Susan Sontag, one of America’s best-known writers and a leading commentator on contemporary culture and politics, once famously remarked, “literature was not an equal opportunity employer.” Put simply, it means that good literature is good wherever it comes from. “Writers can’t be put inside passports”, as Salman Rushdie put it. Twist this aphorism a bit and it could apply to upmarket Indian publishers in English who need to strengthen their lists to make them more accessible to Indian readers. Of course, the universality of good literature had always been recognized, but this aspect has attained greater significance in a globalized world.

For three reasons. First, British and American prices cannot be afforded by serious readers. Titles could be made available only if specially reduced prices are negotiated or rights to reprint are given to Indian publishers. Second, Western publishers are now seriously looking at the potential of the Indian market and they are prepared to licence reprint rights at a price because the quality of our production has improved considerably. Third, with the spread of English as the world’s lingua franca (and our ability to handle it well), a great deal of India’s intellectual talent has gone ‘abroad’. To get it back, you need to acquire rights or special prices that would make editions available and affordable to us.

The basic question is this: why doesn’t this happen? It isn’t because Western publishers fear that Indian publishers and distributors would infringe market rights and sell the cheaper editions to Africa and elsewhere. Or because the upfront fees demanded for reprint rights are so exorbitant that they price the book out of the market. These factors matter but the basic reason is simple: our publishers are unable to link a forthcoming book to its potential market in India. The ability to ‘connect’ isn’t as simple as it sounds because it requires years of experience, an understanding of market trends as well as a wide range of reading on various subjects.

That is not all. Negotiations for reprint rights or special distribution deals have to be taken on the basis of the synopsis of a book, the standing of the author and whether or not the book would interest the common reader. From the point of view of the original publisher, this is important because he can then factor in the extra copies required into his print run and achieve economies of scale and a lower unit cost of production.

Given the fact that Indian publishers have to be quick on the draw if they are to provide competitive prices, the question is whether they can do so with the editorial and marketing expertise that is available. Some can, but there are a great many misses because of the lack of intellectual inputs that comes in the way.