PragatiE Vichaar Literature Festival 2022 goes live

Virtual festival gathers bibliophiles as JLF & KLF get postponed

135
literature
Photo Janko Ferlic on Unsplash

In a country where risk averse publishers choose to promote only the famous authors, where the debut authors first have to pay to get their book published and then struggle further to promote it, PragatiE Vichaar Literature Festival (PVLF) is a welcome event for all new and not as famous authors.

There are many first times in the PragatiE Vichaar Literature Festival. A one of its kind 24-hour author marathon, where 48 authors got 30 minutes each to showcase their talent and talk about their book and their inspiration. A one of its kind PVLF Excellence Awards, which are purely data-driven. Powered by Nielsen BookScan Data, there are awards for publishers, authors, and books.

Kapil Gupta, founder of Frontlist Media said, “Bringing in new and debut authors to showcase their writings and share their thoughts is an excellent mechanism to promote true authorship and literature. The response has been phenomenal. We literally had to say No to some of the top publishers, since all slots got booked very fast. More information can be found at Frontlist.”

This edition of the PragatiE Vichaar Literature Festival will be held in the form of a 24-hour author’s marathon on 6 and 7 January 2022, on the PragatiE.com virtual exhibition platform. PVLF is dedicated to enhancing dialog, free speech, literature, storytelling, and the promotion of the world’s most powerful tool of communication, writing. The literature festival was inaugurated by Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Honorable Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and president of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations. 

Pranav Gupta, founder of Frontlist Media and Hony General Secretary of FIP said, “The ability to bring the publishing industry together under the aegis of FIP and with the leadership of Frontlist Media has been a joyous achievement for me. We have already done 2 virtual book fairs with FIP, this event will strengthen the power of virtual for this industry.”

The vision is to promote new authors and enhance their public visibility. Conceptualized by Frontlist, co-organized with The Federation of Indian Publishers; and hosted by pragatiE, this edition of PVLF will have Author/ Publisher/ Book Excellence Awards and a 24-hour Authors Marathon. This marathon is specifically designed to give the authors a platform to promote their work. The knowledge partner Nielsen is ensuring that the awards are hundred percent reliable with their Nielsen book scan data.

The industry has come forward to support the event. With publishers such as WonderHouse Publishing, Repro India, FingerPrints Publishing, Disha Publications, Dreamland Children Books, Prints Publications, LiFi Publications, Solh Wellness, BuyBooksIndia, and Advit Toys as sponsors, the event has already made ripples in the industry. All top publishers (Indian and Foreign) are participating with their books in the Author and Books category, evangelizing their readers to vote for them and the coveted PVLF Excellence Award.

PVLF is a literature festival curated to promote action in prominent social issues. A flagship event, established in the year 2020 during the first virtual Delhi Book Fair, PVLF aims to bring the best of speakers from across the country and the world under one roof. It targets to initiate a forum of discussion and intellectual debates around various topics that concern the publishers, the authors, the readers, and the society at large.

PVLF Author Excellence Awards, based on Jury selection of top 5 nominations and Voting are Best Debut Fiction, Best Debut Non-Fiction, Best Non-Fiction, Best Fiction, and Poetry

PVLF Publisher Excellence Awards, based on Nielsen Bookscan data, are Trade Books, Academic Books, and Children Books

PVLF People’s Choice Book Awards, based on Nielsen Bookscan data and voting, are Platinum Award –  more than 250,000 copies sold, Gold Award – from 200,000 to 250,000 copies sold, and Silver Award – from 150,000 to 200,000 copies sold.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

Subscribe Now

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here