If
we have to cope with the explosion in knowledge, we need to have books which
could make available the information as quickly as possible.
There are two types of books, viz., academic books and general books.
Textbooks or course books, in general, are academic books which deal with
mainly subject matter without caring for creating interest or arousing response
in the general readers. Textbooks,
therefore, are read by students or technicians only and general reader is
disinterested in them. If at all we
have to cultivate his interest in reading academic books, there is need of
citing examples from day to day life, giving thought provoking material in lucid
and simple language. There is also
the need of giving an attractive get up to the reading material.
Thus the academic books would be read by general readers as well if their
content and style is good and language is so smooth as to fall under the
comprehension power of the general readers also.
In terms of the qualities and disqualities of any book, we form an idea
about the book by turning pages and reading here and there.
The first thing which impresses is the presentation of the book as also
the type and paper used. Real
assessment of the book is possible only after going through the material from
academic point of view. Hence the
quality of the book depends on its two major aspects : 1) Content and style, and
2) Presentation i.e., get up of the book.
What is a good book?
A good book is one that makes you wish that you had written it.
A very good book is one which you know you could have never written,
however, hard you tried. A bad book
is one which you wish that you had not read and a very bad book is one which you
could never write nor ever wish to. A
good book is one which keeps lingering in your memory long after you have read
it.
The books published in
India
gives a dismal picture.
Despite the huge number of books published in the country, there are not
many books which can be assigned the term "good book".
A publisher's working
definition of a good book is that which serves a specific need for a specific
segment of the market and which is considered comparatively better in content,
quality of production and price and which will continue in stock for 5-`0 years
and thereafter reprinted readily for another 10 years.
From the utility point of view, the good book serves as a tool of repose
helps in removal of mental tiredness and cultivates interest for quite some time
and does not fade out in a year or two. For
some readers a book may not have any value but for others it may be a prized
possession.
When we judge the books in terms of demand in other countries or
negotiations for getting the copyright by other countries, we find the number to
be too small. Although
India
has been ranked as the 7th
largest publisher in the world, yet it has not made a dent in the International
market. The basic reason is that
majority of our books are poor in editorial quality and the poor editorial
quality is because of the best of our writers are first published in the west.
This is true of almost all our novelists as well as academics, old and
new, what is felt is offered to Indian publishers.
Thee seems to be no remedy for this, since editorial traditions have not
been built in publishing houses except for two or three.
Then the Indian writers too are hesitant to accept editorial changes
which because of falling standards have to be fairly drastic.
There are very few good writers in the country, yet the bad ones do not
accept the changes suggested to them by the readers.
Most of the publishers, therefore, take the easy way out by just printing
off what is offered to them. Good
titles can be counted on fingers for their number is too small, may be between
200 to 300.
Now the question arises, how to prepare a good academic book? The salient
features ought to be good content, lucid style, good readability besides
examples, diagrams, charts and table to give clear expressions.
There should be integrity among the people involved in publishing work.
The book depends upon the publishers' interest in bringing out the books
in the best possible form. As a
matter of fact the publishers should be professionally trained, they should be
creative and sensitive to the needs.
How
to collect good reading material?
The most important aspect of collecting material depends upon one's
capacity to go through resource material, collect statistics and selection of
method for best presentation. The
author must have creative talent and quality of scholarship to produce books of
very high standard. He should not be
satisfied with what is available with him but he should try to tap as many
sources as possible and prepare cards carrying information.
Best way is, to tap the original source so that no factual errors creep
in. Examples, if necessary, should
be given from daily life experiences rather than taking down obsolete examples
appearing in foreign books and journals. Data
should be based on findings of research organizations and reports presented.
Tables, etc., should be drawn so as to present the analytical state of
affairs. The information so
collected on cards, carrying also
the source from which the material has been taken, form the base for writing
down the matter in one's own style.
Analysing
the information
The next step should be organize the material in such a manner that the
material is well knit and co-ordinated. Details
should be given where new concepts are developed, otherwise they could be
minimized. Analysing the information
is a difficult task and requires good deal of reading and thinking.
One should attempt to go through one's own draft critically and search
out what is not clear. Thus the
information given would be appealing and clear to the reader.
Style
The
Style helps in selling a book and hence one has to be cautious about the style.
Style attracts a reader to go through the entire book.
If the first 10 pages of a book do not attract a reader, he would lose
interest in it and would abandon reading that book.
It is the creative power of the writer and his style which makes odd
things read, good and attractive. "Freedom
at
Midnight
" was appreciated most, because of
its excellent style. Every
individual has his own style of writing or presentation of information but
academicians generally follow the pattern almost similar to class-room teaching.
As is well known class-room teaching depended upon ones capability to
explain, keeping the sequence of events almost the same.
Language
Simple language has to be adopted for writing University level books
since the students coming to the University are not all of the same caliber.
The matter should be dealt with in such a simple language that even the
average student finds it easy to comprehend.
Long complex sentences have to be avoided and the language should have
easy flow.
Planning university level books
Although students should not base their studies only on one book, yet
efforts should be made to prepare a core book for each subject or paper, which
may be syllabus oriented or topic oriented.
For a graduate level student, it becomes difficult to consult a number of
books on each topic due to limitation of study-time at his disposal.
These core books should be prepared under the guidance of various faculty
members. The syllabi set out by
different universities may vary hence every University or a group of
Universities having similar courses of study, should plan out production of
standard reading material fitting to their syllabi.
It is a fact that knowledge is fast developing and the books also require
suitable timely revision. Usually, a
teacher who has been teaching the subject for pretty long time embarks on
writing a book and as soon as the manuscript is ready he searches out a
publisher. The book, therefore, is
not critically examined by teachers who ultimately would use it.
Hence the book suffers from various short-comings.
It does not mean that all books written by single or multiple authors are
not of standard but generally such books carry many inaccuracies and factual
errors with the result, the book soon fade-out from the market.
Rarely a book continues for a longer period.
Some books fade-out after very first edition, some after second or third
edition. Those which remain in the
market partially survive only because there are no competitors or their price is
such that no publisher ventures to publish similar books at that price.
Authors also are not bothered to revise the book since the publishers do
not have fair dealings with them.
Co-operative writing
In the west, the writers join hands and devote themselves to the writing
project, with the result their works become best sellers.
In our country such joint ventures are lacking inspite of the fact that
there is good market for good books. Hence
efforts should be made to switch on to co-operative writing at the University
level. The method has been tried in
Delhi
University
and the results have been encouraging.
This method has helped in production of standard text material for
students, which has received recognition far and wide.
It would be proper to give in brief the procedure adopted for cooperative
writings.
Procedure
Pick
up any topic on which material is needed by students.
Refer to the prescribed syllabus of the University and draw out contents
of the book. For finalizing the
contents convene a meeting of the teachers teaching the subject under the
chairmanship of the subject expert. The
subject expert should be such a person who is teaching the subject or has
sufficient research background. He
is also designated as the editor for the book.
The syllabus setout by the University for that subject is discussed in
the meeting and is divided into chapters in such a way that each chapter is
complete in itself. At times a group
of chapters for a complete text on the topic dealt with.
Chapterisation is, therefore, very important before commissioning the
authors or prospective writers of the chapters.
Once the chapterization is complete, the teachers are invited for
undertaking writing a chapter or two. At
times there are many teachers showing interest in writing a particular chapter.
In such situation the editor discusses the plan of the chapter with them
individually and judges the capacity or resourcefulness of the teacher.
The he decides as to who should be asked to write.
Writing the text
Before beginning to write the text, the teacher draws out the basic
structure of the chapter and discusses the same with the editor.
He also prepares the bibliography. After
going through the resource material he takes down to writing his chapter.
Every chapter should begin with an introductory paragraph so that the
reader knows what is going to be dealt within that particular chapter.
Then the material should be written in self-evolving pattern rather than
simply putting the facts in black and white.
Sequential information will help the reader in understanding rather than
taking down points. Chapter
headings, Centre headings, subheadings and run-on headings should be given where
they are needed. This will help the
reader to know the different aspects discussed in the chapter by simply turning
the pages. As soon as the chapter is
ready, the author submits the manuscript to the publication unit.
The manuscript is read by the editorial staff, and they will make 40 to
50 copies of each chapter.
Seminar
A seminar is arranged on the subject under the chairmanship of the editor
in which about 40 – 50 teachers teaching the subject in various institutions
participate. In the seminar, each
chapter is read out fully and the teachers mark the corrections and mistakes in
the copies supplied to them. The
chapter is then discussed thoroughly and comments offered by participants are
noted down by the author of that chapter. Besides,
the discussion is tape-recorded for facilitating the author in correcting the
manuscript on the lines suggested during the seminar.
Normally four chapters are read and discussed in a day's
seminar. If there are twenty
chapters, the seminar will continue for five days.
The author then revises the manuscript in the light of suggestions
offered and submits his final draft to the publication unit within a specified
time. When all the chapters are
received duly revised and modified, the entire manuscript manuscript is sent to
the editor for subject-editing.
Subject Editing
Since the editor is an authority on the subject, he tries to co-ordinate
different chapters, adds material if necessary to link the chapters, removes
overlapping and repetition etc. He
is the final authority to judge the standard of the chapter for inclusion in the
book. He ensures that proper
revision is done by the authors after the seminar.
The editor also decides about the length of each chapter keeping in view
that the volume of the book does not become unwieldy.
He also maintains balance in different chapters.
He is also authorized to get the chapters modified or revised through
other persons if he is not satisfied by the revision done by the author.
Thus after editing the manuscript gains high standard.
Language Editing
The entire manuscript is then edited from the language point of view.
Simple language is a must for all the publications.
While editing, care is taken to introduce simple words in place of
difficult words and complexities in sentences are avoided.
This is followed by copy-editing. The
book then given to press for printing.
Thus co-operative writing has been found quite successful.
It ensures a maintenance of standard and removal of discrepancies and
factual errors.
Finally, there is a need to prepare standard reading materials in the
country by the Universities according to their needs.
This is possible when the publication programme is given due importance
and cooperation of teachers is forthcoming.