Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been in office for a little over a week and hastily-compiled books on him, called 'quickies' in the world of publication, have already hit the market.
First off the block was Pentagon Press, which has brought out a compilation of Singh's speeches and articles. Edited by Ajay Ahuja, the hard cover edition is called 'Manmohan Singh, CEO-India Inc,' while the paperback is titled 'Manmohan Singh, The Sterling Sardar.' Not surprisingly, the book aims at corporates and Sikhs as its main target audience.
The publisher started working on the book as soon as it became clear that Singh, and not Sonia Gandhi, would succeed Atal Bihari Vajpayee as India's Prime Minister. The chapters were edited quickly and 1,000 copies of the book were released on May 28.
There's more. A book on Indian prime ministers by Mittal Publications with a large chunk on Singh is due for release. Even Penguin is sensing the market for a book on the new Prime Minister.
"Manmohan Singh is a very good subject for a book, but we will watch before taking a call," Krishan Chopra, managing editor of Penguin, told Business Standard.
The fate of such quickies, however, remains uncertain. Similar books on former prime ministers VP Singh and IK Gujral brought little joy to their publishers, though the entire print run of 'Atal Bihari Vajpayee -- The Man India Needs' was sold out. It is also worth noting that President Kalam's book, 'Ignited Minds' (published by Penguin), has sold over 100,000 copies -- a book becomes a bestseller if its sales breach the 5,000 mark.
At the moment, the sale of books on Singh at bookstores is sluggish. Readers seem more interested in Sonia Gandhi.
'Sonia, A Biography' (written by Rasheed Kidwai and published by Penguin) has started doing brisk sales ever since she decided to step aside in favour of Singh.
"We sold the remaining copies of the normal print run and had to print more," Chopra said. The sales of Gandhi's book, 'Rajiv', (also published by Penguin) too have improved.