Publisher Karthika VK recently quit her top job with HarperCollins India where she was also the chief editor. During the past decade, she has edited and published the works Anita Nair, S Hussain Zaidi, Amruta Patil, Anuja Chauhan and Booker prize winner Aravind Adiga among others. On her recent visit to the city, she talks to Monalisa Patsani of Orissa POST about her surprising decision and other things. Excerpts:
In one of your interviews you said you shared a good relationship with Aravind Adiga. But you’ve never met him in person. How is that possible?
A year after joining HarperCollins, I was assigned for his debut book The White Tiger, which won him a Booker too. Even though we never met our relationship of an author and a publisher is very steady. We published his two more works. He is very good to work with as an author. He is very professional about his work and promptly writes back when he is sent a query.
There are speculations behind you resigning from your post with HarperCollins. Your name became synonymous with the publication. Can you tell us why you chose to take the step?
Sometimes a person realises that he/she has done justice to his job and feels the urge to find a complete new adventure; another job to experiment with. I spent ten years at Penguin Books India learning and another ten years at Harper Collins trying to implement what I learnt. Now I have this urge to try out something new that won’t be similar to my earlier jobs.
What would you suggest to the young writers who do not find a good publisher for their works?
These days a writer has many options of self-publishing and publishing his works online. However, a good publishing house brings many things to the table: good editorial support, good marketing plans and proper distribution of the book.
Many writers think their stories deserve to be told, but there is a possibility that the book may not have a market. But I would suggest our young friends to find a professional editor and upload some texts from the manuscript on the internet and circulate it. This would help to fetch them readership and, if it becomes a hit, they can publish it like The Fifty Shades of Gray.
India is now a market to commercial books. How is that going to affect the literary scenario in our country?
There are different readerships. Young readers are not interested in serious reading and they mostly prefer to read easy stuff. The plot of such books is quite predictable, but the readers want to know how it is executed.
Was there any occasion where you doubted your decision?
We published Manu Joseph’s first book. I believe he is one of our best writers. I was very positive about his book. Yet, some of the initial reviews that came to us were negative, which made me doubt my decision. A few days later, another renowned publisher from another publishing house messaged me and appreciated the book. That made me believe that there will always be people who like and dislike a work.