I look after commissioning and acquisition of high-quality non-fiction as well as fiction books, which would be the next bestsellers.

Both fiction and non-fiction, though the latter is somewhat more preferred. A fiction – unless it’s by an established name or has a mind-blowing new story/concept – could be slightly risky as an acquisition. Among non-fiction, I personally prefer books on politics, cinema, history, and self-help genre.

Not really; I believe the fine mix which we are seeing between fiction and non-fiction books is likely to continue for some time. Just that non-fiction as a genre will see more titles, comparatively. Within non-fiction, we may see more genres emerging, just as we saw a spurt in sport, food, chick lits, in past few years.

As India continues to grow, along with increasing literary rates and purchasing power among more Indian in tier B, C, and D towns, publishing will grow. What Chetan Bhagat and Rupa Publications have done is tremendous: they have broken the myth that books are for only a small group of intellectual people, and taken the books to masses. So, every year there will be new readers being added and new writers telling new stories – particularly Indian stories. I am no industry expert to give you figures, but I can tell you as more and more people become interested in reading and writing across classes, publishing will see interesting times. One aspects we all would need to watch out for is innovations in publishing. Everyone will have to do something new to remain in news, business and sustain themselves. It could be content, its marketing, or finding new readers and ways of reading.

See with Social Media playing a huge role in our lives, the authors will have to be more marketing savvy and ‘social media ready’. Many of them already are. They know an author’s job doesn’t end with writing the book. With people having really short attention span, the authors will have to do their bit to catch attention of buyers to augment sales of their book.

This is not an easy question to answer. You could never say what would work for sure. So, believe in your stories.

I like authors who clearly and briefly explain their work along with a note about their manuscripts USPs. It’s important to get your proposal quickly understood and liked by the person receiving it. Reading the whole manuscript comes later.

Weekend is strictly ME time. It belongs to me the person.

Black Tea.

Your job does NOT end with writing a ‘great book’. That’s one important part of it. The other critical part is selling it till your name itself sells the book. But do tell your story. All the best!

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