The New Book Order

FOR ANY INDUSTRY that relies on steady revenue coming in to propel it forward, these past two months have been crippling. Publishing is no different. While each publishing house grapples with this lack of revenue differently and creates its own strategy for survival and the way forward, the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown has been unprecedented across the board. Publishing, like many other industries, seems to be on a precipice. It’s been frustrating to be faced with an unseen adversary with no end to the battle in sight. When we think back to early March 2020, it seems incredible that we were still optimistic about attending book fairs overseas and going ahead with new releases scheduled in May.

How quickly the world changed!

Roli Books moved to working from home a week before the official lockdown began. As the severity of the reality became more evident, we decided to channel the anxiety in the best way we could collectively—by focusing on work. ‘Roli Pulse’, our digital initiative, was born. For the past seven weeks we have brought the most interesting minds together under the banner of Roli Pulse to publish sessions on subjects as diverse as climate change, slow living and publishing.

We have commissioned our first original podcast, while ideating for the kind of books we want to publish next.

During this time traffic to our website has grown manifold, we have a regular newsletter, our social media following has spiked exponentially and we have seen meaningful ‘engagement’ with our readers and a strengthened community. Everything we had always wished to do but just never had the time to prioritise. A community has to be created, nurtured and rewarded but somehow the daily race to commission exciting books and work on publishing more books left little time for anything else. Our primary reasons for undertaking this digital activity are to keep books and our authors relevant, our authors and readers engaged and to remind them that books and stories will sustain us through what is perhaps the greatest crisis of our times.

It’s been our hope that as the lockdown eases and bookshops across the country find ways to deliver books, our readers go back to books. Because books are not discretionary.

Because books are the bedrock of any civilised society. Because books are essential.

Books disseminate ideas, help us understand our world and explore others without ever travelling to them. Books are central to the development of ideas, religions, political movements and even nations. They have the power to change lives. According to the World Health Organization, books can boost mental health. Some of the best literature and writers emerged out of moments of great crisis such as the Great Depression, the two World Wars, famines and plagues. Pre-Covid-19, we witnessed the rise of dangerous, insular political regimes all over the world. Freedom of press, thought and speech were one of the first victims of these authoritative governments. Books, writers and the publishing industry don’t find favour with most governments.

When ‘normal’ life came to a standstill, perhaps books could have been seen as a part of the solution by the powers that be. While a ‘Stay In, Stay Home’ programme was initiated by the National Book Trust, it lacked enthusiasm and participation of the book industry. Books help readers across age groups and interests. Be it children, young entrepreneurs, cooking enthusiasts, those facing mental health issues or those using them to get ahead—books provide solace for all. In the UK, 40 per cent people said books helped them get through the pandemic. But in India, books were classified as non-essential and therefore all avenues for buying them were halted. Beauty products and toilet paper were classified as essential, but books were not. Ironic, that at a time when people need books the most, it is so difficult to buy them.

Clearly, this is because the book industry in India suffers from a perception problem. We are the seventh largest book publishing country and the third largest book market.

So much of what we knew has stopped or finished. But writing has not. Stories have not. It is our belief that this time will produce some great original work, just like other moments of crisis have

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We publish in 24 languages and have more than 16,000 active publishers. Yet, as an industry we are not powerful. And the problem existed before the lockdown. The French retail giant FNAC Darty, whose largest revenue chunk comes from books, was granted a €500-million loan by the government. Other countries such as the UK, Canada, Turkey and Australia have offered modest support to the publishing industry to help bolster them through. However, here in India, governments have done little to support the publishing industry in the past—be it poor GST laws, import duties, lack of well-funded, robust public libraries, absence of infrastructure or even sustained planned reading campaigns. But the publishing industry is not the sole responsibility of government. While they can provide a fertile ground for publishers to flourish, it will take us all—publishers, booksellers, agents, writers and readers—to come together and support the written word. Let’s put books centrestage. Let’s build readership.

Let’s make books essential.

It took a pandemic for the Indian publishing industry to come together to address some of these common concerns. While there are various associations and groups, these are not united in their voice. The lockdown has changed the interactions within the publishing world. Just last week, Neeta Gupta, publisher of Yatra Books, wrote an inspiring article about the Indian language publishers coming together for a weekly Zoom call to discuss common concerns, share ideas and find practical solutions together. We have been a part of at least two separate conversations between publishers to air the concerns of the industry and help put our homes in order. For the first time, we are speaking to each other and addressing one of the biggest existential crises our industry faces.

So much of what we knew has stopped or finished. But writing has not. Stories have not. It is our belief that this time will produce some great original work, just like other moments of crisis have. People will turn to books, their favourite trusted authors to make sense of the ‘new world order’. What we do hope will change is the ecosystem of Indian publishing and bookselling. Perhaps we needed this reboot to look within, to address the flaws, to unite and to course correct. Books need the oxygen of an entire machinery to be brought into the world.

Personally, it’s also been a time of helpful introspection for us at Roli Books. If we face a future where people are not comfortable going to bookshops to browse, how do we reach our authors and their stories to readers? Our role has to be dynamic. We have to think across platforms— perhaps produce podcasts, audio books, get more aggressive in selling rights for web series, documentary and films, maybe even gaming and toys. Last October, the publishing world’s largest and most important trade fair, the Frankfurt Book Fair, had an entire arena dedicated to ‘Frankfurt Audio’ so that publishers and players in the audio world could forge collaborations.

In a nod to the new avenues the bookfair organisers are exploring, the speaker for the annual Global 50 CEO Talk at the Fair was the vice president of Netflix International Originals. The lines are blurring and our worlds are colliding. But at the heart of it all remains the story. Writers, books and the publishing industry are the foundations of storytelling across platforms.

These trying months have given us time to reflect, regroup and to come together as an industry to say, ‘Yes, books are essential.’ Together we will find ways to fight the good fight to ensure that this belief gains momentum so that the next time we find ourselves in a similar situation, books will be given preference over toilet paper!

About The Author

Priya Kapoor and Kapil Kapoor

Priya Kapoor and Kapil Kapoor are Directors at Roli Books