Fine print: Writing a book Well, here’s some good news

Years ago, to get published meant the world to authors — as the manuscript had to move from book agents to a motley crew of publishers and finally, to the editors before you got the nod and a modest “advance”. The process was full of anxiety and many spent months waiting for the answer. Famous writers, from Tom Clancy to Harper Lee to Margaret Mitchell went through such anxious waits. Ditto here — R.K.Narayan didn’t get to publish his first book until he was 29 and V.S. Naipaul got a mere $125 advance for his first novel, The Mystic Masseur.

But today, in the digital age, publishing is almost instant and “self publishing” is often, the easiest route out. Once you’re done with the first draft, technology can help you design everything from the book’s cover to its layout — you can even create your own publishing imprint.

For added measures, there publishing sites such as fictionwise.com and idpf.org which digitise your content faster so that it can be read on tablets and e-reading devices. Amazon even has Kindle Publishing which will make you an instant author, earning royalties from sales in its online marketplace.

Self-publishing has leveled the marketplace by bringing out fresh talent and the best news is perhaps the fact that it’s here to stay. Take the case of Stephen King. In 2000, he released a novella, Riding the Bullet, as an e-book through Simon & Schuster, creating a stampede among online readers. That same year, he placed a 1980 novel, The Plant, online with downloadable chapters at $1 apiece. But after seven chapters, King terminated the offer as he realised readers were not paying enough. A lesson here: good prose sells anyways and bad prose doesn’t, however cheap. Back home, Amish Tripathi’s case is the best example of self-publishing working right. After several publishers rejected his maiden manuscript, of The Immortals of Meluha, Tripathi set up the first chapter as a digital download. And the rest is history.

The rules of publishing have also changed with serialisation of novellas — on Twitter and other websites. But with all this rush to the shelves, there are a few numbers we need to comprehend.

India is the world’s third largest English-language publishing market but the bestseller mark is still just 2,000 copies and yet, many books don’t make it there. Also, seventy five per cent of first-time writers never make it to the second and subsequent books. Forty per cent of the new books — especially novels — are returned and splintered at salvage value. And only three out of ten hardback edition books ever go into paperback editions.

Most of the bestselling authors of today’s metro-reads may write genuinely about their new worlds but most don’t realise that while some of them become best-sellers, each of R.K. Narayan’s titles in India still sells 10,000 copies a year.

Yes, the digital age is a welcome addition to our publishing endevours but what we really need now is the R.K Narayan or the Ruskin Bond of the e-reader era.