The Hindu Business Line : Hachette eyes top rung in Indian publishing

New Delhi, Nov. 19 Hachette Livre is aiming to become one of the top three publishers in the next 2-3 years with the launch of its Indian business, Hachette Book Publishing India.

According to Mr Arnaud Nourry, Chairman and CEO, Hachette Livre is ready for the Indian market now that the originally French group has rearranged its disparate companies and acquired an international presence. Mr Nourry was accompanied by Mr Tim Helly Hutchinson, Group Chief Executive, Hachette Livre UK, on his visit to India.

The Indian business under Hachette UK is already in discussion with authors and will be launching 20-25 books in 2009, with the full programme bringing out 75-80 titles a year by 2010, said Mr Thomas Abraham, Managing Director, Hachette Book Publishing India. The group, which claims to be one of the biggest publishers in the world, has published Amitav Ghosh under the John Murray imprint, Vikram Seth under Orion and Stephen King and John le Carré under Hodder amongst its many authors.

Commercial fiction will be a significant genre in India. “We may not have a first- mover advantage but the market is changing from being a backlist one to a frontlist one,” said Mr Abraham. At 60-40, the ratio in favour of backlists (classics or bestsellers), India still compares badly to the rest of the world where 75-80 per cent of the business comes from new books. Mr Abraham also feels pricing, which hasn’t changed in a few years, will need to be raised steadily.

Presence strengthened

Five years ago Hachette Livre was a French publisher, said Mr Nourry who took charge in 2002. Hachette has since then acquired, amongst others, Time Warner’s Book Group, now called Little, Brown, and strengthened its presence in Spanish and English language. There may not be any big acquisitions in the near future, though. “The financial environment right now is not very easy. My shareholders are very prudent about big acquisitions,” said Mr Nourry. “But who knows, given the financial environment if people want to exit …,” he added.

Although the company acquired the digital book distributor, Numilog, people still want to read printed books, said Mr Nourry. “In the US it’s a small piece of the market that has moved on to digital. But even if it’s a 5-10 per cent we need to be prepared,” he said. “What we see in France, for example, the Internet is expanding reading habits. It’s not replacing books but replacing TV,” added Mr Nourry.

More Stories on : Strategy | Newspapers & Publishing

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Hachette eyes top rung in Indian publishing

Finger-lickin’ Muralitharan hits the spot for KFC

‘Brand councils can integrate business, brand strategy’

Maruti launches A-Star with eye on exports