The Book People

Aishwarya chats with Unni Nambudripad, Head of Original Podcasts and Content Development Lead at Spotify, about the podcasting boom in India and how writers can take advantage of it.

India is the 3rd largest market for podcasts in the world. And the audio industry is expected to grow 5 times by 2030! As Indians gravitate towards listening to stories - whether as podcasts or audiobooks - how can writers enter this booming industry?

Takeaways

• There’s a growing demand for local content in regional languages or set in smaller cities
• Why Spotify is getting into audiobooks
• Differences between podcasts and audiobooks
• Writers are adapting their skills to write scripts or start their own podcasts
• Why writers should experiment with formats 
• How Bound is working with writers

Unni Nambudripad has been a part of India’s creative industry for over 15 years and is currently the Head of Original Podcasts at Spotify . He has created video and audio content IPs at Bloomberg TV, Hotstar, and Savan. Find him on LinkedIn. 

Aishwarya Javalgekar is a writer, book editor and podcast producer. As the Head of Originals she specializes in creating stellar content across formats - books, podcasts, newsletters, etc. She is a member of WICCI - Print Media and has a publishing certificate from Humber College and previous experience in  Zubaan Books and Simon and Schuster Canada. Follow her on LinkedIn, book a consultation call with her or drop her an email at [email protected]. 

Bound is one of India’s leading storytelling companies that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar
Edited by Kshitij Jadhav

Will AI take over your job? Is there a growing demand for writers in the audio and video industries? Why did Westland Books shut down? Can you copyright your book ideas? 

Aishwarya is back on popular demand with a power-packed new season. She decodes the new developments that have revamped the publishing and creative industries and highlights the biggest opportunities and challenges for writers in India today. 

Tune in for some publishing breakdowns, truth bombs, and some insightful and real conversations with industry experts about all things books! 

Aishwarya Javalgekar is a writer, book editor and podcast producer. As the Head of Originals she specializes in creating stellar content across formats - books, podcasts, newsletters, etc. She is a member of WICCI - Print Media and has a publishing certificate from Humber College and previous experience in  Zubaan Books and Simon and Schuster Canada. 

Follow her on Linkedin, book a consultation call with her or drop her an email at [email protected]. 

Bound is one of India’s leading storytelling companies that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Aishwarya talks to Vaishnavi Singh (Head of Digital at Penguin Random House India) about the creation and future of ebooks and audiobooks. 

Aishwarya talks to Vaishnavi Singh (Head of Digital at Penguin Random House India) about the creation and future of ebooks and audiobooks. 

Vaishnavi talks about how digital is integral to all aspects of publishing today - from ebooks and audiobooks to the production and marketing of books. She shares what kind of experimentation she is expecting with the growth of technology in the next few years. They discuss the importance of a flexible approach to content: including books, podcasts and newsletters, and how publishers have to keep adapting to newer formats and social media platforms. 

Why did audiobooks become popular during the pandemic? Will the ebook market continue to grow? What does the future of book publishing look like? Tune in to find out!

Adept at creative strategy and direction for digital marketing and bolstered by a keen understanding of traditional marketing, Vaishnavi Singh started her career at Penguin Random House India in 2014 as a marketing assistant after graduating from Lady Shri Ram College for Women. She has been responsible for viral online-offline integrated partnerships with brands and she kickstarted Penguin’s award-winning Instagram presence. She now works as a digital strategist and video rights seller who is behind many book to screen adaptations, and also looks after digital products like audiobooks, newsletters, and e-books. On top of this, she's also the digital lead for Penguin SEA. She now lives in Delhi with her sister and three dogs.

‘The Book People’ is brought to you by Bound, a company that creates stories and helps individuals and brands tell their stories. Writer and booklover Aishwarya Javalgekar interviews people whose lives and careers revolve around books. Read more: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

Find us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

Download our FREE resource documents!
 Demystifying The Indian Publishing Industry
Podcast Production Free Resources

Aishwarya talks to Trisha De Niyogi (CEO and Director of Niyogi Books) about the translation movement in India and the appeal of Indian books and stories. 

