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He counts a million chickens ...

Preeti Mehra

NEW DELHI, July 14

THE economist and management guru, Prof Arindam Chaudhuri, seems to be doing exactly what he has set out to preach in his book to be released in a few weeks, titled `Count your chickens before they hatch.' And just like he advises his readers, ``... hatc h your success story,'' he has already hatched his.

Dean of the Centre for Economic Research and Advanced Studies at the Indian Institute of Planning and Management, New Delhi, he has earned himself a seven-figure advance to become the highest-ever paid Indian author by an Indian publishing house in the n on-fiction genre.

The advance sum of Rs 10,00,000 that he has received is unheard of in the Indian publishing industry, though it may be `peanuts' in the international context. And that is not all. He will receive a royalty of 25 per cent, as opposed to the usual 10 per c ent received by most non-fiction authors in the country.

Though Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd is aware of the ``calculated risk'' it is taking, it is upbeat about the venture and certain that the book will make publishing history. Vikas, which is a sister company of UBS distributors, obviously plans to exploi t its large distribution and export network. ``We have reasons to be optimistic,'' says Mr Piyush Chawla, Director, Publishing and Marketing, and the scion of the company. For one, he feels, this is an opportune time for a book of this nature as people a re stressed out due to the economic slowdown. ``It will relocate what success actually is and put into perspective what people aspire for.''

Secondly, Mr Chaudhuri has made a big name for himself at a relatively young age and can relate phenomenally to the younger generation. ``I'm sure the book will sell five times the number similar books do,'' he says while he reveals the abysmal circulati on figures of business books published in the country. Successful books sell around 10,000 to 15,000 copies, while regular management titles clock a mere 4,000 to 5,000 in sales.

However, this time, with a proactive publisher and an equally enthusiastic author, they plan to create ripples in the sales figures. For this, book promos in five cities and aggressive advertising has been planned.

It may also be for the first time that an Indian publisher is trying to plug the piracy holes even before the book launch. ``We're meeting lawyers and creating a strong vigil against duplication.''

Meanwhile, though Prof Chaudhuri is an economist first and a management theorist later, his book has more of the motivational element to it and is as much for the lay person. However, he asserts that it's not just a coffee table fun book, but nor is it a hard-core tomb for management professionals.

Prof Chaudhuri, who swears by India-centric management practices, is known for his rejection of Western and Japanese management methodology being used in the Indian corporate scenario. He has developed his own culture-specific hypothesis,

called, `Theory ``i'' Management'. The small `i' in his theory stands for the country and all its ancient management practices picked up from the Gita, the Mahabharata, the Arthashastra and the life and leadership style of Mahatma Gandhi.

In fact, the last chapter of his forthcoming title is devoted to this theory, while the others are more motivational and propagate his pet hypothesis -- the Passion Quotient. ``The book was conceived almost two years ago. I speak at so many seminars and that's where it crystallised,'' he says.