Mike Bryan is a year into his job as Penguin India’s CEO. His arrival in 2007 coincided with the first Penguin Annual Lecture in India, by globalisation guru Thomas L Friedman.
On October 13, former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten will speak on the dark side of globalisation — and also launch his book, called What Next? Surviving the Twenty-first Century, on the same topic. Rrishi Raote spoke with Bryan about Penguin’s problems and prospects.
How did the idea of this lecture series come about?
It wasn’t my idea. [It was] Penguin worldwide CEO [John Makinson]’s idea that we should do something interesting with relevance to the world today.
It so happens that the two people, two great thinkers, that we chose so far [are] social and economic commentators, but in future we may also have great fiction authors and great thinkers in those fields.
What changes have you made at Penguin India?
We’ve had some cultural changes… I don’t know if this is true in Indian industry as a whole, but traditionally, departments have worked separately.
It is a slightly boring thing, but we’re about to go completely open plan in this building — and that’s to get that communication going, [make sure] that ideas don’t hit some synaptic stop, they get spread in the company.
Is India slow in the time it takes to bring out a book?
No, it’s very quick. The idea date to publication date is far quicker than it is in the rest of the world. If you’re coming out with a new book with a publisher in the UK or US it can be a year to two before the publication date, whereas here it’s often a lot shorter than that.
What do you see as your chief growth areas?
We are strong in those non-fiction titles that talk about world issues, economic issues, business, management. You’ve got entrepreneurs like Subroto Bagchi, [whose] Go Kiss the World has been a bestseller for us this year — in hardcover. Probably the biggest book for us this year will be Nandan Nilekani’s Imagining India [out in November].
The children’s area… we’re putting a lot more investment into it. We’ve noticed that in India, series books for kids work. Harry Potter is an example, but we do a series of Percy Jackson [the Olympians] and Eoin Colfer [Artemis Fowl] which are massive. We’re trying to encourage writers here in India.
How?
At the commissioning stage we’re talking to our authors and saying “That’s an idea, but maybe that’s just one book. How can we put that through into a series?” We’ve got a series coming out next year called the Swapanlok Club, which is based in Bombay and these kids in funky Bollywood — various worlds, levels of society. Another great series which should start next year will be based around Akbar’s court.
How important are non-fiction and children’s books to your bottom-line compared with fiction?
Good-quality business management non-fiction is probably something in the region of 25 per cent. I think it’s stronger than in many places [but] it’s fairly typical in Asia.
Children’s is about 10 per cent of what we do... So which one of those will exponentially go forward I’m not quite sure yet. I think children’s will grow more than that 25 per cent [the sales growth rate of Penguin India] and [in] narrative non-fiction, very strong for us now, the rate is likely to level out.
Are you worried about competition from other foreign publishers now in India?
I don’t think so. Competition in any business is good. It makes you better, it creates those ideas.
Have you thought of setting up training courses? You must face a talent crunch within publishing.
I have an involvement with the CII publishing cell, and we are keen on training — whether we can get colleges to have publishing, production, editorial courses. There’s a college in Delhi running a publishing course. It’s interesting that the University of London have been out to Delhi trying to whip up business for their [publishing] courses in London, at which there are many Indian students.
How long do you see yourself here?
My wife and I are enjoying it and we’re talking about whether in our retirement, which is some way off, we actually spend the English summer in Britain and English winter in India, which would be perfect. We’re making lots of friends. It’s a long way to the beach, but there’s lots of sand around, so that’s okay.
