How to get published

IT IS A truth universally acknowledged that a struggling writer in possession of a good manuscript must be in want of a publisher.

Wanting and getting, however, are two very different things; and in India the process of finding someone who will publish your manuscript, be it never so brilliant, is only slightly simpler than the process of pulling off your own arm and eating it. And it takes much longer.

The first thing, of course, is to send a couple of chapters and a synopsis with a suitably flowery letter that will inveigle the publisher to read your manuscript over the thousands of others that are piling up on her desk. Immediately, a difficulty arises.

The question here is, should you wait until you've finished your entire manuscript before you try and induce a publisher to read it? Or should you write three or four chapters and a synopsis and send them off immediately?

Writers differ on this point. Some say that, because of the sheer amount of time you will spend waiting to hear back from said publisher, you may as well save yourself some time and send off a part of your manuscript and finish writing it while you wait for a reply.

On the other hand, though, there are some pretty good arguments in favour of finishing your manuscript first, before the publisher has time to play around with it and change your original vision completely.

Whichever way you decide to go, "I would definitely keep your day job," says Ajay Garkal, a struggling writer.

"The publishing industry in India is not huge, and there are no great royalties. All together, it is a long drawn out process, especially if you're writing something even slightly against the grain of what is 'popular' here ""publishers will just shy away. Personally, I have been to four publishers until finally the last one gave an indication of liking what I was doing. And even then there's still no contract."

Garkal finished his entire manuscript before sending it off to publishers, and he says that most publishers kept it with them for three months at a minimum.

Samit Basu, who has signed a two-book contract with Penguin, would probably feel that three months is child's play, considering that Penguin kept his manuscript with them for eight months before getting back in touch with him to offer their contract.

"Don't believe in the whole publishing fantasy," he warns, "where someone has written a book and overnight they find a publisher, it becomes a bestseller and they make a million dollars. That just doesn't happen, especially in India."

Basu also tried some publishers abroad, and he says that given a chance to do it all again, he would stick to finding an literary agent abroad, in the UK or US.

"If your agent is Super-agent, he'll get your manuscript read in one month flat. Even if he's Mediocre-agent, it won't take him more than three or four months. All in all, the process doesn't take more than one year in total, from sending out your manuscript to actually getting published. Whereas over here, it takes two years. I sent out my manuscript in April 2002, and it didn't get published before January 2004."

Of course, this being India, there is an easier way. B K S Brajesh has been reviewing books in Hindi and contributing to the Sahitya Akademi newsletter for several years, and when he met some publishers at the Golden Jubilee of the Sahitya Akademi, he immediately pitched them his synopsis.

As a result of this, he has had interest shown in his book before anyone has even read a word. This is Brajesh's first book, but he is one person who doesn't seem to have found the rigours of publishing too hard"" clearly, as with everything else here, having contacts in the literary world helps.

The trick seems to be to not lose heart. Take the plunge, and send what you have to as many publishers as you can, take whatever advice they give (unless it's vulgar abuse, in which case ignore it), and look on the bright side: you will have lots and lots of spare time in which you can work on and polish up your manuscript, paint the spare room and maybe learn how to speak Russian.