A new chapter: How self-publishing is gaining ground among Tamil authors

In a corner of the bustling Chennai Book Fair — with its nearly 700 stalls — are racks that contain self-published Tamil works. Here, authors directly walk up to you and explain their content. You can have a chat with them, and decide if you would like to pick up the book; 12 city authors who have self-published their material have set up such racks in a first-of-its-kind initiative at the 44th Chennai Book Fair. “Some of these authors do not have money to hire a stall, so we give them a rack for ₹8,000 where they can display upto 50 titles and have the chance to directly interact with the audience they are writing for,” says RS Shanmugam, president of the Book Sellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI).