Cover stories
Well, my copies of the Penguin India editions of the first three Ramayana books – Prince of Ayodhya, Siege of Mithila, and Demons of Chitrakut – arrived today. Have to say, I like them. They’re handsome, sturdily bound, and the paper is nice and thick, if a bit yellow. The printing could be better, especially the covers, but on the whole, it works for me.
In fact, I’m really darn pleased with these editions. They’re the first editions of my Ramayana series which I was allowed to have my full say in terms of the editing of little niggling errors and inconsistencies that bothered me from the beginning – no doubt, of my own creation – minor revisions, the deletion of a glossary that was starting to resemble the tail of a dinosaur tacked onto a tiger – and the inclusion of a foreword explaining the process of retelling the Ramayana, something I’d felt was essential to a project of this kind.
So, I’d like to thank the Academy, my great-grandmother…Ooops, they took the mike away! And I didn’t even start on my Bush joke, which goes somewhat like the line in the The Who song, “Meet the new boss…same as the old boss!”
But seriously, I think messrs. Ravi Singh and co. at Penguin Books India did a really bangup job of the Ramayana books as well as the reissue of Vertigo which came out a couple of months ago.
For the record, the cover illustrations on the Indian editions are by Suddhasattwa Basu and Grisham Verma.
The contents are, as before, by aamchi padosan Ashkok Kay Bankrupt.
And that, by the way, for all you desi readers, means that the copies are off the presses and en route to the stores! Look for them in a couple of weeks.
While on the subject of covers, have been getting some email about the revised UK covers, some of it from readers in the USA – who, of course, as some of you might know, have been special-ordering the UK editions rather than wait endlessly. Plenty of grumbling. Mainly over the change itself. Most don’t seem to like the new covers at all.
My comment? Hmm. Tough one. Not that I don’t have views on this, but it’s rather unsporting when I know exactly why the publisher changed the covers. They did it because they felt that my readership is now much more clearly defined after three bestselling books than when they first signed me on as a ‘virgin’ author (internationally, that is), and naturally, they wanted to build on that readership.
So what is that readership, my readership? Well, quite simply put, it’s like the title of this blogomobile: Indian English. That is to say, Indians living abroad who read English-language books. There’s no question that 90% of my fanmail comes from bhadralok everywhere, and the sales figures bear this out too. Of course firangs do read and seem to enjoy my books a lot as well, but they’re outnumber by the desis, not surprising when you consider that they’re outnumbered to begin with!
I think Orbit/Time Warner know quite well what they’re doing by changing the covers. In any case, it’s their decision to make – just to clarify once more, for those of you who went out for popcorn :~) – the author does not design the covers of his books. And we’ll soon know how right or otherwise they were when the first four books hit US shelves in July.
Actually, we’ll know much sooner, when Armies of Hanuman reaches UK & Commonwealth countries (incl. you guys out there in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia – waves and blows kisses to fans in the Far East). So, fingers crossed, and whether you like it or lump it, be heartened by this little factoid: It’s what’s between the covers that’s really important. Right? Right!
This entry was posted on Saturday, March 5th, 2005 at 5:18 pm. It is filed under Ashok.
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