Penguin India announces Shobhaa De Books
By By Shalini R Menon | 14 Apr 2010
It is but natural that history is created when a well-known publishing house and a best-selling author decide to come together for a common initiative. Penguin Books India and Shobhaa De have made Indian publishing history by deciding to launch an imprint, the Shobhaa De Books. Penguin Books became the first publisher in India to have an exclusive imprint for commercial publishing, and the first international publishing house to have an editorial presence in Mumbai; and Shobhaa De became the first Indian author to have an imprint of her own. A formal announcement was made last week in Mumbai by John Makinson, CEO and chairman of the Penguin Group, worldwide.
Imprints could be considered the "brands" of a publisher. They could be companies that the main publisher has taken over or a name or idea so valuable that they feel it deserves an independent list of its own. The imprints would have their own editorial staff, release lists, etc. Major publishers usually have numerous imprints. It gives them the leverage to have several number one slots and an opportunity to feature several premier titles in a year.
Penguin India also has a few imprints up its sleeve. It launched Portfolio, its business imprint, in 2006; its imprint of ideas, Allen Lane, and Penguin Studio, the imprint for visual books, in 2008; and its imprint for cutting-edge literary fiction and non-fiction, Hamish Hamilton, in 2009.
At the launch, John Makinson said, ''Penguin's partnership with Shobhaa Dé will hugely extend our reach in Indian publishing, attracting new authors and new readers to the Penguin name.''
Shobhaa Dé added, ''Turning publisher will provide opportunities to discover fresh, energetic, new voices that reflect contemporary concerns and say things in an original, exciting and unique way.''
Ms De also had mentioned in a blogpost about how she has been on a high the whole of last week on her realisation of every writer's dream, to have an imprint of their own, and her reluctance to cut the chocolate cake in the shape of a book with the world-famous Penguin Books logo on the cover, with the icing on the cake being 'De of the Penguin'.
