‘We went for a print run of 20,000’
Shobha Viswanath, director, Karadi Tales Company Pvt Ltd, describes what made the idea of audio stories click.

By Meha Mathur
In the world of business, no idea is big or small. There are only ideas that succeeded and ideas that didn't. A seemingly simple idea can become so successful that others are left wondering, "Why didn't it strike me?" When Shobha Viswanath and her extended family, on their return to India after a six-year stay in the US, decided to make audio books on children's stories, nobody could have thought they were about to create a product that would become a household name. Today, a decade later, such is the popularity of Karadi Tales, rendered by such stalwarts like Naseeruddin Shah, Saeed Zaffrey and Shekhar Kapur, that each of the audio books has sold more than 50,000 copies. How did a small family initiative become a big success? Shobha Viswanath, director, Karadi Tales Company Pvt Ltd, discusses the origin of this venture, and the latest initiative for visually impaired children, in the form of a specially-designed book.

Viswanath did her masters in English literature from the University of Mumbai and followed it up with masters in special education from East Michigan University, the US. She has worked with institutions, which mainstream children with different kinds of abilities. Excerpts from an interview:

How did the idea of Karadi Tales originate?
My son, who was born in the US, started reading very early. One of the main factors was audio books, which were available in plenty in the US. First he followed the audio tapes. Soon I found he was reading very fast. When we returned to India we were looking for something similar for my daughter and there was absolutely nothing available. Audio-books were unheard of. When we started the company, audio books were part of many other books we had in mind. But once we started they totally consumed us.

What were the kind of stories that you wanted to tell?
I will tell you the stories we didn't want to tell. We didn't want to tell Snow White and Cinderella. We wanted our traditional stories to be brought to the children. India is a treasure trove of stories, every house and every grandmother has a story. Why are we still telling Cinderella and Snow White?

What preparation went into the project? And how did you rope in Hindi film stalwarts?
My husband belongs to a family of two brothers and a sister. At one point of time all of us were in the US. When we returned, we returned pretty much at the same time. When we decided to start the company within the house there were a lot of core strengths. They are all musicians. So we thought of using the in-house strength first. We decided to start with an audio book, such that we will compose the music and include the sound track.

I read Panchatantra and Jataka stories and picked a few, I scripted them so that they would gel well with audio. My husband's youngest brother Narayan laid the sound track but then we needed a narrator. And the one whom we regarded most was Naseeruddin Shah.

We just wrote a letter to him that we are interested in doing stories for children. We were not even a publishing house then because we had not even published anything. But he readily agreed. Maybe we got lucky, maybe it was time for us to enter the field. But we have not stopped giving thanks. We did four stories with him, which were wonderfully narrated. After Naseer followed the rest — Saeed Zaffrey, Girish Karnad, Nandita Das, Shekhar Kapur, among others.

What investment went into the project?
We had stayed in the US for six years. All our money we put into business, we mortgaged our house. There was no infrastructure. For one year we functioned from our apartment. Studio charges for recording were not much, though post production charges were higher. We were so naïve and ignorant about the business of publishing that our first print run was 20,000. Children's books don't do more than 2,000. But because it was the first of its kind in the market we went into the second print run within three months. We have come out with 47 titles. None of the titles has done less than 50-60,000 copies.

How did the first marketing and PR initiative take place?
We would take a copy of our product and go from one newspaper house to another. We would go to bookstores and they would say this won't work so we would request them to keep it for one month, or a week. Now we have distributors who want to take on Karadi Tales.

Did you target schools for bulk subscription?
Not at that time because you need manpower for that. I did go and requested them to keep it for school library but it was not even a drop in the ocean. Because how many schools can I possibly go to, and follow up on? I was also shy that you have created something and now you have to talk about it and sell it. It's easy for you to create something and for someone else to sell it.

How did the kids receive it?
They loved it. Nobody may know Shobha Viswanath. But Karadi Tales will be known. We have created something for posterity.

Coming to your new project on books for visually impaired, did the idea of the book germinate when you were doing second masters?
No, then the idea was only mainstreaming blind children. But after Karadi Tales started I was invited to the Frankfurt Book Fair, where I met small independent publishers like myself. When they came to know I had done masters in special education, we started talking whether the blind have any concept of colour? I didn't know the answer to it. But Hellen Keller had a faint grasp of what colour could be. And she said her favouirte colour was corduroy. I was so moved by this expression and I said we must present colour as texture to the child. So we decided to do a picture book. I decided to do a dummy, see how it's received by blind children. We chose The Hungry Caterpillar. We created a crude prototype and took it to Italy for book fair. Even that crude prototype so well received. Then we started honing it.

What's the cost of production?
It's expensive, it retails at Rs 1,450. The book is not less than Rs 500. After it has gone through all the distribution channels, it has to be priced at Rs 1,450 to make some profit.

Are institutions in India in a position to buy these?
Corporates can sponsor because a lot of social work is being done by them. Companies are ready to sponsor a certain number of copies for specific institutes, which is enough. We are not saying that every child should have a copy of their own. There is a scope for it in retail market too because every child finds it attractive. So from the sales in retail space, we will subsidise it for children who are blind.

So how is the 20-year-old son who gave you the inspiration for Karadi Tales?
He loves it. He is a very good writer, and our primary critic. However, tastes are changing. What we found humorous at one time is no longer humorous today.