The rise of 'literary' agents in India continues to be in the (local) news (see also my recent mention), in what's beginning to look like a desperate concerted PR campaign, as now Jaya Bhattacharji Rose reports on their role in How to sell, and buy a book in the Hindustan Times.
So, for example:
So, for example:
"It's healthy for an author to have an agent," says Shruti Debi, head of the Indian office of Aitken Alexander. "A book is a durable item and writers usually have no parameters of the quality or nature of the deal that they are getting into. An agent is a sounding board for the author and publisher."I'm still keeping my fingers unrealistically crossed that the Indian publishing industry manages without them .....
And a sounding board is necessary in an industry that is getting extremely competitive, as author Hari Kunzru notes.