Source: Indian Express

Nandan Nilekani’s Imagining India in Hindi and Mohsin Hamid’s Reluctant Fundamentalist in Marathi — mainstream English publishers are trying hard to create ripples in regional-language market

“In a country where the primary spoken language is not English, it is lopsided not to publish in Indian languages,” says Minakshi Thakur, editor of Harper Hindi that came into being last year. What began with 11 books now has 40 titles a year. But regional-language market is tough to crack. As Thakur says, “The Hindi market is highly price-sensitive. It’s a market where hardbacks are available for Rs 100-150 and paperbacks for Rs 30-50. We cannot match those prices but can manage to come close. We will give the readers better-produced titles and value for their money.” Vaishali Mathur, senior commissioning editor, Penguin, agrees, “Also, the distribution across a varied cross-section of readership offers its own challenges.”

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