Eminent architects of Ahmedabad are coming together to highlight Poppo Pingel’s work at the book release event. The evening will have a presentation of his work by the author as well as a unique opportunity for students to interact with Poppo Pingel.

Author Ratna Rao Shekar is the Editor of Wow!Hyderabad and Housecalls magazines.

Purple Lotus Invitation and Programme

The interview was conducted by Vinutha Mallya. A transcript is available for reading on the website.

Ever since it was set up in 1983, Mapin Publishing has operated out of Ahmedabad — an industrial city in western India that was once known as “Manchester of the East” because of its textile mills. Many felt then that Ahmedabad was an unlikely location within India for a publishing house such as ours, but we have succeeded in bringing together the global and the local.

In the late ‘70s, when I was working at Feffer & Simons in New York (now part of Baker & Taylor International), my role as Sales Manager for West and South Asia took me to those regions regularly. In each trip of about six-weeks, I would cover nearly 17 cities. For those who have grown up in digital age: that was life before fax and email!

The 12- to 14-hour workdays on the road presented itself as a unique opportunity to survey the market for illustrated books. I saw how Israel, with a population of less than 2 million at the time, was producing a range of beautiful books about the country. It was easy to find these books in international markets and, therefore, information about Israel was always available to the Western readers.

But during my visits to India, to my dismay, I discovered that there were hardly any quality books to be found, let alone visual or illustrated books, in the stores here. Marg in Bombay was a lone figure, having established a niche in this area as a quarterly magazine, with the support of the Tata Group. Well-produced books on India were simply not published and people had no way of knowing much about this rich and diverse culture. Academics came to research India’s visual arts and art history, with the help of university grants, but the outcome was often academic books.

By contrast, the illustrated book segment was flourishing internationally. After nearly ten years of publishing industry experience in New York, I became starry eyed, wanting to create an equivalent of Harry Abrams and Thames & Hudson in India. When I moved back to India in 1983, I co-founded Mapin Publishing, as a company that focused on documenting and producing beautiful books on arts, crafts and design in India.

Nearly three decades later, the company is counted among the top illustrated-book publishers.

Developing Manuscripts That Did Not Exist

At the beginning itself, we were clear that we wanted to create a unique publishing program that focused on quality in content, production and design. We also set ourselves the mandate that the books had to be available to readers in India as well as abroad. This global outlook paved the way for strategies that brought future success to Mapin.

In the beginning, we were at a loss for sourcing manuscripts. We began to travel extensively to source them. Scholars, artists, performers, collectors, museums, galleries, crafts fairs, were all our resources – either as potential authors or as sources of information. Unpublished writers, and those writing in the Indian languages also came under our purview.

There were no pre-trained professionals that we could hire for the kind of quality that we were aiming for. We identified translators and editors who could work with Indian-language scholars. We attracted young designers from the National Institute of Design to design our books. A considerable amount of time was spent in developing manuscripts and making them publishable.

Once the books came into the hands of readers and we began to get positive feedback, we knew we were on the right track. Our first book was titled Crafts of Gujarat, which has been a resource on the handicrafts of this western Indian state.

Reaching the International Market

With less than five titles on its list, it was almost a coup d’état when we managed to find an active distributor in North America. Back in 1980s, distributors in the US would not touch a foreign publisher unless they came with an impressive long backlist. Our representation in North America gave us visibility in museum stores, university campus bookstores, and in some mainstream US and Canadian trade book stores. Soon, academicians and museum curators/scholars began to notice us.

The rest of the international market took longer to break into. Besides being visible at every major international book fair—Frankfurt and BEA without fail—the company was also participating in conferences to increase its interaction with scholars and museum curators.  We were focused on acquiring new manuscripts, while at the same time using the opportunity to understand needs of potential buyers of rights.

Positioning the Niche

In 1986, when we were just two-years-old in the market, the company was feeling its way through the business of publishing, and still learning the ropes. Publishing museum collections in India was an impossible task due to the bureaucracy. (This is so to this day in most cases, but recently some visionary bureaucrats have paved the way for this to change, and we have managed to publish a few collections.) So we decided to start looking at international museums that held collections from India and rest of South Asia. An obvious choice was the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. V&A has a large holding of Indian art objects (65,000) which were not documented in any significant manner. At that time, Government grants to the V&A were slashed and the in-house publishing department shrunk to two part-timers.

It turned out to be an opportunity that set us on an exciting course.

We started a dialogue directly with the curatorial department. The curators were keen to publish and within six months of our starting this interaction, the trustees of the V&A approved Mapin’s proposal for establishing a long-term publishing program. The first book, The Golden Treasury, under this arrangement was published in 1988. We went on to publish five titles in the next three to four years.

