New and ambitious writers are slowly but encouragingly finding a platform to showcase their creative prowess, with a host of Pune-based publishers opening their doors and accepting works of first-time and new authors, especially in Marathi literature. Publishers believe that times have changed with readers looking for new writers and greater market share is also one of the reasons to take in new writers.

Every month, Neelkanth Prakashan’s Prakash Ranade receives more than 10 to 15 enquiries from new writers not only from Pune, but from across the state and beyond. “There is certainly a rise in the number of new writers who intend to get their works published. These new day writers come from different professional fields and choose to write on any topic, like social issues, to environment to women’s problems, among others. Personally, I prefer manuscripts that depict aesthetically the current reality of life and society,” says Ranade, who has already published five works by first-time writers in Marathi.

“I would like to mention that Marathi literature is seeing a new dawn of light altogether. Marathi books, be it fiction and non-fiction, written by newcomers, are reaching out to the masses quite effectively these days, thanks to a close network of book-sellers and round-the-year book ‘yatras’ that are held in different parts of the state. Sometimes, even I get surprised to see an unknown, freshly-published work by some budding writer getting sold at these fairs. This is certainly a very positive development for the writers as well,” adds Ranade.

Surveys suggest that out of every 10 books that are being published in Marathi, at least 3 are written by first-time writers. “The trend helps us to increase our market share as more and more people read the works published by us,” says Ranade.

Sunil Mehta, proprietor of Mehta Publishing House opines that readers usually prefer non-fiction, such as self-help books and autobiographies, than fiction works. “It is quite evident that there are many first-time writers who are into fiction writing. Apart from that, there are a lot of translations works in Marathi being done by translators from all over the state and country. In fact, we publishers encourage translations, for we want international bestsellers, so far unavailable to Indian readers, to be accessible to the readers in the native language,” says Mehta. Mehta says that for any new wok to get selected, writers must make the necessary efforts required to improve upon the manuscript sent to a publishing house.

Yashwant Joshi, an aspiring writer from Pitala, near Kalyan, published his collection of poems, ‘Vyanjan’ last year. A retired professional, Joshi is currently working on his next work based on ‘Tukaram Gatha.’ “I can say that writing is my passion and nothing excites me more than writing. It’s very important for me to understand the readers’ reactions and to be able to offer something new and different every single time that they will be able to relate to,” says Joshi.

Ramesh Rathivdekar, coordinator of the Akshardhana Book Gallery, which is known for organizing book exhibitions all round the year in every part of Maharashtra, states that writings depicting reality, life, society and diverse cultures are gaining in readership.

“Readers are showing rising interest in writings that reflect the rural way of life. Interestingly, reading habit too has increased amongst the rural population, especially among readers between the age group of 20 to 50 years. During exhibitions, it is very encouraging to see sales of more than thousand books in various rural locations, especially those written by new writers. In the last couple of years, readership among rural youth has gone up by more than 30%,” says Rathivdekar.

However, publishers voice in unison the need of a concerted effort to bring these new writers together “Till now, publishers independently promote the works written by new writers. However, the need of the hour is to form a common platform, in the form of a meet or seminar, where writers can meet and discuss their works with the readers. This is the best way to create more awareness among readers about new works available in the market,” says Rathivdekar.

There are issues as well in terms of quality, especially in terms of copy editing, which is yet to meet the required markets standards, says Vishwas Dastane, president of Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Prakashak Sangh. “There is a serious dearth of good and learned copy editors who can do justice to the new works being published. That’s why we are working towards conducting training workshops on editing skills in the field of book publishing,” says Dastane.

- Siddhartha Laik