AN INTERVIEW WITH SUNIL PAUL, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Readership in Chennai has undergone a lot of changes. Major bookshops like Landmark and Fountain Head have helped increase book readership in Chennai. Another significant trend that has emerged in Chennai over the past few years is the changing style of readership. Book buyers today browse the book prior to buying it. Public interest in books in Chennai is reflected in the Annual Book Fairs held in Chennai, which has become a permanent feature now. Book business in the book fairs crosses approximately Rs 1 crore. That speaks volumes about the readership base in Chennai. Most of the sale in the fair is in Tamil. Even the Government is supporting the book industry considerably in Chennai.

Chennai has a good market in Medical Science and Engineering. Students welcome most the low priced editions. Also, Books on English literature. Readers here are conscious of their word power. English language dictionaries move really fast here. Another category that is popular here is children's books, especially encyclopaedia and general knowledge books.

Not much. It is not very effective here. Only a few Classical works are getting translated. Unlike films, where any film gets dubbed immediately, book translations are not very effective. Kerala scores better in this matter. Translation in Malayalam is very powerful.

Yes. It is Tamil that is preferred. Even at book fairs, it is the Tamil books that record maximum sales.

The trend is now towards utilising computers on a large scale. E- publishing and internet have taken centre stage now. Marketing and sale of books has gone online now. I cannot identify trends specifically to Chennai. Delhi is still the book capital of India.

Computers and Desk Top Publishing (DTP) have drastically reduced the time taken for printing and publishing a book. A good book today can be ready in a fortnight. We have sophisticated technology in Chennai. But the binding process needs improvements in Chennai.

Innovations introduced in Chennai for book promotion...

It is actually good for the industry. OUP gets the benefit of this retail promotion. Infact we organise some of the Promotion Campaigns. It is not just discount schemes that attract the buyers. We need Promotion Campaigns as well.

We have classy showrooms in Chennai. Also the retail market is strong here. That is our strength. As for the weakness, publishing is heavily concentrated in Delhi. Some of the good books do not even reach the Chennai market sometimes. Now, internet is slowly changing this scenario. In Chennai, the wholesale network is very weak. The reason behind this is the finance crunch. Wholesalers here do not want to take big risks. They want to play safe and that is a big disadvantage. Unless there is an order, there is no business. Stocking is poor here.

It has disturbed the ethics of the industry. The publisher and retailer are not affected, but the wholesaler gets wiped out.

We are conscious of the market and the demand conditions. Earlier OUP concentrated on literature. Now we have varied interests - Ecology, History and Economics to name a few. Our focus would be on IT and Engineering Subjects. College publishing would gain precedence henceforth in OUP, over serious readership.