UNIT 1 HISTORY OF PUBLISIIING: AN

OVERVIEW
Structure

1.0 Aims

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Advent of Printing

1.3 Different Kinds of Published Material: Newspapers

I .4 The Publishing Process : Books

1.5 Financial Implications

1.6 Publishing Houses

1.7 Promotion: Magic Mantra of Publishing

1.8 The Publisher·s Burden

1.9 Summing Up

1.10 Aids to Answers

1.0 AIMS
After studying this unit, you wi ll be able to:

• describe the history of publishing;

• describe what is publishing; and

• list the various activities involved in the publishing process.

1.1 INTRODUCTION
If making a text available to whoever wants it is publishing, it has been going on
ever since the advent of mankind on this planet.

Structured language may have taken time to evolve but there is every reason to
believe that the oral tradition has been in existence from the start. Puranic lore
must have existed for a long time in oral tradition. That is why we find variations
on the same theme in various Puranic stories.

Later, when language developed, words of wisdom derived from human practices
and thought current at the time were chronicled into convenient verse which must
have spread by word of mouth. This was publishing in its most incipient form. In
India, we still have Puranic and Vedic texts as rectified and passed on from
generation to generation.
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Overview of Publishing
1.2 ADVENT OF PRINTING
Modem publishing started with the advent of the movable type. Gutenberg, a
German, initiated the printing revolution. He hit upon the idea of using durable
individual letters made of metal. They were put together manually to form words
and then sentences and whole paragraphs. The text so created was smeared with
ink and an impression was taken on paper.

The impression having been taken, the type was distributed. When another text had
to be printed, the same set of types was put together to compose the new text.
The drill of smearing it with ink and taking an impression on paper was gone
through.

With printing invented, it became a two-step process to get texts replicated. The
author passed on the text to the printer, and the printer did his bit. This was the
earliest proce;}!) of publishing written texts.

T his went on for some time, probably decades, before the inadequacy of this
process in making thoughts and texts available to whoever wanted it was realised.
There was a role to be played after the printing to make texts widely available.

This was the role of the publisher who visualised the audience that would want a
particular kind oftext. Also visualised were the formats in which texts would be
needed and the system of distribution that could reach the printed text to the
audience. This need led to the evolution of binding of loose sheets of printed
material and the system of pricing and distribution.

1.3 DIFFERENT KINDS OF PUBLISHED

MATERIAL: NEWSPAPERS
In time, different kinds of published material - books, pamphlets, daily news sheets,
periodicals, etc. - evolved to fulfil different needs. A long with this came
special isation. There were those who published books, others who published
newspapers, etc.

Later there was super specialisation. Some published only medical books, others
only law books, still others only novels. With printing technology developing, publishing
in different languages began.

Modem publishing came to India after a small time Jag from the world and took
the same route to develop. First the author-printer duo performed various functions
of the publisher, as elsewhere. Then specialisation developed.

The tirs.t attempt to publish a newspaper in India was made in 1767 by an Englishman
named William Bolt. The East India Company, which had occupied Bengal,
disapproved of it. The Court of Directors, sitting in Fort William, sent him to
Madras where he was ordered to take in July "the first ship to sail from Madras
to Europe in September."

Undeterred, in 1780 an "English adventurer" named James Augustus Hicky started

India' s first paper, the Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser as a "weekly
political and commercial paper, open to all parties but influenced by none."

Dr S.N. Ghosh, the first Indian Editor of the English-owned " Pioneer" ofLucknow,
studied in 1990 the history of the press and publishing in India for the futuristic
volume Communication 2000 AD published by the Indian Institute of Mass
Communication, New Delhi.
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 In his contribution to the volume Or Ghosh, wrote that Hicky's paper consisted only History of Publishing:
of two sheets about 12 inches by 8" of which much space was occupied by An Overview
advertisements". It was, Or Ghosh remarks, " in the main a lampooning sheet and
caused considerable annoyance to many and great commotion and excitement in
the small Anglo-Indian community."

