While this does provide a market for whatever is being published in the States, it does nothing to properly develop the Indian market. Penguin needs to remind itself that if it wants the world to know more than the names of one or two authors from India it needs to start treating India with the respect it deserves.
That means that her authors should be given the same treatment as their American counterparts and not be limited in the number of titles they are allowed to export to the American market. The best way to develop a solid audience base is to ensure that the authors of the home country are able to thrive. Keeping their names in the public eye as much as possible is a reminder that Indian writers are just as important as American or British.
If American publishers would open their eyes to the fact that English is spoken in more then a few countries around the world ,they might find their sales figures rising. Sign on a couple of Indian authors and publish them simultaneously in India and the United States. It might take awhile for sales to develop in the United States, but that will be compensated by sales in India.
At the encouragement of a friend of mine in India I sent my manuscript to Penguin India for consideration; I haven't heard anything from them yet, but that doesn't bother me. When they publish the book I expect that it will be available in Canada because that's where I'm from, as well as sold as India, but I doubt it will be for sale in the United States.
It used to be that without the American market your book couldn't really sell enough to make you much money. But times have changed, and America is not the only large English speaking market anymore. American publishers need to remember that - if they want their business to continue to grow. Otherwise they could find themselves being left behind and no longer as important as they think they are.
Article comments
1 - DukeDeMondo
Richard, i wish you none but the best in your attempts at getting published, and i dare say it's a matter of When rather than If.
2 - vikk
Hi Richard,
Good luck with your book. I will say that the closed submission policy has been around for a long time and not really that new. It's always been difficult but not impossible to get published through the slush pile but generally it's helpful to take the time know the industry--as you're doing--learn who the players are and then pitch your idea and book. Agents are certainly being used more and more as the primary screeners for publishers.
Frankly, I don't blame the publishers that much for the policies. I've seen the types of manuscripts that are sent to them and many, many, many of them should not have been sent. They simply weren't ready to be published. It takes time and energy and expense to go through slush piles. With so many people determining that they can write and that what they write is publishable immediately, the numbers have only increased.
I don't think it's any kind of conspiracy but rather a response to inundation of material and its quality that they've been receiving. The publishers are simply repsonding to various changes in the marketplace both in their providers and their consumers. OVer the last twenty years I've seen publishers tighten their submission belts and then let them out. Just as the various genres run high and low, submission policies change.
I don't know enough about India and its publishing to comment. But I do know that in the US publishers tend to look at many, many more things than we--the writers--consider.
For me, I tend to try and find my way through whatever current system is operating. It takes time but people do get published and it happens every day. I know way too many folks published to doubt the fact that it can still happen and happen to new writers.
Anyway, good luck in your literary pursuit.
3 - alessandro nicolo
I've often wondered if that is indeed the case: the wannabes clogging up the lines for more legitimate writers. Good piece. I think the writing industry is predicated on one notion: work like a dog to get published. It literally is like starting and running a business. And it seems so much harder to do in Canada.