New chapter for Indian publishing

Buildings Brics: With self-help titles leading the way, books are fast gaining popularity in India, moving from a niche sector to gain mass-market appeal.

Oprah Winfrey, the US television talk show host, at Jaipur Literature Festival last week.

If you have a problem with your weight, relationship or business in India, you rarely see an expert to solve it. Instead, you read a book.

Self-help is big business in India. The appearance of the "queen of feelgood" Oprah Winfrey at the Jaipur Literature Festival last week nearly caused a stampede, with thousands wanting to see their idol live.

A tiny sector a decade ago, today the Indian publishing industry is basking in the warm glow of the self-help craze, with millions of copies shifted from shelves every year.

"Our best-selling genre is lifestyle, especially diet and fitness. Books such as Rujuta Diwekar'sDon't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight and Payal Gidwani Tiwari'sFrom XL to XS are still selling strongly," says Milee Ashwarya, the editorial director of Ebury India and Random House India.

The Indian market offers different prospects to elsewhere in the world.

"I think Indian publishing has huge potential to grow, unlike the West, where the market has stagnated or is slowing down," Ms Ashwarya says. "Lifestyle and business are two genres which I believe will see a lot of growth in the future."

"Self-help books are huge in India," says Ravi Deecee, the chief executive of DC Books, one of southern India's largest booksellers and publishing houses with more than US$15 million (Dh55m) annual turnover.

"People like to seek advice from an expert, but they don't necessarily want to pay a lot of money for it," he adds. "The pundits know their business and everyone at the Jaipur Literature Festival was talking about the next big thing. Publishing industry in India, like everywhere else in a world, is going through a change.

"But our change is different to the West. We are seeing the market exploding in India when it comes to book sales, whereas in Europe or UK it's all about formats."

Andrew Phillips, the president of Penguin International, echoes that view.

"India is different to many other markets around the world - the book trade is growing, the number of publishers present in India is growing, the number of readers is growing and there are many new authors wanting to be published for the first time. It is an extremely vibrant publishing market," he says.

It certainly is. A recent study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a business advocacy group, estimates the market to have been worth about $1.4 billion last year, and it is growing about 10 per cent each year.

"The Indian market for popular fiction has grown from selling just few thousands of print copies to today's print runs that are often several hundreds of thousands," Mr Deecee says.

Many of those attending the annual book festival have watched the Indian industry change rapidly from an emerging market to a sector with long-term growth prospects.

"We are entering into a phase of maturity," says Urmila Dasgupta, who runs the New Delhi agency Purple Folio. "We can no longer afford to publish just anything and hoping that people will like it, but we have caught up with the West. We need to look at the commercial aspect of each book and its potential audiences."

Publishers agree the book business is no longer for the elite few.

"There are different segments within the Indian market, and as publishers we have to be able to cater to all kinds of readership, be it literary or commercial. You can no longer be snobbish and just publish for a select audience," says Ms Ashwarya.

Understanding the Indian publishing industry means understanding the diversity of the market.

Mita Kapur, who runs Siyahi, a literary consultancy, says the regional publishing market is the fastest-growing sector right now.

"The English-language books get more attention but it's the regional language books like Tamil that are growing the fastest. We have a vibrant language scene here in India and statistically the sales of these is outnumbering the English-language ones," she says.

Publishing, as with any other sector, is volatile to global economics and many western publishing houses have been forced to seek alternative markets.

"Many big UK publishing companies experienced a slowdown in their domestic market, so they started to look elsewhere and India could offer a large English-language potential," says Shruti Debi, of Aitken Alexander Associates, a literary agency in London.

Multiple sales channels are on the cards for most publishing companies. As traditional high street bookshops are struggling, most will now offer online presence.

"During 2012, as well as the above, I would expect to see the continuing growth of online retail in India such as Flipkart and also the advent of more reading devices, which in turn will lead to a substantial uptake in e-book sales," says Mr Phillips.

India is still at an early stage for online book sales but Amazon, the world's largest online bookseller, is reportedly close to starting its operations in India and has already started to recruit staff there.

Local retailers do not seem to worry about the global giant's forays, but welcome the competition.

"Online is growing fast and any new entrant will be welcome because it will grow the market and increase awareness," Mr Deecee says. "My business is based on bricks and mortar as well as online, and both segments are bringing in healthy profits."

It seems India, however, is not quite ready for e-books just yet.

"Reading devices are still too expensive for mass market, but I am sure this segment will mature with time, too, and offer huge potential," he says.

"There are lots of people online and we have to respond to the market demand because that's where the future is," Ms Kapur says. "Having said that, I don't think the electronic books will take over in this country for a long time because there isn't a market for them yet."

All the literary chatter and deal-making aside, the popularity of the festival itself is another sign of how India's publishing business is ready for its next chapter.

"This [Jaipur Literature] festival has changed in the last five years from an exclusive meeting to a mass-market festival, inspiring thousands of people to buy books," Ms Dasgupta says.

"This is a sign of how our industry has changed massively in the last few years. Good fiction is getting more popular with the masses, rather than the privilege of the few."