At around that time, we explored another kind of publishing arrangement—co-publishing. We were lucky to have got our first deal with an American publisher, Rizzoli. Having originated a book with a British Museum and having produced a co-edition with an American publisher boosted our confidence, and we began to realize that there was a niche market waiting to be explored. So we decided take our museum-publishing venture beyond the British shores.

Illustrated book publishing in the US was very vibrant then and the interest in India was beginning to gain momentum after the first “Festival of India” in the USA in 1986. For nearly a year, we pursued The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to acquire rights for a particular book. With the help of the legendary author and Islamic art scholar, Stuart Carey Welch, we managed to get the rights for reprinting that title. It was the first real test. We had signed on the dotted line and agreed to have the final print sample approved by the museum. That book, India Art & Culture, went on to become our first bestseller.

Many more books followed. The word-of-mouth among authors, curators and museum publishing departments was a strong affirmation of what we were doing. Over time, we began to adopt other publishing models, all of which have contributed to the business tremendously. Our multicultural adaptability and our uncompromising attention to quality has held us in good stead while working with publishers in the US, UK and Europe.

By now we have produced more than 300 books, which cover the gamut of visual arts of India—art, architecture, culture, design, photography, performance arts—combined with our specialization in museum publishing. Not only do we commission our own titles, we co-publish, package, and provide customized publishing services.

This piece was first published in Publishing Perspectives on 1 December 2011.

The Mapin Stand, all dressed up! © Mapin

Despite this gloom, official statistics this year reveal that attendance at the Fair had increased by about 1% when compared to last year. The Book Fair authorities have rightly attributed this to the growing interest in networking and training events at the Fair, although one could credit the good weather this year too – lots of sunshine.

The events that were held were more in number when compared to last year, and they addressed more segments of publishing. There were about 7,400 exhibitors from 106 countries, and more than 3,200 events, all of which attracted approximately 283,000 visitors. Iceland was the Guest of Honour country this year, and the country showcased its range of literature – from classical sagas to modern literature.

An official release from the Frankfurt Book Fair informs us that the LitAg (The Literary Agents & Scouts Centre) “recorded an increase of 11 per cent in visitor numbers.” I did meet some agents who were going home pleased. So, perhaps it was not so gloomy in the other halls of the Fair.

What was new this year?

Beyond the traditional buying and selling of rights, and routine licensing deals, which are the mainstay of the Fair, this year offered several new features for exhibitors. The Fair was also opened up to a newer range of exhibitors.

Frankfurt Book Fair had announced earlier in 2011 that the Fair was expanding its scope from books to becoming a “content” fair. Through the Frankfurt SPARKS brand, the digital initiative of the Frankfurt Book Fair, new platforms have been introduced. The line-up of 30 events for the Frankfurt StoryDrive, the platform focused on transmedia business and media rights, amply demonstrated this shift in focus. HotSpots, the other platform of SPARKS, displayed cutting edge technologies and innovations in digital content.

The HotSpots corner located Hall 8, allocated for displaying ‘Mobiles and Devices’, was buzzing with product demos and talks. My first two meetings of the Fair were with service providers of digital content platforms, and I came away feeling quite positive about designing an affordable and apt digital strategy (and not just e-books and apps alone) for my company in the near future.

Prominent conferences

Under the newly introduced umbrella of ‘Frankfurt Academy’, the Fair organised several international conferences and seminars this year to broadly cover these areas of interest: Strategy, Marketing, Digital, and Rights and Licenses (the tickets for many of these were priced almost as much as my airfare!).

Discussions on digital innovations in publishing have been taking place in Frankfurt ever since the Tools of Change conference was launched there three years ago. This year, with the introduction of the first Frankfurt edition of the Publishers Launch conference, the scope of discussions was widened.

I was fortunate to get the chance to attend the Metadata Perspectives Conference and came away with valuable ideas on the need for metadata, and its importance in marketing of books and making them visible online. The conference was also an eye-opener to how much work is required in India and not just because of lack of information regarding metadata standards, but also because we need to develop our own standards that include our diversity in languages and therefore the inherent regional divisions in our national territory.

Metadata Perspectives. © Mapin

Overall, the events discussed every topic – ranging from social media, apps for children, multichannel marketing, networked publishing, digitization strategies to digital rights (among many others). But it is impossible to attend all events if you are an exhibitor. The Fair felt very big this year, although “big” it has always been.

Networking events

The International Rights Directors meeting, which has been held at the Fair for over 25 years, focused on Brazil this year, an emerging market labelled as one of “publishing’s hot mega markets”. (I am personally very interested in what publishers in Brazil are doing, especially in digital publishing.)

