Yesterday
I was reading an interview of Eric Klinenberg in Times of India about his
book “Going Solo :The extraordinary Rise
and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone” .As the interview was interesting , I
ventured to Google engine to know more about the book . I gathered that this
Sociology Professor of New York University received a research grant from some
organization to work on the project and the book is the result of 300
interviews of the persons , living all alone ,in different parts of USA.
I
wondered if there are any research organizations , in India, which grant funds for
such ventures ; there appears none or
hardly anyone who may encourage such activities. I think India, being a country
of more than one billion persons , with such diversities have many alike possibilities
where our generation is interested to work . This will not only engage the
research scholars but will also help in providing deep sited studies of our
social problems. As we are not reading many such reports in the news papers, it
may be presumed that there is dearth of funds or anthropologists who may
encourage such studies in India.
Even
, for minuscule studies ,being made in India, an important hindrance might be coming in publishing such
reports in lucid book forms as we have not witness them either in book stores
or on internet . This is not because shortage of writers but mainly due to
apathy of our publishing houses in publishing such works. If you analyze the
books published by them , more than three fourth belong to text books and rest
are fictions. Whenever, any publisher or his manager visits any Indian
university or college teacher , their requirement is to publish text books or
guide books ; even they are not averse
with the authors who are known for “cut and paste” technique for producing text
books ,every year. This is a sad commentary on our publishing industry –though there
are a variety of them ,including international publishers who are having their branch offices in
different parts of the country.
In
contrast, publishing industry of developed world has changed tremendously. They
are not only publishing such works like “ Going Solo…” but also marketing them
in other countries irrespective of relevance
of the topic to that country . I think this is the high time when our Indian
publishing industry will have to come out from ‘text book’ mind set and re-innovate
themselves to publish hither-too untouched subjects . I am sure that with the
advent of e-books and lower publishing costs of hard copies in India vis a vis
USA or UK , venturing in new fields with more innovations will not only enhance
“knowledge bank” of the country but will also increase profitability of Indian
publishing industry.
It may be beneficial for the authors if interested publishers may write in the comments their willingness in publishing such "out of box" matter along with their contact details.
An important question comes about payment of royalty .I have observed that most publishers are reluctant to pay any royalty to the writer . Perhaps they rely mainly on the fact that the publisher is enhancing author's resume , that will help him in seeking further promotions etc. However,such behavior of the publisher is deplored by the true writers on the pretext that publishers do not want even to meet cost of the manuscript and willing to pocket all the profit , though the idea of the book was not theirs. If they are of doubt about returns of their cost, it will be better to publish initially the book in e book format and provide royalty to the author as this removes ' cheating feeling' from the authors. I trust that some genuine persons will come to spread knowledge and their main aim will not be earning money but spreading new ideas ....
It may be beneficial for the authors if interested publishers may write in the comments their willingness in publishing such "out of box" matter along with their contact details.
An important question comes about payment of royalty .I have observed that most publishers are reluctant to pay any royalty to the writer . Perhaps they rely mainly on the fact that the publisher is enhancing author's resume , that will help him in seeking further promotions etc. However,such behavior of the publisher is deplored by the true writers on the pretext that publishers do not want even to meet cost of the manuscript and willing to pocket all the profit , though the idea of the book was not theirs. If they are of doubt about returns of their cost, it will be better to publish initially the book in e book format and provide royalty to the author as this removes ' cheating feeling' from the authors. I trust that some genuine persons will come to spread knowledge and their main aim will not be earning money but spreading new ideas ....
