DK Delhi managers attend Publishing Insights session
Sanjiv’s session was part of the DK Delhi Managers’ L&D roadmap for 2023 and aimed to provide managers with greater insights into business decisions and profits- and performance-related aspects of publishing. An attendance close to 90% was proof enough that everyone was keen to look beyond their usual daily work responsibilities and get a glimpse of the bigger picture.
Sanjiv set the tone of the session by sharing the top 2023 titles from PRH India as well as DK India, and reminded the audience that with a 30% share in the Indian market for non-education titles, PRH India are market leaders in the segment. The audience took note of that encouraging data from Nielsen and was eager for what was coming next.
He then went on to share how royalties were calculated and paid on PRH titles, while patiently answering a host of related questions from an audience that was absorbing everything with great curiosity. We learned that just as backlists are important for DK, they are for PRH as well, especially backlists of celebrity authors, which apparently provide great traction to sales.
During the course of his easy-to-follow presentation free of finance and operations jargons, Sanjiv laid bare all the factors that influence their publishing, such as the idea and concept of each title, author, market trend, timing, target readers, competition analysis, influencers, and social media presence of authors in general. Price, print run, revenue, return rates, and discount rates were shared as key determinants of financial viability.
The discussions gathered momentum around print run, general approach towards authors and author advances, the range of royalty on print books and e-books, and so on. Inventory write offs were touched upon. The current spate of streamed content over the internet also brought to the fore strategies on rights management of content with OTT platforms.
At a more reflective level, despite all the successes of PRH India, piracy was recognised by everyone in the room as a menace that needed to be anticipated and addressed at all times, especially with the works of established authors.
It was heartening to note that PRH India develops a particular variety of paper locally by cutting and recycling copies of titles that have fallen outside the distribution chain.
Sanjiv wrapped up his presentation by sharing a four-pronged approach to the road ahead for continuing to boost profits and performances.
The interactive session finally drew to a close with the enthusiastic managers’ group appreciating Sanjiv for showing them the bigger picture as well as some useful specifics on the publishing business we are all part of.
Soma B. Chowdhury
Knowledge, DK Delhi