Country-focused business breakfasts, a CEO panel, a seminar on film rights etc were just some of the other events that were held which provided networking opportunities. As every year, the Fair authorities had also organised the Fellows-of-all-Years reception, where Frankfurt Book Fair Fellows, past and present, have a chance to meet and network. The annual reception-dinner organised by the Federation of Indian Publishers was held this year too.

It is no exaggeration when someone tells you that in Frankfurt more networking happens outside the Fair grounds than within.

The Indian presence at Frankfurt

According to the German Book Office New Delhi, there were more than 450 visitors from India at the Fair, with 60 companies exhibiting. Of these, nearly 10 were printers.

The good news for the Indian presence at the Fair this year was that the National Book Trust had taken a large stall, where they were also promoting the upcoming World Book Fair to be held in Delhi early next year. At the Sahitya Akademi stand, the spotlight was on Rabindranath Tagore, whose 150th birth anniversary is being commemorated by the nation this year. Other agencies at the Fair were CAPEXIL, and the Kolkata Book Fair. Matchmaking events and buy-seller meets were organised for publishers and printers, and provided good opportunity for gaining business leads. As each year, one hopes that next year the NBT will organize a collective stand for Indian publishers, which would ensure a stronger contingent from India at the Fair. (We needn’t wait to be made Guest of Honour!)

S. Anand, Publisher of Navayana was among the international publishers chosen for the annual Invitation Programme this year, where he exhibited the popular graphic book, Bhimayana, and succeeding in selling rights. Neelini Sarkar, Senior Copy Editor at HarperCollins was chosen for the Frankfurt Fellowship this year. Kannan Sundaram, Publisher of Kalachuvadu Publications in Nagercoil, was exhibiting for the first time. Kannan, a past Frankfurt Fellow, had been attending the Fair as a trade visitor until last year.

Two India-related events were held at the Weltempfang (Centre for Politics, Literature and Translation) forum at the Fair this year. The first was a discussion titled “Romancing the languages: Indian Literature’s many journeys”, organised jointly by the GBO New Delhi and Ministry of Culture’s (GoI) Indian Literature Abroad initiative.

The other, a moderated discussion in German, on Tagore’s relevance today, featured illustrated readings from his works. This was organized by the South Asia Institute of the University of Heidelberg, and Draupadi Verlag. The Fair is open to public on the last two days, and this is when we get to meet the German public. Their interest and commitment to books is simply outstanding and it is no wonder that the most successful Fair of book publishing is based in Germany.

Many Indians living in Germany also attend the Fair. Some simply come to talk to us in a familiar language, about familiar things.

The End and a Beginning

Each year I return from Frankfurt feeling very energised. Conducting meetings with long-term partners and new collaborators non-stop, and having to walk between halls do require tremendous stamina. (Everyone brings along a comfortable pair of shoes as a result.) But, it is being in the company of the book-people that gives everyone the spark needed to get through the exhausting Fair!

The measure of a successful fair is, however, hinged on what emerges after the excitement at Frankfurt dies down, and when the follow-ups begin. Three weeks on, it still feels electric.

By Vinutha Mallya, Senior Editor, Mapin Publishing. This article was first published in The Publisher’s Post.

Yes, the Frankfurt Book Fair may only be on the horizon and is likely the focus for many Indian publishers, but a sudden spurt of homegrown conferences and events is bound to lead the industry professionals towards interesting directions.

Until recently, publishing conferences were few and far in between in India, but the trend that has seen events proliferate across the globe has finally come our way and the four months before the end of the year sees numerous conferences and book fairs on the calendar.

The first of these was the inaugural edition of Publishing Next, organized by self-publishing service provider CinnamonTeal and held in Goa on September 17 and 18. The conference was memorable not only for being the rare event outside Delhi, the so-called hub of Indian publishing, but for its focus on the “future of publishing”.

Read more of this post by Mapin’s Senior Editor on Publishing Perspectives.

Despite this strength, publishers are holding back from taking giant strides on digital platforms. Acronyms like EPUB, mobi, XML, DRM, iOS, and words like Apps, Android, e-Ink are still one big jumble for most publishers, who are overwhelmed and confused at the same time.

Read more of this post on Publishing Perspectives.

The combined advantage of being the third-largest publisher of books in English and having competitive rates for publishing and printing technologies has made India a formidable player in the international publishing scene. The industry has been boosted by an infusion of capital since the year 2000, when the government of India allowed 100% equity in the publishing industry. The result has been several new opportunities and challenges for the Indian publishing industry.

Read more of this post on Publishing Perspectives.