September marked many milestones for Bloomsbury. Last year, they celebrated 35 years in publishing — which they commemorated with a book, Bloomsbury 35, a few months ago. Last month, they turned 10 in India. Vafa Payman, the soft-spoken Asia head of the London-based publishing house, was down to honour the occasion and to talk about new acquisitions and plans for growth. “Bloomsbury has always believed in organic growth and growth through acquisitions,” says Payman. “We had a greater number of acquisitions over the past few years than previously [Fairchild Books and Head of Zeus, to Hart Publishing and Red Globe]. I see it benefiting people in India as well as across the world. We will be able to bring fresh titles through acquisitions. We want to integrate and grow.”
Counting JK Rowling, Khaled Hosseini and William Dalrymple among its authors, Bloomsbury is now poised to widen its offerings, with translations to and from Indian languages and an increased share in the academic books market. “This year, in academic books, we will grow at around 50%. We publish for a global market — all books we do come into the catalogue of Bloomsbury International. In three years time, we plan to be double of where we are,” adds Rajiv Beri, managing director of Bloomsbury India.
Edited excerpts from an interview with Payman, who has over 25 years of experience in publishing, finance and software industries.
Bloomsbury has always believed in organic growth and growth through acquisitions, says Vafa Payman (left), pictured here with Rajiv Beri, the MD of Bloomsbury India | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
How did you cope with the challenges of COVID-19?
Offline sales were severely affected. The focus shifted to online sales, though I believe in India even that was affected for a few months. Now, we are seeing the re-emergence of offline retail sales. The year after the pandemic, we grew by 58% [I am comparing it to 2019-20]. The recovery was very fast. This year, in the first six months, we are already 24% up against the previous year.
I don’t generally talk in terms of numbers, but the year the business of Bloomsbury India grew by 58%, the business globally grew by 24%.
A few recent titles from Bloomsbury India
You are also growing in China. How different are the challenges?
India is a huge market of English speaking people whereas our business in China is a joint venture company which publishes in Mandarin. Our competitors there are not publishers from the U.K. or the U.S., but local. We are entirely focused on children’s literature — there are more than 500 Chinese publishers in the genre. So, it is a competitive market.
Is children’s literature something you are considering for India?
It is something we are looking at. We have done academic and trade books here, besides fiction. We are always looking at avenues to expand our operations.
“The year the business of Bloomsbury India grew by 58%, the business globally grew by 24%,” says Vafa Payman | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
You talked of publishing in Mandarin in China. Do you have similar plans in India?
Yes, it is something to look at. At the same time, we are beginning to look at translations in a big way. Translations from Indian languages to English will help.
How are the acquisitions going to impact your market in India?
Just using Hart as an example, we are now poised to distribute their books in India. It also increases the variety of Bloomsbury publishing in India. We are reprinting the textbooks appropriate to India from Red Globe. We see India as a great opportunity to do business.
