A group of friends started their own publishing house to encourage new authors
Anirudh Bhattacharya (in red) with Sri Seshu and Saifuddin Malik. (Photo: DC)
Hyderabad: After a frustrating search for a publisher, a debutant writer and three of his friends decided that the same kind of rejection should not meet other aspiring writers. They decided to launch their own publishing house, V Prensa, and launched its first book, In Pain, written by Anirudh Bhattacharya, one of the group members.
“There were a lot of obstacles when we approached publishers. They saw the manuscripts and kept delaying the process,” says Anirudh.
Sri Seshu, another member of the group, adds, “We looked for publishers for one year. The cost of the whole process was reaching in lakhs as the publishers wanted some surety if the book flopped. Some even told us that they can’t take risks of publishing books of debut writers.”
Adding to the cost factor were “the fees of literary agents, which would be around Rs 50,000, and copyrights would cost Rs 8,000. Even with an agent, the chances were 50-50,” says Anirudh.
So Seshu and Anirudh teamed with Saifuddin Malik, a B.Tech graduate from Gitam university in Vizag and Sharath Chandra, still studying in the same university, to start a publishing house that would solely focus on encouraging budding authors, without worrying about the costs and profits.
“Some youngsters really have revolutionary ideas and stories that need to be told. And all this is getting lost without going on print,” says Anirudh, who in his first book has focused on the trauma of break ups.
“I took a year and two months off from my usual life. I moved into a separate place to live alone in order to understand how it really feels to be lonely and depressed,” he informs.
As to the editing, Sharath, who is good with the language, and is the editor of his college magazine, came for help.
Besides printing, the group also plans to market the books with launches as well as with the help of social media. While they are focusing on book stores in Hyderabad and Vijayawada in the first phase, the online vendors who they have on board include eBay and Amazon.
With their savings and contributions from friends having fuelling their first release, they are now hoping that the sales of In Pain will raise some more money for future books and authors.
( Source : dc )
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