Ahmed Faiyaz is a bestselling author with many books to his credit. The book Best seller presents the hidden complications of the Editor and how a manuscript gets transformed into a book. The steps or the process, the manuscript needs to undergo before it reaches the hands of a reader, the post publishing effects & occupying the best seller list are the major topics of concern in this book. The working style of the publishing industry, its competitors, influence of media, writer’s submissions and various barriers in between are finely crafted. Presenting it in the form of a story is highly laudable. The story moves around Mumbai - a Metropolitan city in India, the Hindi words in between makes it a Desi read. The struggle to bring back the lost glory of a publishing firm is the root of this story.
The book also throws light on the subjects like disappointing reviews and reasons for book failure which leads to more complications.
The financial crisis in the publishing firms gets bigger, if the technique to gauge the market scenario & the sales promotion goes wrong. I quote from page 116 “”printing excessive copies of Sudhir’s book has also damaged us; we have printer bills to clear and dead stock piling up.””
Post the publication of a book comes the serious issues in the form of copy rights and translations. When selecting a book for publication, it needs to be weighed in every angle because the author says “” Books serve a higher purpose.””
Quality in the publication & its importance is underlined in the page 70 of the book. I quote-“She is really unhappy with the Editors. The publisher didn’t market her book well and the paper quality of the book is cheaper than what it normally uses,’’
Preparations for a book launch includes posters & book marks commissioned and events lined up in the leading book stores, interviews with newspapers and TV channels are dealt in a precise way in page 66 of the book. The author has painstakingly covered all the aspects of the publishing industry to present a complete package to the readers.
I quote from page 125 of the book, “A week after its release, the book stood at #1 on the nonfiction national best seller list, with over 100,000 copies sold in book stores and online. Angus was delighted and managed to sell the rights in the European and American markets to Falcon books, the world’s largest, for $500,000, most of which went to Sandeep and Shipra, given the agreement we had struck.” Becoming the Bestsellers are the dream come true for both the author and the publishing house. The link for best seller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestseller
If it is a best seller the shower of praise is sure for the Editor. At the same time if it is a failure even the harsh comments are sure to follow. I quote from page 96 ‘’He claimed that writers and booklovers were disappointed, as Akshay Mathur had great potential to make a difference. But it appears he is an editor with a price tag and neither has the power nor the inclination to do so. Akshay remains a puppet in Kalim’s dog and pony show in the name of publishing.’’
The book BEST SELLER definitely makes a good read by keeping the readers engaged in a yearlong challenge of an Editor.
(Received a copy of the book from WRITER’S MELON in exchange for a honest review)