Of another kind of virtue

Parragon believes in taking an unconventional route to bookshelves.

Vineet Sharma, managing director, Parragon Publishing India, picks up a 144-page children's book on World History, and says, "This is priced at Rs 195 "" can you beat that?"

The "Unbelievable" printed on Parragon's business cards suddenly seems to make sense. It's a $150-million publishing major, and "unbelievable" prices is what it is promising for its book list "" dominated by children's books, besides general and special interest subjects (all illustration-based) "" as it rolls out operations in India.

"We produce the kind of books that sell themselves," says Paul Taylor, managing director of the Bath, UK-based firm which publishes over 1,500 titles annually. Taylor is banking on self-propelled sales in India to make up as much as 10-20 per cent of the company's global sales by 2010.

The publishing house, established in the 1980s, has been on a roll of late: a major win this year was its appointment by Disney as its chief UK publishing partner. "We will never be into the Dan Browns and JK Rowlings of the world," avows Taylor. Parragon still sells over 60 million books a year.

And it's not on price alone. Unconventional channels of sale are a major component of the strategy. "We realised early on that at least in the UK, more people buy books at non-book stores than traditional book stores," says Taylor.

So began the company's focus on drug stores, convenience stores, discount stores, grocery shops and book clubs.

"Our books could sell anywhere," says Sharma. With its focus on mass retail, it's no wonder that Parragon prefers hiring FMCG sales executives. Parragon also runs exclusive publishing partnerships with retailers such as Marks & Spencer.

But what's the secret of the pricing edge?

The price efficiency comes from a combination of factors. "We don't compromise on our content, but we try and sell directly to retailers "" and don't sell publishing rights to anyone," says Lutz Billstein, publishing director, Parragon.

Of course, large print runs (in 40 languages) make for economies of scale too. Not to mention the printing and packaging that is carried out in low-cost China.

India isn't on its radar for print-job outsourcing yet, but for content work, it sure is. "By spring 2007, we will have started sourcing content here," promises Sharma.

Over time, Parragon hopes to revolutionise the way non-fiction is merchandised and sold in a price-sensitive India.

Says Taylor, "We want your reaction to be "" 'I wasn't planning to buy that, but at that price, who can refuse?'"