| Shakti Bhatt, editor of Bracket Books, a publishing imprint of India Book Distributors, in conversation with JAI ARJUN SINGH. She was formerly an editor with Random House India.
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| How long has IBD’s publishing division been in the planning?
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| IBD has been publishing for a long time, ever since it was founded. Bracket Books is a more concerted and focused effort to publish books for a new generation of readers, and to try and do this in a way that is innovative and relevant.
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| The market for Indian writing in English is large but not large enough for publishers to be complacent about it and take it for granted. It is now more challenging than ever for a book to be noticed, much less picked up.
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| Can you tell us anything about the first book?
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| We will announce it formally in the next couple of months but it’s a debut novel, a story of love, lust and substance abuse set in Delhi and the North-east. It’s an unflinching look at the lives of Indian 20-somethings and the author has taken on a host of issues that few are talking about.
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| On what scale will Bracket Books publish? What kind of writing are you looking at to start with?
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| We are looking at everything. We are starting without pre-conceived notions, for example, that short stories don’t sell. What about Jhumpa Lahiri and Lavanya Sankaran?
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| In the end, there’s good writing versus bad writing, and good marketing versus bad marketing. We want to start small and slow, and we will take up only those projects that excite us, projects we can commit all our resources to in terms of editing, production, marketing, and sales.
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| What did you do at Random House?
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| I worked on Manju Kapur’s Home and Abha Dawesar’s That Summer in Paris. I also commissioned two books that will appear next year. One is a self-help guide for working women and the other is an account by a foreign reporter of a six-month journey on the Ganga.
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| How do you decide whether or not to take on a manuscript? If the quality of writing is so-so but the idea is interesting, would you be willing to take it on?
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| The first chapter of the manuscript is probably the biggest test. Is there a hook? Is the writer saying something new or is it trite? Is he talking about a situation, about a character, in a way that is appealing or tedious?
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| I believe that anything good can be marketed, so the big worry about whether it will sell or not usually comes later. We would certainly consider a book with an interesting idea where the writing can be improved.
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| What are the gaps in Indian publishing?
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| Well, for one thing, we need to appreciate the diversity in Indian publishing at the moment. Rupa, Roli, Penguin, Harper Collins, Picador, Permanent Black, Zubaan and Women Unlimited, and many many others, are bringing out a range of interesting books.
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| Every time I go into a bookshop I notice some provocative titles. The gap seems to be in the field of editing. I think editors and publishing houses should adopt a zero-tolerance policy for errors — typographical and others. It’s the least we can do for our readers.
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| Maybe you could start a blog to document these errors (and god knows there are enough) so editors and publishers can be called on it.
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| Following Chetan Bhagat’s example, there’s an emerging trend of mass-market writers — young authors who are providing easily identifiable characters, familiar settings and conversational prose. Will you look at that market or more niche publishing?
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| Of course we would look at that market, why not? I was surprised at the widespread criticism in literary circles about Bhagat’s book. Yes, it could have been better, but there is no denying the enormous connection it made with young people across the country.
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| I happened to be travelling at the time and I would hear his name come up in coffee shops across Delhi, Bombay, and Bangalore. That to me is exciting and not something to be taken lightly. You can’t be in this business and be snobbish. Anything that makes people read a book is a good thing. |
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