Trisha talks about how translations help us tap into unknown cultures and experience or understand our own culture better. And how some of the most popular books are translations - like the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez! She explains how Niyogi books market their specialized books like illustrated books or translations to the right audience. She and Aishwarya bond over their love for YA Fiction and a Japanese translation they both happened to read in different languages! 

How did translations become popular in India? How does one become a professional translator? And how does hiking help Trisha be a better ‘book person’? Tune in for lots of Indian book recommendations! 

Trisha De Niyogi is the Chief Operating Officer and Director at Niyogi Books, a homegrown independent publishing house based out of New Delhi, India. She has started new lists of fiction, non-fiction and translated books taking literature, art, architecture, history and culture and has been acquiring high quality content from around the world for the Indian subcontinent. It also tries to accommodate voices from both urban and rural India and also from the marginalized section of the society like the dalits, the oppressed and the religious and caste exploitation. She was a fellow at the Istanbul fellowship Program 2020. She is an adviser to multiple organizations, including Heritage Shaala and Purple Pencil Project. See the Niyogi Books list here: https://www.niyogibooksindia.com/ 

‘The Book People’ is brought to you by Bound, a company that creates stories and helps individuals and brands tell their stories. Writer and booklover Aishwarya Javalgekar interviews people whose lives and careers revolve around books. Read more: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

Find us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

Take your book to the right audience! DM us or send us an email at [email protected] and to know more about our book marketing services.

Listen to Books and Beyond with Bound: https://boundindia.com/books-and-beyond-podcast/ 

We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

Soundtrack: Fork and Spoon

Aishwarya talks to Mita Kapur (Founder of Siyahi, one of the first literary agencies in India) about how literary agents guide writers through every step of the publishing process. 

Mita Kapur talks about why she decided to start a literary agency in India. She shares how she loves being involved in every aspect of a writer's life - including birthdays, weddings and major life events! Aishwarya loves that the Siyahi team replies to every single submission with feedback! Mita spills the beans about her writing process and some fun anecdotes with Devdutt Pattanaik and Gulzar. How does her experience as an author influence her as an agent? What is her advice to budding writers? And does she really have a basement full of books? Tune in to find out!

We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

Mita Kapur is the founder and CEO of Siyahi, India’s leading literary consultancy. Her first book, The F-Word, is a food book, memoir and travelogue. She has edited Chillies and Porridge: Writing Food, an anthology of essays on food. She has received the Femina Women Super Achiever Award (2018) at the World HRD Congress, the Maharani Gayatri Devi Award for Woman of Excellence (2014), and the Karamveer Puruskar (2009). She has produced the Mountain Echoes festival of Arts, Literature and Culture (2010-2019), the Woman Up! Summit, and Soul Connect Experiences. She is currently the Literary Director for the JCB Prize for Literature. Find out more here: http://siyahi.in

‘The Book People’ is brought to you by Bound, a company that creates stories and helps individuals and brands tell their stories. Writer and booklover Aishwarya Javalgekar interviews people whose lives and careers revolve around books. Read more: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

Find us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

Create your own podcast! DM us or send us an email at [email protected] and we can create a customized podcast production plan just for you.

Download our FREE research report on ‘Demystifying Indian Publishing’: https://boundindia.com/demystifying-the-indian-publishing-industry/

Soundtrack: Fork and Spoon

Aishwarya talks to Ishani Butalia, Editor at Zubaan (an independent feminist publishing house) about the how she figures out which books to publish and what gaps to fill.

We’ve joined #PodForChange to raise donations for Covid relief. Donate here: www.auwa.in/podforchange

Ishani Butalia has been an editor for 7 years. She commissions their trade and academic books and heads Young Zubaan, their children’s and young adult books section. She shares how independent publishing houses measure the success of a book: based on book sales, significance of the topic and feedback from the community. 

