Samikhsya Bureau
Think Tank Books is a newly set up publishing house founded by Canada-based author Gaurav Sharma.
The publishing house is headquartered in New Delhi and aims to publish anything worth reading except academic books.
Their latest book, God of the Sullied authored by Sharma became #1 Amazon India bestseller. The book would have a sequel, Long Live the Sullied which shall be published by Think Tank Books.
While publishing business in the country has become more of a profit-making domain than ‘spreading good content’, Sharma’s Think Tank Books operates on a ‘no-profit, no-loss’ model. The contributory money taken (if taken at all) from writers to publish their manuscripts is completely invested in pre-production, production and post-production of respective books. Any profit generated after giving royalty to the authors from the sales is fully utilised to publish manuscripts of writers with greater potential in the submission pipeline for free of cost – like traditional publishing.
“We at Think Tank Books aren’t very keen about diversifying our catalogue for the sake of building a business profile. We aren’t here to make money but to encourage reading as a habit among people, giving deserving writers a chance to showcase their talent that helps them build their writing portfolio,” said author and founder Sharma.
Unlike vanity publishers who have several packages and publish almost everything that is submitted to them, Think Tank Books only takes quality manuscripts that are unconventionally unique and have the potential of being liked by readers in general. There is no publishing package and the author-contribution could range from 30 to 50 per cent of the total cost of production, the remaining cost is borne by the company.
The genre, content, language, selling-potential of the manuscript and author’s portfolio are deciding factors of how much money should an author put in. Their website clearly states their working model, showing their uniform and straight-forward approach towards taking any publishing project.
Although Sharma’s publishing house actively engages in offline distribution and promotion of books in national & Canadian bookstores (Indigo/Chapters), colleges & universities, it currently faces challenges maintaining strong social media and online presence. “We are a group of journalists, writers, entrepreneurs and designers who have a mutual interest in publishing and writing. I and my friends who help me run this publishing house have day jobs, making it challenging to withdraw time for social media and online engagement – something that is paramount when it comes to putting the first impression on people. Think Tank Books is being appreciated as a seller on Amazon India though,” commented Sharma while speaking to UNI.
Think Tank Books is currently assessing submissions and preparing to come out with one poetry book and one novel later this year.
