The author has clinched a Rs97 lakh deal with Penguin India for seven books.
Author Ramachandra Guha, who has clinched a Rs97 lakh deal with Penguin India for seven books, feels that the “amount paid by the publisher is an acknowledgement of the imbalance that exists between fiction and non-fiction”.
“Fictional genres like poetry, prose and novels always had a great place in literature, but non-fiction is also important. This would encourage young authors to write non-fiction,” Guha said.
The author, who is working on the Makers of Modern India and The
Past and Future of Indian Democracy described the deal as a part of his writing process. “It is a part of making a living and ensuring my own safety and security,” the commentator-author said.
Guha has settled for a Rs97 lakh deal with Penguin India for seven books, including a two-volume biography of Mahatma Gandhi, spread over 2010-2015.
Publisher of Penguin Books, Ravi Singh said the books were about most significant aspects of national life. “It doesn’t get any bigger and more important than this in contemporary non-fiction,” Singh said.
The book publishing and the market in India is pegged at approximately Rs10,000 crore and is growing at a rate of nearly 10 percent. Despite a marginal slowdown because of the economic crisis, advances to authors for books are becoming heftier, thanks to competitive bidding by the surfeit of publishers in the Indian market.
Guha’s book deal is an example. Three high-profile bidders were in the fray for the deal and Random House reportedly offered him Rs1 crore. Harper Collins India had also bid, with an offer matching the Penguin bid, chief executive officer of Harper Collins, PN Sukumar said. But Guha and his agent Gill Coleridge opted for Penguin.
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