The missionaries, officials, even the Chief Justice, the Governor-General and
his wife were attacked. Hicky was convicted and jailed and his paper
discontinued.

However, Or Ghosh notes that he took on the Government single-handed to defend

the liberty of the press. He wrote that the liberty of the press was essential and
"the subjects should have full liberty to declare their principles and opinions and
every act which tends to coerce that liberty was tyrannical and injurious to the
community."

Activity 1

Why is Hicky called the father oflndian newspaper publishing and not William
Bolts, who tried to start a newspaper in 1767 in Calcutta four years before
the Bengal Gazette appeared?

( Check your answer with that given at the end of the unit.)

Six more papers were started in Calcutta between 1780 and 1790. Among them
the "Harkaru" earned some distinction. In Bombay, the fi rst paper was the Weekly
Bombay Herald (1789).
Papers in Indian languages started appearing in 1818. Calcutta had 26 European
and 9 Indian papers by 1839, Bombay I 0 European and 4 Indian, and Madras
9 European papers. Ludhiana, Delhi, Agra and Serampur had one paper each.

Remarkably, the Indian language press showed a high sense of duty by disseminating
useful knowledge and information. Also, it tried to make the readers acquainted
with the laws and customs of the rulers.

This was in contrast with the European-owned press which was flippant and aimed
to amuse and entertain its English readers, according to Dr Ghosh 's study.
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Ovcn·icw of Publishing
1.4 THE PUBLISHING PROCESS: BOOKS
Like other trades, publishing started as an individual effort. This was when printers,
thrust with the job by authors, found the task of promoting and reaching the book
to the ultimate consumers difficult. It involved identifying the potential consumers,
studying their needs, and devising a distribution system.

Entrepreneurs who thought they could do it better took on the job. They studied
customer needs and organised a system of sales through bookshops. They also
organised promotion. One of the methods devised to promote a book was to send
copies of it "on an approval basis" to universities and other institutions for possible
buying for the library and recommendation to scholars. This method of promotion,
among others, continues to this day.

So far the job of visualising the potential readership had been that of the author.
The problem was, and continues to be, that if the author is besotted with an idea ·
he starts thir .ng that the reader too wants facts and information on the topic.
Often the author, having studied the topic in depth, is too swayed by his personal
preference to imagine that the read~r may not feel equally deeply about it.

Now publishers take it upon themselves to study and assess what the reader
wants. The situation today is that, barring a few authors in particular fields (like
fiction), the author visualises reader needs, pens the manuscript and approaches a
publisher. It is the publisher who decides whether there is or is not a market for
the book.

1.5 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

With the advent of the publisher, the financia l set up of the publishing process
changed. Earlier it was the author who needed to have his work published. The
printer only provided a service for a fee. When, for a brief period, the printer took
the added responsibility of distribution, he must have shouldered additional but
limited financial responsibility.

Now that the publtsher became the intermediary between author and printer, the
full financial responsibility devolved on him. He either accepted the responsibility
of publishing a work or did not. If and when he felt there was a market for a
particular kind of book and no such manuscript had come, he could commission an
expert in the field to write it.

If he accepted a work for publishing, he assumed responsibility for paper, printing

binding, distribution and sales. The printer, binder, etc. only provided their services
for a fee.

The author and the bookseller were in separate categories. It became a practice
for the publisher to bind the author with a written contract. The publisher was
given the right and responsibility to publish the work organise sales, and collect the
sale proceeds.

The author had only the right to royalty on copies of the book sold at a rate
specified in the contract. The specified rate was a fixed percentage of the cover
price, normally l 0% in India. No royalty was due on unsold copies or on copies
sent for review or as complimentaries.

The bookseller, on the other hand, was entitled to a usually hefty discount on copies
sold. His job was to stock copies of the book and sell it to the customer. The
unsold copies were to be returned to the publisher. As an example, if a book was
priced at Rs.600 and the discount was 50% the bookseller would net Rs. 1500/-
12 if he sold five copes.
 History of Publishing:
Activity 2 An Overview

One thousand copies of a book priced at Rs.SOO/- are published. One hundred
copies arc sold in a year. Fifty copies are sent for review. The royalty rate
is I 0%. How much is the author entitled to as royalty for the year?

