Exploring the world of publishing from behind the scenes

The Indian publishing industry is thriving with a wave of new publishers, international contracts, and authors but the average Indian reader and first-time author knows very little about the intricacies of the publishing process.

In an attempt to bridge this gap between readers, writers, editors and publishers, Mumbai-based literary company Bound's 13-episode podcast, "The Book People", will be exploring Indian publishing through the eyes of the people who work in it.

Each episode will include series-host Aishwarya Javalgekar in a conversation with an industry expert about their role, experience and opinions about the industry and its future. Prominent guests include Ishani Butalia (Zubaan Books), Sayantan Ghosh (S&S India), and Harshad Marathe (Designer), to name a few. Packed with industry insights and fun book conversations, each episode in the series will be released every Thursday, starting March 18.

'Bound' founder Tara Khandelwal said she started the company "because I noticed a lack of infrastructure for creative people to learn and form communities in India. Creative and artistic fields like writing, podcasting, etc. have always struggled to be taken seriously, but with a growing audience waiting to consume content across platforms, writers and storytellers of all kinds are more important than ever before. Our interactions with writers during our retreat, classes and services revealed the sheer lack of information available about books and publishing in India".

"In the last 6 months, we have combined our experience and extensive primary and secondary research to create two comprehensive projects that make publishing transparent and accessible to everyone: content creators, curators and consumers.

"With 'The Book People', they can get to know the people working behind the scenes, and understand their roles and opinions about the industry. We hope that together these projects will demystify publishing for writers, readers, aspiring professionals, and people and organizations working in and around publishing', she added.

Aishwarya Javalgekar, the podcast-host, commented: "As a writer, reader and an editor, I found the publishing and literary world to be an echo-chamber, with conversations that were inaccessible to me due to lack of context or data. There was no information available on how to get published or work in the industry. 'The Book People' is my attempt to show that behind all the processes and data and lack of information are real people with a love for stories and books. Just like the audience, I want to understand what they do and how they feel about books and publishing."