Replika Press gets a slice of Booker glory

However, India’s connection to the Booker Prize doesn’t end here. For one, the book was printed at Replika Press, based in Sonipat, Haryana, which won the Post-Press Company of the Year award this year, at PrintWeek India Awards. And, the real work started after the Booker Prize was announced on October 14, as the printing giant had to do a reprint job within a tight schedule, including the printing of a new cover to feature the 'Winner' label on the cover.

The result is for everyone to see, and Neil Bradford, divisional production director, Penguin Random House, UK, is all praise for Replika’s work ethic, not just for the quality of work, but also for prompt delivery within a tight deadline.  

“Frankly, if you can’t get worked up about the Man Booker Prize, you’re in the wrong business. I do get worked up about this and expect the same of my suppliers,” said Bradford, adding that Replika stood true to the expectations.

“Our supplier for the Man Booker Prize Winner 2014 is Replika Press. We knew that they qualified under all the necessary criteria having worked miracles during the period when, first of all, Slumdog Millionaire and then the phenomenal Fifty Shades of Grey dominated the best-seller charts around the world. Replika wiped the sleep from their eyes, leapt from their beds and raced into action...” added Bradford. “I cannot praise enough the efforts and professionalism of Bhuvnesh Seth, his sons Sanandan and Vikaran and their colleagues and once again they have illustrated the increasingly massive contribution of Indian suppliers to the book publishing world.”

For a publisher, the Booker Prize is the beginning of a bestselling title. To capitalise on the achievement, publishers and printers start working as soon as the award is announced. As the production director for the Vintage and Cornerstone divisions of Penguin Random House, Bradford said, the weeks leading up to the announcement are the most exciting of the year for publishers. “Preparations are made to maximise the benefits of victory. ‘Winner’ jacket flashes are designed, approved and put in place. Paper is purchased and delivered awaiting the voracious appetite of litho presses and dummy purchase orders are in place ensuring an immediate response to the news,” said Bradford.

Thus, soon after the award was announced on October 14, Replika Press was issued the challenge to deliver 18,000 copies by October 17, directly to customers and warehouses in the Delhi area and beyond.

The book is a Demy sewn hardback, 464pp in length, with a four-colour jacket printing on an uncoated paper with embossed lettering. To do this within 72 hours would have been a tall order for any printing press. What complicated matters is that elections were on in Haryana, which had cut down the manufacturing time to no more than 60 hours. Yet, Replika kept its word and within time.

It is an anachronism of the Booker that the book which is in the greatest demand will inevitably go out of physical stock within hours of the announcement, said Bradford. “No-one in their right mind will hold huge quantities of books in the warehouse in the expectation that they will win. Whatever stock that is in place is immediately consumed, and then there is a vacuum until the void is filled by the reprint. Since the advent of the ebook gauging, the correct number of books has become increasingly difficult as the moment that news of the winning book is released e-reading devices are immediately in download frenzy. The key is to have a flexible, responsive and, crucially, dedicated supplier that understands the business, communicates well and reacts to the situation,” he added.

A ‘magnificent novel of love and war’, Flanagan’s 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North'  tells the harrowing stories of prisoners and captors on the Burma railway during WWII. Flanagan becomes the third Australian to win the prize, after Thomas Keneally and Peter Carey.