(Check your answer with that given at the end of the unit).

Activity 3

One thousand copies of a book priced at Rs.500/- are published. A bookseller

in given I 00 copies for sale at a discount of 50%. He sells 50 copies in
a year. I low much does he net as discount ?

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(Check your answer with tJ1at given at the end of the unit).

1.6 PUBLISHING HOUSES

Like all entrepreneurial activity, publishing began as an individual enterprise. Some
individual, either in the author's entourage or in the printing set up, found he had
the talent to accomplish what either the author or the printer found hard to do.
Some individual, not involved with the author or the printer also got the idea. This
is what entrepreneurship consists of.
This must have happened in several cases because there are people with different
kinds of natural talent. An author or printer may be \Cl) accurate and
knowledgeable in language and spellings but may have no talent to persuade
people to buy his product.
lt is said that Goldsmith wrote like an angel but talked like poor Paul. 'I here
are, equally, people who talk like an angel but write like poor Paul. It takes all
kinds to make the world.
As against erudite authors and accurate printers there are people \\·ho may not
be learned but can organise a good assessment or marke needs and promotion
and sales of books. Publishers belong to this category.

In time, people with ~pecial talent in publishing found that this trade unknown
so tar, was paying and worthwhile as a whole-time activity. This is how publishing
houses developed. In the beginning they had to scout for authors able to feed the
market with manuscripts which people valued. 13
 Overview of Publishing Later the roles were reversed. lt was now the author who looked for a publisher
who could find a market for his work. This situation has taken root. It is now
the publisher, not the author, who looks for a printer and organises sales.

Publishers, like authors and other professionals, have specialised in different fields.
There are those who publish only medical and/ or scientific books. There are
law publishers, school text book publishers and those who publish pictorial books
or fiction. There are, of course, companies whose main trade is to publish
newspapers and magazines.

One area of specialisation deserves a separate mention. There are publishers

with a name identified with a particular university. The name that will come
to mind in India is the Oxford University Press.

These so- called university presses are associated with, but not owned by the
university, concerned. It so happened that Oxford University, being a citadel of
learning and research, produced masses of research material. The university and
its scholars consequently had to look for a publisher every time a research study
was ready.

The way out found was to authorise a publisher of good credentials to use the
university's name. In return it was obliged to publish authenticated research material
from the university. It was also free to publish other books that did not besmirch
the institution's name. In time the publisher prospered and expanded. lt now has
opened publishing houses with the same name in several countries including India.
Several other universities in Britain and other countries have a publishing house
named after them. In India there are several publishing houses named after
universities, most of them foreign. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, an institution founded""
by KM Munshi, an eminent Gujarati scholar, freedom fighter and Congress leader,
publishes the Bhavan's Journal.

The Bhavan also publishes publicity and course material to feed its hundreds of
affiliates all over India conducting part-time courses in several disciplines. Apart
from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, there are no Indian universities or other institutions
having a major publishing programme. When a university wishes something published,
it depends on outside publishers and printers. Publishing has grown all over the
world into a thriving business. Dozens of publishing houses have grown into
international organisations with arms in many countries. A large number of them
have roots in Britain and the United States. The major reason for this is the spread
of the English language.

