Unable to find a publisher, Sanjiv Bhatla set up Crabwise Press to publish his book, Injustice. His persistence paid off when the title entered the longlist of The Man Asian Literary Prize, 2007
Unable to find a publisher, Sanjiv Bhatla set up Crabwise Press to publish his book, Injustice. His persistence paid off when the title entered the longlist of The Man Asian Literary Prize, 2007
It would have been poetic justice if Sanjiv Bhatla's self-published book Injustice were biographical. After all, getting this title published remained a challenge for over a decade -- "I had completed Injustice in 1997. Since then it has seen a series of visits: first to the publishers, next to the manuscript. Somewhere during the back-and-forth rally the despair set in, and these visits petered away," Mumbai-based Bhatla recalls. 
Suddenly in 2007, Injustice got longlisted for The Man Asian Literary Prize. It was the Prize launched by the famous Booker-givers, The Man Group, so Bhatla felt there must be some good in the book for it to figure in a list of 20 odd novels, out of 240 odd from all over Asia! This announcement set in motion another flurry of visits to the publishers. But this time around when they resulted in nothing, his mind was made up: "I told myself that I would make this novel see the light of day, come what may."
Self-publishing, anyone?
"Self-publishing is exciting, but can be risky in terms of the production-related hassles if one has zero experience in the line. The Poetry Chronicle experience of the early '90s, when I was the peon/publisher/editor /printer of that quarterly journal, however, stood me in good stead," says Bhatla, of the experience. He goes on to add that if one wants to print a few copies, it's not too difficult -- "Line up a good DTP operator/ designer, who can take it up on a turn-key basis, liaison with the printer, and deliver the final copies. If one has to be more professional about it, like having legitimate ISBNs (International Standard Book Number) assigned to your books, having your logo and trademark registered, the copyrights formally applied for, etc., it's time consuming and tests one's patience. But these are issues that one will have to address if you want your book to reach the professional book-selling network -- particularly the ISBNs.
Injustice, Sanjiv Bhatla, Crabwise Press, Rs 300.u00a0 Available at
leading bookstores and on flipkart.com
Response matters
Injustice has just been released. Three judges at The Man Asian Literary Prize thought it had some worth; 30 publishers thought it was worthless. Bhatla now wants to throw the proposition open to 300 literature lovers (more, perhaps?). He believes that those who read books and write reviews about them; those who read book reviews and then the books and form their own opinions about them, are the people who really matter, eventually. In that sense, the jury is still out." We are all ears.
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