India is multilingual, but the number of readers who read books other than English is less, with an increasing number of authors in the market. India is the 7th largest publishing country, with over 19000 publishers. A large portion of such publishing houses is either small players or family-owned. Regarding publishing in the English Language, India stands to be third in the list, while when it comes to the various languages, India ranks seventh. In India, more than 90,000 new titles in 24 different languages get published yearly, increasing to 30% per year.

With the increase in authors on the market, they are looking for ways to make themselves more competitive within the marketplace. The government encourages rural areas for adult education, whereas students prefer knowledge self-development books and books for course work, causing a more significant number of books to get printed. But yet, there are a few major issues faced by publishing houses in the market; let’s check them out

1. Distribution Infrastructure is Lacking:

Distribution is one of the significant problems that Publishing Houses in India; the reason is that English books are easy to distribute and sell, but India, which is home to around 121 languages, faces a significant issue in distributing the regional language book. Paperbacks are usually difficult to distribute and sell, keeping in mind the target audience, though different platforms allow publishers to publish ebooks and audiobooks in a significantly small amount. A rapid change in systems, platforms, and local market trends makes it difficult for publishing houses to keep up.

2. Book Piracy: Threat to Publishers

Around 12,375 publishers are registered with the India Office of the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). However, numerous publishers are not yet registered with ISBN, with a few significant reasons for not registering. Numerous studies show that 20-25% of books are pirated in India, and pirated books dominate the market more. The reason for selling pirated books is because of lack of reach to targeted audiences at their purchasing power, but the solution can be made easy if publishers get a correct platform to sell the books that help them reach the right audience. 

3. Language Being the Barrier

India is home to various languages, but there are scripts for many languages unavailable because those scripts vanished way back. Paperbacks for such regional languages are difficult to find. Still, such books can be published on a specific platform to increase their reach and make them available to people through audiobooks. So at least if the scripts aren’t available, people can stick to audiobooks; the need for such platforms that provides an opportunity for such small and medium-sized publishing houses to grow has increased. 

4. Lack of Infrastructure 

Regarding distribution, India lacks an excellent system for publishing companies, creating an enormous gap between distributors, retailers, and marketers. Due to which second-tier cities are not accessible to books because here, many publication houses need a D-to-C approach, which is currently unavailable in the market because of; which such an approach will save operational Costs, and Rachnaye allows you to become a D-to-C seller on their platform. 

Although the Indian publishing sector is valued at $110 million, most authors from other countries do not market their work in India. This lack of innovation results in a structure of the industry where revenues are at the top of the decision-making process, and middle-list books are less appealing. Fortunately, the situation is changing. In the coming months, India will continue expanding as a significant global book publishing actor. However, there are some issues that the publishing business in India has to be able to address.

These are a few significant issues faced by publishing houses. When it comes to digitization, there are a few things that need to be upgraded, and the need for adequately integrated systems has increased that will help publishing houses keep track of every minute detail, so all the issues can be solved in one place, one such solution with properly integrated systems is provided at Rachnaye. 

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