1.6.1 The Advantage of English

English was by far the biggest imperial power in history with possessions in every
continent of the world. The whole of the gigantic Australia (including New
Zealand ) began as a British Colony. The even bigger North America (including
Canada and the USA) was also a British Colony.
In Africa, the British possessions included South Africa, the whole of the eastern
seaboard ( including Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika and adjoining areas), Rhodesia
(now Zimbabwe), and much of the western seaboard including Nigeria. The whole
of South Asia including India-Pakistan-Bangladesh-Sri Lanka plus adjoining areas
like Burma (now Myanmar), Malaysia and Singapore were part of the British
empire. Almost the whole of the rest of Asia and Africa was under British tutelege.
English thus was the language of the rulers. It was also the language of rule. Not
to know English was considered almost synonymous with illiteracy. Much ofthe
reading material in English came from England. Publishing houses in what was
14 cal led the Mother Country progressively opened branches in British possessions to

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produce reading material locally at a lower cost. In India today the big names in History of Publishing:
publishi ng include British and American majors like Penguin, Macmillan, Prentice An Overview
Hall, Picador, Orient Longman, Harper Collins, etc.

The news is that Random House, the American giant. is coming with a huge
pu blishing programmc.The Indian publisher$ in English are small in comparison.
Their market is limited largely to India. The British and American companies with
arms in India have a much larger market spread over Britain, the whole of the
continents af North America and Australia and the former British colonies. Their
presence in India is but a small segment of their worldwide market. There are
some joint ventures Iike Tata-McGraw Hi 11 to take advantage of the Tatas' prestige
and reach in India and McGraw Hill 's giant American business empire. Even this
is now in trouble.Some Indian publishers have chosen bravely to go it alone. They
include Sterling, Har-Anand and a dozen others. They may be big by Indian
standards but arc puny by comparison with multinational giants. A major reason for
the lower sales and relatively less prosperity of Indian publishers in English is the
lower income level of their readers. A far higher percentage of their readers'
1ncomc is spent on food and clothing than of European and American readers.This
means lower disposable income and, therefore, purchase of fewer books. This it
is a maJor reason for the lower sales and less prosperity of Indian publishers of
English language books.

Activity 4

Why is English language publishing by non-Indian publishers more prominent

and prosperous than publishing by Indian publishers in English?

...........................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................

(Check your answer with that given at the end of the unit).

1.6.2 Publishing in Indian Languages

lndian language publishing is limited by the size of the linguistic group. Though Hindi
is spoken and read by the largest number of people in the country, the biggest
pub! ishing industry is in the Malayalam language. This is because of the almost I00
per cent literacy in Kerala, the Malayalam heartland.
Another big publishing industry is in the Bengali. This is because apart from the
huge population of West Bengal, it can also cater to the bigger population of
neighboring Bangladesh.

In fact the two neighboring territories have close linguistic ties. Nobel Prize winning
poet Rabindranath Tagore has authored the national anthems of both India poet
Qazi Nazrul Islam is claimed as their own by both Bengali-speaking territories on
the two sides of the international lndo-Bangladesh border. IS

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Onrvitw of Publishing Recently Bangla novelist Taslima Nasreen, persecuted by religious extremists in her
own Bangladesh, tried to make West Bengal her home. She felt more comfortable
in Bangla-speaking Kolkata than in Sweden or other European countries that could
give her shelter. She had. however, to go to Europe since the extremist threat
seemed to be getting intense in West Bengal also.

Yet, despite a far bigger potential readership. publishing in Indian languages is less
prosperous than in English. The reason is that the English-knowing population,
though far less numerous than those who do not know English, consists of the far
more prosperous upper crust of the population.

To use an expression current in today's India, those who know English and can use
it belong to the •·creamy layer" of the population. Following the age-old practice of
preferring the language and practices of the rulers than of the ruled, they use
Engiish rather than an Indian language. Reading English and preferring it is
fashionable. reading and using an Indian language is considered demeaning.

History is witness to such behavior. When Emperor Kanishka converted to Buddhism,

the following of the new religion saw a massive surge in numbers. When
Samudragupta and other Gupta emperors went obsessively and demonstrably for
traditional Hinduism, the ancient religion saw a massive revival.

Activity 5

Publishing in Indian languages is not as prosperous as publishing in English.

Why?

(Check your answer with that given at the end of the unit).

