Training course in book publishing held in Delhi

GS Jolly, SK Ghai (IBP), Vivek Govil (Pearson) and Prof Sarkar.The Institute of Book Publishing, New Delhi organized a condensed training course for publishing professionals from November 17-25, 2010. This nine-day intensive programme was 23rd such course organized by this institute. The first such course was organized way back in the year 1986 by OP Ghai, the founder of Sterling Publishers.

The course, comprised of lectures, group discussions, workshops and hands on exercises was designed to give trainees a well rounded exposure to all aspects of book publishing. Formal sessions were held from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm. A part of afternoon session was utilized for practical training and visit to a printing press.

The faculty was drawn from a panel of highly qualified and professionally experienced people from the publishing world. The course contents included digital publishing and the future of publishing, role and function of various departments of a publishing house, copy editing and book designing. Dedicated sessions were allotted to promotion and sales, children publishing, and, legal aspects, etc.

Eminent speakers included Vivek Govil, CEO of Pearson, Sridhar Balan of Ratna Sagar, Ashok Ghosh of PHI, Narendra Kumar of Har-Anand and Sudhir Malhotra from Orient Paperbacks.

Publishing is no longer solely confined to print in paper form. Content is now available in digital format across a variety of devices. The speakers talked about the devices available, their merits and limitations and the future of publishing in the new scenario. The participants were apprised of the change in the management of publishing product in terms of contract, digital rights, territorial rights and security issues related to digital publishing.