Aishwarya loves how Ishani describes the editor-author relationship like a partnership where there’s some back and forth. They chat about what she looks for in a book and how she decides whether it’s ‘Zubaan material’. What does it mean to publish feminist books? Why does she love middle grade and young adult books? Who is her ideal audience? 

Book Mentions: 

• Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
• Dear Mrs. Naidu by Mathangi Subramanian
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor

Ishani K B is an editor and NGO worker based in New Delhi. She commissions books at Zubaan and is co-lead of their No Space For Work project. Find out more here: https://zubaanbooks.com/ 

‘The Book People’ is brought to you by Bound, a company that creates stories and helps individuals and brands tell their stories. Writer and booklover Aishwarya Javalgekar interviews people whose lives and careers revolve around books. Read more: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

Find us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

Pitch your book to Bound! Send us an email at [email protected] with your book pitch and at least 3 chapters of your manuscript.

Download our FREE research report on ‘Demystifying Indian Publishing’: https://boundindia.com/demystifying-the-indian-publishing-industry/

Soundtrack: Fork and Spoon  

Aishwarya talks to Devashish Sharma (Head of Wattpad India) about how Wattpad is redefining entertainment through storytelling and self-publishing.

Devashish says that Wattpad is like the world’s largest book club, by connecting writers and readers and building social communities. It creates a space for people to write about everything from small town stories to body positivity and LGBTQ themes. Aishwarya and Devashish bond over fanfiction and growing up with Shah Rukh Khan and Harry Potter. They discuss Bollywood cult films like Welcome and Hera Pheri. How much did Wattpad grow during the pandemic? What is sports romance? Tune in to find out!

Mentions: 

• Baking With Boys by Aanchal Budhiraja
• The Cricketer’s Ex-Wife by Amrita
• Human Untouched by Sydney Carvahall

Devashish is the Country Head for Wattpad - a global entertainment company. Our apps let our 90 million monthly users discover and share stories from science fiction to romance and everything in between. Leveraging the data and insights from more than 1 billion story uploads, our studios then partner with the entertainment and publishing industries to turn the best stories with built-in audiences into movies, TV shows, books, and new forms of digital media.

‘The Book People’ is brought to you by Bound, a company that creates stories and helps individuals and brands tell their stories. Writer and booklover Aishwarya Javalgekar interviews people whose lives and careers revolve around books. Read more: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

Soundtrack: Fork and Spoon  

Looking for a way to make your book memorable? Talk to us about book marketing! Send us an email at [email protected]. 

Check out our FREE research report on ‘Demystifying Indian Publishing’: https://boundindia.com/demystifying-the-indian-publishing-industry/

Aishwarya chats with Harshad Marathe (freelance illustrator and designer) about how book covers are the face of an author’s work and how they help in attracting readers.

Harshad breaks down the designing process: from getting the brief to finalizing the cover. He recounts his experience of designing brilliant book covers for Prayaag Akbar’s Leila and Perumal Murugan’s books like Rising Heat and Trial by Silence. He has also illustrated children’s books like Muezza and Baby Jaan by Anita Nair!

Harshad and Aishwarya chat about how they always remember the title and cover of a good book and how difficult it is for artists to be satisfied with their own work. He gives some solid tips to aspiring designers and freelancers on how to build connections, choose between projects and quote the right price. Do book cover designs change across genres? How involved are publishers and authors in the design process? What’s a freelancer’s life really like? Tune in to find out!

Book cover designers to look out for:

• Gunjan Ahlawat, Creative Head at Penguin Random House India
• Amit Malhotra, Senior Designer at HarperCollins
• Pinaki De, Freelance Graphic Designer

Harshad Marathe is an award winning illustrator. He is a versatile artist and he works in many different mediums - traditional and digital. What he loves most is working with traditional mixed media on paper. In his opinion, if his own art doesn’t surprise him, it won’t surprise anybody, and that’s how he gauges whether he has done something successfully or not. Find him on Instagram @twentytightslaps.