1.7 PROMOTION: MAGIC MANTR A OF

PUBLISHING
The essential functions of the publisher include assessment of the market demand
for a particular kind of books and orgamsing sales. An ancillary of organismg sales
is making it known that a particular book has been published and where it can be
obtained,
This ancillary function includes telling about the author's qualifications and expertise
in the subject and why what he says deserv~s attention .. The clever among publishers
(and authors) do this and something additional. That "something additional'' can be
called, for want of a more accurate description. the whetting of the appetite of
readers. Publishers call it promotion.
There is no set formula how the appetite of readers can be whetted. Every trick
is allowed so long as it falls short of falsehood and does not amount to cheating.
One is reminded in this context of something that the makers of Cavanders cigarettes
16 did (and perhaps still do). They mounted two boys on five-foot-long stilts and made

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them walk the streets wearing Cavanders T-shirts .. It was not falsehood or cheating History of Publishing:
An Overview
since no one promised that Cavanders smokers would become extra tall. It only
called attention to the brand.
General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan accomplished the job by bringing a joint
press conference with President George W. Bush to the point of mentioning that
his autobiography, In the Line of Fire, was to be published in a few days.
Anyone less clever would have been content with this mention at a press conference
viewed live by millions. Musharraf did something special. He said he could not
disclose what the book contained since his contract with the publisher barred this.
He had drawn a veil of secrecy around the book. The press conference was
televised nationwide in the USA. It was also beamed live to India and Pakistan.
Ev.erybody in America and South Asia heard that single pregnant sentence. The
book was sold out within hours and a second printing was ordered before the week
was out.
Book promotion is nothing new. It has been practiced ever since the advent of
modern publishing. Only, it is getting smarter by the day.
In 1958 at the Lata Lajpat Rai-founded weekly The People, in walked a perspiring
man of about 30. He had walked from bookshop to bookshop in Lucknow placing
copies of a book of his quotations for sale. Then he had climbed four floors to the
office, hoping it would be reviewed by the editor..
They found nothing extraordinary in the quotations and gave it a few paragraphs
in tht:ir weekly as a solatium. This was in considt:ration of the marathon walking
effort of Mr SS Raj put, the author.
Book reviews are one of the earliest forms of promotion. Every author believes he
has written a path-breaking book. Every publisher thinks he has selected a best-
selling manuscript. So reputed dailies and periodicals are flooded with books for
review. Only a few can be accommodated.
Books with new disclosures about events release excerpts for publication, the more
sensational the better. The excerpts, like trailers of feature films, are supposed to
draw crowds leading to higher sales. 1
The old notion was that the excerpts should speak for the author's credibility. The
new mantra is that their only function is to draw crowds, The more a book's
excerpts lead to higher sales the better it is. The author can look after his credibility.
Even authors, at least a large number of them, seem to have started believing in
the theory that higher sales deserve the highest priority. After all, writing a book
involves a huge effort and expenditure of time and money. Hence substantial
returns in the form of book sales and royalty are a necessary compensation.

Activity 6

What do you understand by book promotion? How is promotion different from

organizing sales?

(Check your answer with that given at the end of the unit).
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Ovtrvlew of Publishing
1.8 THE PUBLISHER'S BURDEN
The Copyright Act, the Social Responsibil ity of the PubIisher and Pub Iish ing Rights
and Controls are discussed elsewhere. However, a caution is sounded here about
the burden the publisher carries. This applies to all publishers, whether of books or
newspapers and periodicals.
The responsibility for everything published is of the author, the publisher and the
printer. The author is responsible only if his writing is published. He is responsible
but not liable if his writing is for private consumption. He is liable if it is published
and breaches the law.
Pornography Written in a private diary is not punishable, for freedom of thought is
a fundamental right. But as soon as it is published, the author becomes liable.
The publisher is liable if anything published by him breaches the law, no matter who
has written it. The printer is answerable if anything printed by him is illegal and is
published. If he prints anything for private consumption, it is not illegal since it is
not published.
Now we can see the difference in the responsibilities of the author, the printer and
the publisher.
The author is liable for an illegality only if it is published, not otherwise.
The printer is liable for an illegality if it is published, not otherwise.
The publisher is liable for all and any kind of illegality if it is published.
We can see the difference in two phenomena. Here are these phenomena:
I. Every newspaper or periodical must make a declaration before the Registrar
of Newspapers listing among other things the names of the publisher and the
printer. The Editor's name need not be declared.
2. Scan the imprint lines of all the dailies and periodicals you can find. You will
invariably find the names of the publisher and printer, but the name of the
Editor will often be missing.

