The Indian publishing industry is expected to reach $10bn by 2020, Syed Arshad, Founder of BlueRose Publishers, said, adding that with digital publishing tools it has become easier to reach a bigger audience.

Excerpts of the interview…

Please tell our readers about the entrepreneurial journey of BlueRose Publishers.

Syed Arshad: Being a self-published author myself, I understood the pain and struggle a writer has to go through to get a book published. India is a land of stories, and everyone has got at least one to share with the world, but the tedious publication process restricts most to even take a step forward in their writing career. I gathered my knowledge and with the support of wonderful people around, I started BlueRose with the vision of extending end-to-end services to writers, making the process a cakewalk for them. Initially, we had to make our brand known among the writing community and make them aware of the publishing process with BlueRose, and this indeed was the real struggle as we had limited financial backup for any paid marketing strategy. We started in 2012 by approaching communities on social media portals like Goodreads and Facebook. We got registered in 2015 as a proprietorship firm, and later in 2018as a private limited company. From a small team of two people to over fifty souls, from three authors a year to fifteen hundred authors a year, from a turnover of a few hundred to about half a million dollars, it’s been a spectacular journey—a journey full of lessons, hardships, struggle, joy and moments that now define our lives.

Please tell us about the services offered by BlueRose Publishers?

Syed Arshad: BlueRose is currently one amongst India's top five Self-Publishing corporations, with a straightforward vision - to form a business as easy as potential for all authors and writers. Self-Publishing because the term speaks for itself is the method of publishing one's book by themselves. You, as an author, can design, edit, print, and distribute your work on your own, otherwise, you can hire a platform like BlueRose, which takes care of all the requirements of the manuscript and brings it to the market at a feasible value to be borne by the author. We provide end-to-end services starting from filing the copyright application, editing, designing, and data formatting to listing on on-line portals like Amazon, Flipkart, Shopclues, etc.

How BlueRose Publishers can help first-time authors to publish their book?

Syed Arshad: BlueRose is a one-stop-shop for all the writers who need to get their book printed. We tend to follow the evaluation model - Basic, Essential, Popular, Premium, and Premium Plus. It may also be made-to-order as per the author's wants. They'll choose all the services that they need and we maintain transparency of mentioning everything that they asked for. Our team stays in-tuned with them at each step and guides them through the process.

Please tell us about the present condition and future prospects of the Indian publishing industry.

Syed Arshad: Being the foremost settled democracy, India has a large market. With over 100 thousand books printed per annum, the business is presently reaching to $10bn by 2020.

In 2015, the worth of the Indian business was calculable to be $2bn, with an overall growth rate of around 15% as per conservative estimates. Out of it, half-hour output by worth was from trade books, and seventieth of books printed in India were found to be academic.

Nielsen's analysis estimates the publishing sector is currently valued at $6.76bn.

What are your views on changes brought by digital publishing tools and platforms?

Syed Arshad: It has created the method straightforward. It plays a really necessary role to plug one's books in an exceedingly higher method. You'll be able to reach a bigger audience as a result of digital publishing tools and platforms.

How is your company performing currently?

Syed Arshad: Company’s order book till the date for the year 2019-20 is around 2 crores, and we are presuming to touch the magic mark of 1 million dollars this year. We are currently working on a lot of big endeavors. Also, the ensuing book of Rashmi Trivedi, one of Amazon’s bestselling authors, goes to be released in November. We've recently worked with Leoforce, which is a Talent Acquisition firm using cutting edge AI Technology.

Are you looking for funding?

Syed Arshad: We have been bootstrapping till now and managing all our expenses from the corporate money coming in through the door. This is often a slow method, and currently, because we can take the corporate to consecutive level, we don’t mind giving a portion of a company for quicker growth.

In fact, we are in touch with a lot of investment companies which have shown interest in our model, and we are in constant communication with them to make it happen.

What does growth means to you and your company?

Syed Arshad: Growth is clear. The corporate is alive and thriving. From a little team of 2 individuals to over fifty souls, from 3 authors a year to fifteen hundred authors a year, from a turnover of a couple of hundred to about half a million dollars, it’s been a spectacular journey—a journey jam-packed with lessons, hardships, struggle, joy and moments that currently outline our lives.

Please tell us about future plan of BlueRose Publishers.

Syed Arshad: We have numerous growth plans that involve launching kids’ books for the subsequent session and beginning a sophisticated DIY-cum-social media platform for writers all across the globe. We even have plans to start our book lounge chain in major cities in India and abroad.