‘The Book People’ is brought to you by Bound, a company that creates stories and helps individuals and brands tell their stories. Writer and booklover Aishwarya Javalgekar interviews people whose lives and careers revolve around books. Read more: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

If you need help with getting your book publishing ready with editing or designing services, DM us @boundindia on social media or email us at [email protected]. 

Our FREE research report on ‘Demystifying Indian Publishing’ is out now! Download it here: https://boundindia.com/demystifying-the-indian-publishing-industry/

Soundtrack: Fork and Spoon  

Aishwarya talks to award-winning author Meghna Pant about the writer’s perspective on publishing and why she wrote her bestselling and path breaking book ‘How To Get Published in India’.

Meghna Pant has published 6 books (novels, short story collections and nonfiction) since 2012! In 2019, she published her iconic publishing guidebook, ‘How To Get Published In India’, with essays from authors like Meena Kandasamy and Shobhaa De, and publishing experts like literary agent Mita Kapur and book reviewer Vivek Tejuja. 

Meghna shares some of her rookie mistakes as a newbie author: like not understanding contracts and planning too many book launches! She and Aishwarya discuss how self-publishing has become popular during the pandemic and why every author should learn how to market themselves. They bond over their love for feminist books. How did she turn a screenplay into a book? Why did she retain her audio rights?  Tune in for some fun anecdotes, like how Durjoy Datta has his own fanbase!

Book Mentions: 

• Hangwoman by K.R. Meera
• Headscarves and Hymen: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution by Mona Eltahawy
• Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
• Bossypants by Tina Fey

Meghna Pant is a multiple award-winning and bestselling author, journalist and speaker. She’s published six books, including The Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Good News (Penguin Random House, 2021) , How To Get Published In India (Bloomsbury, 2019), and One & A Half Wife (Westland, 2012). She has won the FON South Asia Short Story Award, Muse India Young Writer Award, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, Commonwealth Short Story Prize and many more! 

‘The Book People’ is brought to you by Bound, a company that creates stories and helps individuals and brands tell their stories. Writer and booklover Aishwarya Javalgekar interviews people whose lives and careers revolve around books. Read more: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

Soundtrack: Fork and Spoon 

Pitch your book or podcast to Bound! DM us @boundindia on on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. Or send us an email at [email protected]. 

Check out our FREE research report on ‘Demystifying Indian Publishing’: https://boundindia.com/demystifying-the-indian-publishing-industry/

Aishwarya talks to Radhika Timbadia (Founder of Champaca Bookstore in Bangalore) about how bookstores foster reading and the challenges of running an independent bookstore during the pandemic.

Champaca is one of the most successful indie bookstores in India today, with a thoughtfully curated collection, a newly established online store and a book subscription box. Radhika has created this literary haven for all writers, readers and booklovers! She talks about the planning and effort that went into starting Champaca with no literature background and no contacts in the industry. 

Aishwarya and Radhika bond over their love for libraries and new-found fear of stories with ambiguous endings. Radhika explains how Champaca suffered setbacks during the pandemic but has adapted to the situation. They discuss how the publishing industry needs to rally together in order to survive and grow. How does she decide which books to sell? Why are translations becoming important now? What’s a book subscription box and how can you get one? Tune in to find out!

Book Mentions: 

• Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
• Oryx And Crake by Margaret Atwood
• The Tempest by William Shakespeare
• Frankenstein In Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

Radhika Timbadia is the proprietrix of Champaca. She spends much of her time figuring out how to run an independent bookstore, while also reading and spending time with her dog, cat and plants. Find Champaca’s curated collection on their website: https://champaca.in/ 

‘The Book People’ is brought to you by Bound, a company that creates stories and helps individuals and brands tell their stories. Writer and booklover Aishwarya Javalgekar interviews people whose lives and careers revolve around books. Read more: https://boundindia.com/the-book-people-podcast/

Soundtrack: Fork and Spoon 

Follow us @boundindia on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn . 

Find our fiction writing and other online classes here: https://boundindia.com/events/online-classes/

Check out our FREE research report on ‘Demystifying Indian Publishing’: https://boundindia.com/demystifying-the-indian-publishing-industry/