Set up in May 2011 as an independent Indian publishing firm by David Davidar, who was with Penguin earlier, with Rupa Publications as the majority shareholder, the Aleph Book Company has launched its first book, Dust and Clay by Musharraf Ali Farooqi. The publishers say they would stick to just 25-30 books a year. And each of these books would be edited by either Ravi Singh of Rupa or Davidar. ?We are trying to marry the advantages of a very large company with a very exclusive list,? Davidar tells FE.
But if Rupa is the promoter, then why an independent publishing company? Why not an imprint and wouldn?t Rupa and Aleph run the risk of cannibalising one another? According to Kapish Mehra of Rupa, ?Rupa is closely identified for its strength in mass market publishing. We don?t want different brands talking different languages within one stable. With imprints, you can manage some sort of an identity, but you can?t have that degree of independence. Aleph will be exclusively a high-end literary publishing company. And Rupa will remain a mass market 150-books-a-year vehicle. So there is no chance of a turf war.?
Aleph will be focusing on south Asian writing and writings on south Asia, and most of their books would be hardbacks. But isn?t there a problem of scale and profitability, with just about 25 books a year? ?There are a lot of shared costs that Rupa and Aleph will have, say for example distribution. So actually, the only costs that Aleph will bring to the table will be the ones exclusive to the book. We believe that our books will pay for themselves and make their margins as well,? says Davidar.