Red River Story Vision Statement

RED RIVER Story

an imprint of
RED RIVER

The Goal

The subcontinent is full of stories, especially in its small towns and non-metro cities, and in the polyphony of its myriad languages, national and regional. Our goal is to highlight those stories that fail to find the right platform because they do not fit the format set by the mainstream publishers. So, while we are not exactly drawing any exclusive line, we are looking for stories from the subcontinent that are interesting, important, relevant, and of course, short.

The book

1. The book will be a pocketbook size —5×7.5-inches. In some special cases, where the word count goes beyond 40,000 words, the size of the book will be 5.8×8-inches.

2. The book will be a paperback with gatefold, with special focus on design and affordability. While we will not compromise on Red River’s tryst with art and creativity, we will strive to keep the prices of our books between Rs 399 and Rs 499, depending on the page count.  

3. We are looking at an upper page count limit of 150 pages – the manuscript should conform to a word count between 25,000 and 35,000 words. That said, we are open to accommodating the extra thousand words if the story demands it.

The manuscript

1. We are looking for connected short fiction collections and novellas.  

2. We are looking for fiction, offbeat stories, stories that may not interest traditional publishers. We are looking for stories from the hinterland and heartland as opposed to only the metros.

3. We are open to translations; however, the translator will have to take care of the translation rights from the author.

3. Apart from the novellas and connected fiction under this series, we are also open to short fiction collections, novels and non-fiction.

The commissioning

1. Red River Story is a collaboration between Red River, a small independent publishing venture focused on poetry, and Sucharita Dutta-Asane, an award-winning writer and independent book editor based in Pune.

2. As a partner, Sucharita Dutta-Asane will be involved in every aspect, from commissioning to publicity. The Red River Story Series will be editorially curated and will carry her name.

3. Sucharita will work on the manuscripts that we decide to take on, and the author will be expected to collaborate with her in the editorial process.

4. Once Red River and Sucharita Dutta-Asane agree to work on the manuscript, and the final manuscript is submitted, Red River will sign a contract with the author and will start work on the production.

5. Since it’s an experimental, independent project, we expect the author to be an equal partner in the promotion of the title.

The production/sales

1. For the first print run, Red River will print 200 copies of the book. Please note, as Red River is an independent venture (code for, we don’t have funds) the number may vary depending on how much funding we have at the time of production. That said, we promise that the book will be available for purchase as long as there is a demand for it.  

2. The book will be sold through Amazon, plus this website. As Amazon charges a delivery fee ranging from Rs 70 to Rs 90, we would try to promote the book through non-Amazon online marketplaces.

3. The book will have a worldwide market if the author asks for it. We will sell the book in territories other than India through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing.

4. While we do not have a traditional distribution system, we will make the copies available in select bookstores, such as Champaca and Atta Galatta in Bengaluru, the Dogears Bookstore in Goa, May Day Bookstore in Delhi, Ukiyo in Manipur, Pagdandi in Pune and so on. We are also working on getting more bookstores on our roster.

The author

1. There will be no advance payment. We will offer 10% of royalty on cover price after six months/one year of the publication of the book.  

2. The contract will be non-binding. The author will have the sole rights on the text publication, translation or media adaptation. The author will also be free to use the text elsewhere in other publications as and when the opportunity arises.  

3. The author will receive 10 copies as author copies.

4. The author can purchase additional copies from the publisher at 50% discount on the cover price.

The marketing

1. As a publisher, we cannot promise sales but will do our best to get the book reviewed and look forward to the author’s engagement and help with promotional activities.

2. The book will be promoted via Red River’s social media network, and through friends and well-wishers.

Our Model

If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet – then you must write it. So said Toni Morrison, speaking from either side of the writer-editor perspective. Decades later, Ann Patchett’s words sound the same bugle for writers everywhere: Sometimes if there’s a book you really want to read, you have to write it yourself.

At Red River Story, we believe in the writer’s urge to write the stories bubbling within us, to retell stories told through the millennia, to tell stories the way we want to, from spaces we inhabit, not dictated by the market, existing trends or compulsions.

Small, resource-crunched indie presses across the world are foot soldiers in the world of publishing. In India, without state funding and without the readers’ gaze guided towards books by such publishers, the battle is a constant war. Red River Story has been trying to publish genres overlooked by mainstream publishing, especially short fiction and novellas. The constant stream of queries, submissions and deeply encouraging support from writers over the past three years tell us that we are on the right path, providing a space and platform that helps many new as well as established writers carry their stories to the readers.

But sustenance is the key to continuing on this journey. In order to stay afloat, to ensure that the next good manuscript that comes our way is a book we can definitely work on together, we realise that we need the help of our writers. Therefore, we have decided to directly approach our writers to buy back 100 copies of their books at 50% of the cover price, towards supporting our efforts to sustain our work.

The model of publishing remains traditional: we accept only those manuscripts that speak to our vision at Red River Story and we continue to work with old-fashioned close editorial and production engagement as our USP.

As writers, if you believe in our collective journey and understand the context and need for this request for help, bring us your finished or unfinished manuscripts. Bring us the seeds of your future books. We look forward to reading what you have written.

Thank you!

Dibyajyoti Sharma
Founder and publisher, RED RIVER

Sucharita Dutta-Asane
Managing Editor, RED RIVER Story