New Delhi: Indian authors and writers must stand united and fight against the menace of piracy in publishing that was threatening the growth of the sector, said Mr. Manas P Saikia, Former Managing Director, Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Ltd. and an industry veteran, at a seminar on 'Emerging Trends in Book Publishing: New Models for the Market' organized by FICCI in partnership with Association of Publishers in India (API).
Mr. Saikia said that it was for the publishers to protect their market by exercising their Right to Publish. He added that the organizations such Association of Publishers in India should work in tandem with the government to curb piracy. There is a need for more such publishers' organizations in the country to deal with the issue.
The session moderator Ms. Urvashi Butalia, Chairperson, FICCI Publishing Committee and Director, 'Zubaan', said that FICCI was advocating industry status for the publishing sector and is in the process of taking up the issue with the government. The Publishing Committee was working towards organizing the fragmented sector and was also facilitating the study which has been undertaken to determine the market-size and number of publishers in the Indian market, she added.
Rohit Kumar, President, API and Managing Director - South Asia, Elsevier Health Sciences, said that collections, distribution channel and piracy & e-Books cannibalizing print were the top three challenges for the publishing industry in the next 2-3 years from the FICCI Indian Publishing Sector Pulse Survey. The top three challenges for distributors/retailers would be collections, channel and e-commerce vendors. On piracy, he said, 66% of the publishers said it required a 'collaborative effort from publishers' followed by increased regulations over distributors and internet and increased regulation by government to prevent piracy.
The inaugural was followed by sessions on 'Emergence of New Distribution Models in Book Publishing', 'Technology in Educational Publishing' and 'The Future of Indian Publishing: Author's Perspective'.
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