1.9 SUMMING UP
If replication of any text for anyone who wants it is publishing, this has been going
on since the advent of mankind on this planet. Modem publishing started with the
invention of the movable type by Gutemberg in Germany.

To begin with, the author foisted the responsibility of publishing on the printer. In
time entered enterprising men who took on the job of assessing the market demand
and organizing sales. They became the publishers. Printers reverted to their original
job of printing for a fee.

Publishing in India started after a small time tag. The first newspaper published in
India was the Bengal Gazette in Calcutta by James Augustus Hicky in 1789..
Though Hicky was jailed, by 170fl ten newspapers were published from Calcutta.
Newspapers were also started from . 'lmbay, Madras Delhi, Ludhiana and Seramporc.

The modern publishing scenario is that the publisher accepts a manuscript prepared
by an author, commissions a printer to work for a fee, organizes sales and pockets
the sale proceeds. He pays a royalty of I 0 per cent or as agreed on the cover price
18 to the author for the number of copies sold. The copyright remains with the author.

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The magic mantra developed by publishers is promotion. It involves book reviews History of Publishing:
in reputed publications. In recent years juicy excerpts are released for publication A,, Overview
by reputed publications to whet the appetite of readers for the book.

1.10 AIDS TO ANSWERS

I. Hicky is called the father oflndian newspaper publishing since he started the
first Indian paper, the Bengal Gazette, in I 780. But is true that Bolts tried to
start a paper four years earlier but he was deported and could not do so.

2. Royalty will be Rs 5,000 @ Rs 50 each for 100 copies.

3. Discount will be Rs 12,500@ Rs 250 each of 50 copies sold.

4. Non-Indian English language publishers have a market spread over Britain,

Australia, North America, and virtuaiJy all the former British possessions across
the world. Indian publishers operate mostly on the small Indian market.

5. Readers of Indian language books are more numerous. But those who read
English books belong to the rich upper crust of society and can afford to spend
more on books.

6. Promotion is basically whetting the appetite of readers for the book being
promoted. Organizing sales is placing books in shops where they can be
available to customers.

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 UNIT 2 INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING
SCENARIO
Structure

2.0 Aims

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Recent Developments

2.3 The Indian Scenario

2.4 Technological Developments: Implications for India

2.5 The Indian Publishing Scenario

2.6 Openings In Indian Publishing

2.7 Required Skill Sets

2.8 Children's Publishing

2.9 Textbook Publishing

2.1 0 Educational Publishing

2.11 Remuneration

2. 12 Summing Up

2.13 Further Reading

2.0 AIMS
In this unit we shall be introducing you to the global scenario in publishing. The
purpose of this is to give you an idea of the field of pub! ishing in general and to
perhaps inspire you to explore for yourself the vast areas that are open to the
publishing professional.

2.1 INTRODUCTION
It has been said, and quite justifiably, that the world of global publishing has not
changed as much in the last 300 years, as it has in the last 30! For long, publishing
has been thought to be the profession of 'gentlemen entrepreneurs' who looked at
publishing books as a creative process. Books were individually crafted with a
great deal of care in their making. These publishers made books because they
wanted to make them and because they thought the reading community would
benefit from them. If the books made money, well and good. But it was not
necessarily only the revenue and profit to be earned from their sale that drove
publishing. Most of these entrepreneurs established successful imprints and more
often than not, gave their own name to the publishing imprints. The more famous
examples are, Blackwell, Seeker & Warburg, Coli ins, Faber, Andre Deutsch, Hodder
& Stoughton, Knopf, Macmillan and Longman.
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