift and the Mysterious Amulet written by 12-year-old budding writer.

AABP: Of all the books Prabhat Prakashan publishes, how many are translations?

Dr. Piyush: Currently about 30% of our catalogue comprises translated works from Hindi to English and English to Hindi. We also translate other Indian languages or international works to English/Hindi to expand our readership reach. Core focus areas are epics and historical works, regional literature, motivational books and children’s stories. Our growing audio and digital focus will further boost accessibility of these translated works.

AABP: Whom do you think you would thank for your grand success?

Dr. Piyush: I would like to thank our readers who engage with the books, provide feedback and drive word-of-mouth and our authors who trust us to refine, package and promote their creative vision. We have a very hard-working team of editors, designers,dispatch team, sales &marketing. Our Audio and E-books team expands our reach to more audience while all the supporting teams’ commitment and faith fuels my own. Together we hope to transform more lives through the transformative power of books and literature.

AABP: What are your future plans?

Dr. Piyush: We plan to publish in other regional languages such as Tamil, Marathi and Gujarati to serve our vernacular readers.