NBT, India organized back to back certificate courses in book publishing

National Book Trust, India, has been organizing training courses in different parts of the country where training facilities in this discipline are scarce. This course is a big step towards Skill Development Programme of the Government of India.Latest in the series of such programmes is back to back job oriented Certificate Course in Book Publishing organized in NBT, India and Pondicherry University joined hands to organize a week-long orientation programme from September 28 to October 6, 2018 on book publishing. Senior media personality and thinker, Prof. Baldeo Bhai Sharma, Chairman of National Book Trust, sent his message on this occasion.

Prof.Baldeo Bhai, in his message, briefed the participants about the activities of the National Book trust and emphasized the importance of such training programmes in generating self employment and preparing the trained manpower for the publishing industry.

While addressing the participants, Lt. governor Kiran Bedi said, “Those aspiring to enter the world of publishing can explore many skills from writing, editing and publishing.” She also opined that in the age of digital revolution carrying out electronic publication has also become a very easy task, provided one acquires the skills of writing and editing. Prof. Gurmeet Singh, Vice chancellor of Pondicherry University felt it was a unique opportunity for the participants to acquire new skills in the publishing field. There is also scope to become an entrepreneur in this field.

The purpose of the programme was to provide the participants an overview of the various aspects of book publishing including hands on experience during interactive sessions during the week’s training. Various aspects of the book publishing process such as acquisition of manuscripts, its development, editorial process, productions details, and economics of the publishing business and marketing of the end product were some of the areas where information was provided to the participants by experts in these fields of book publishing.

Another programme was organized from October 7-13, 2018 in collaboration with Patna University. The inauguration event was addressed by Prof. Mohammad Sharif. Experts from various aspects of book publishing participated as guest faculty to speak to the participants of the training programme.

Various aspects of book publishing process were discussed. Participants were explained topics like structure of publishing house, editorial, production and marketing, intellectual property rights, ISBN, ISSN, digital publishing, printing methods, ebook publishing. For providing a feel of the various production techniques, participants were taken to a printing establishment.

–G.S.Jolly