The whole world has gone mobile. Books are also going increasing cellular thanks to Chiki Sarkar’s publishing app, Juggernaut, which aims to make your reading experience more convenient. Launched this morning, Juggernaut is not just your regular e-reader. It’s an attempt to give authors a new platform to publish their works (which is always welcome). The app is the brainchild of one of the biggest names in the publishing industry, Chiki Sarkar, former publisher at Penguin Random House India, accompanied by her team of A-list editors. It’s only available to to Android users at the moment, but iPhones are soon to follow. We chatted with Chiki, right before the launch and here’s what she has to say about this revolutionary new system.
Q. From Bloomsbury to Random House and now Juggernaut, has everything turned out as per your life plans?
My work experience has made me more ambitious and confident. But I hope I am still the same 22-year old, who joined Bloomsbury several years ago. It was only in 2014 when I began thinking of breaking out and starting my own thing. I met my first investor, William Bissell in 2015 and the rest just fell in place.
Q. What is the story behind Juggernaut?
Juggernaut was born out of a complaint, all of us publishers have: we don’t sell enough. I wanted to find new readers and new ways for readers and writers to talk to each other. Even as I was asking myself these questions, India was becoming the market for the largest number of smartphone users. Everything was going mobile. It seemed to me that if I had to be a really good publisher, I had to create a world for readers, who could read on the phone.
Q. How does it work?
Think of it like a Netflix of books – a platform to distribute other publishers but also publish our own books. At Juggernaut, we don’t think of the digital book as a straight translation from the physical. The question we ask is – what would it mean to read on the phone? We focus on the length and we even have books that have been written especially to suit the length that can be accommodated on the app. We also let the reader connect to the author. At the end of the day, we wanted to make the entire experience seamless – you can send your emails, you can use your chat messengers, you can be connected on social media and still have access to read your book on the app.
Q. Tell us about your editorial team?
Our editorial team has Nandini Mehta, who is the finest non-fiction editor in thecountry, R Sivapriya who created India’s writing in translation programme at Penguin and Renu Agal who was responsible for Penguin’s Hindi list. We also have Priya Ramani, the editor of Mint Lounge and Swati Mittal who devours romance and is a blogger. We’re also working with some brilliant young men: writer, Indra Das consults with us on fantasy, and we’ve just hired Parth Mehrotra, who was an Editor with The Indian Express.
Q. What can we expect from Juggernaut, in its first year?
You can expect a lot of great books across genres. I think we will do crime better than anyone else. Also, the non-fiction list is stunning with writers such as Nandini Sundar, Husain Haqqani, William Dalrymple, and Nobel prize winner, Svetlana Alexievich.
