Dual imprint play

Cambridge University Press has bought Foundation Books, but retains the name as a second imprint and part of a market response strategy.

As India's emergence story gains converts around the world, it isn't just regular commercial publishers that are attracted by what promises to be a vibrant readership of English books here.

Academic publishers are equally if not more keen to wield influence "" except that they too are altering strategies to suit market conditions.

Cambridge University Press's (CUP) acquisition of Foundation Books in July this year falls neatly into this pattern. It is, in the words of Stephen Bourne, CEO of CUP, part of a strategy to be closer and more responsive to the Indian market. This involves coming up with books "from India, for India and indeed, the Asia region".

But CUP's engagement with Foundation could be a momentous one for the 472-year-old press for more reasons.

According to Bourne, CUP will be continuing with the Foundation Books imprint for books on the latter's current list and subsequent texts in the field of English-language training (ELT). This is for the first time that CUP, a scholarly publisher, will have a second imprint.

While Manas Salkia, the chief of Foundation Books, is pleased with the Cambridge association "" a name spoken of in the same breath as Oxford "" he has devoted much energy to the creation of a catalogue of educational and ELT texts, two of which are prescribed texts for the Cambridge International Examinations worldwide.

With ELT accounting for a high 40 per cent of CUP's business worldwide, the idea is to retain the Foundation Books imprint as a kind of specialised ELT list for India and Asia, as also for exports to developed markets.

But the more important rationale for a second imprint has to do with CUP's bid to acquire a new "nimbleness", primarily through "cutting out centralised bureaucracy" in the running of the Press.

At CUP, all decisions on which books to publish are taken by the Press Syndicate, a University of Cambridge body, which goes through synopses, sample chapters and peer reviews to decide which books deserve the Cambridge imprint.

The syndicate rejects nine times as many books as it approves of, says Bourne. Given fast-changing conditions in far-flung markets, a local imprint may be better placed to meet the demand for new books.

Also, it wouldn't be encumbered by the obligation to meet stringent quality standards. In fact, Bourne says that if the experiment proves successful, "CUP could well be moving towards an era of multiple imprints."

CUP's move is significant because it is a pointer to the Press's increasingly aggressive moves to expand its international presence. It was three years ago, says Bourne, that the CUP board decided to increase its presence in growing economies "" to exploit their growth potential and de-risk its business model by going to different economies with different drivers of growth.

"The idea was to move towards a situation were half of the business would be in dollar denominations, while the rest was in pounds."

At present it is 30-40 per cent in dollar terms. In this scenario, Asia-Pacific (which includes India) which contributed 15 per cent of CUP's £150 million revenues last year, should contribute around 30 per cent.

The Foundations Books acquisition should be of help here. But Bourne, buoyed by strong cash reserves of £50 million, is in talks for acquiring three others "" one in the United Kingdom and two in the US. Academic influence is all very good. But business is business.