Showing Revision 8 created 01/08/2019 by Oliver Friedman.

1. Title:
   How India's smartphone revolution is creating a new generation of readers and writers
2. Description:

   India has the second largest population of any country in the world -- yet it has only 50 decent bookstores, says publisher Chiki Sarkar. So she asked herself: How do we get more people reading books? Find out how Sarkar is tapping into India's smartphone revolution to create a new generation of readers and writers in this fun talk about a fresh kind of storytelling.

3. Speaker:
   Chiki Sarkar
4. 1032 0:01 - 0:03
   Look all around you.
5. 2586 0:03 - 0:08
   Whether you're in a subway, a park,
   an airport, a restaurant,
6. 8310 0:08 - 0:10
   even at this conference,
7. 10053 0:10 - 0:13
   all of you have a phone in your hands
   or maybe in your pockets.
8. 13465 0:13 - 0:15
   How many of you have a book?
9. 15315 0:15 - 0:16
   Very few, right?
10. 17069 0:17 - 0:19
    This is the sight that used to greet me
11. 18970 0:19 - 0:21
    every time I walked out
    of my office block.
12. 21101 0:21 - 0:25
    I was surrounded by a sea
    of 20-something professionals
13. 24776 0:25 - 0:26
    glued to their phones.
14. 26560 0:27 - 0:29
    And not a single one
    had a book in their hands.
15. 29600 0:30 - 0:32
    And this used to make me
    very, very frustrated.
16. 32505 0:33 - 0:35
    I was a bookworm all my life.

    ¶

17. 34695 0:35 - 0:37
    Books formed the milestones of my life.
18. 37427 0:37 - 0:40
    The first man I fell
    in love with was Mr. Darcy.
19. 40990 0:41 - 0:46
    I first read "Harry Potter" when I was 21,
    on a summer break from college.
20. 46601 0:47 - 0:51
    And I remember the first night I spent
    in a little flat I bought in my mid-20s,
21. 51014 0:51 - 0:52
    very proudly,
22. 52450 0:52 - 0:55
    and I spent the whole night
    reading "The Da Vinci Code."
23. 55379 0:55 - 0:58
    And then I'm going to make
    a terrible confession:
24. 57712 0:58 - 1:01
    even today, when I'm low,
    I get into bed with "War and Peace."
25. 61415 1:01 - 1:03
    Don't laugh.
26. 62589 1:03 - 1:04
    (Laughter)

    ¶

27. 64030 1:04 - 1:07
    But I was also like all those
    people I saw around me:

    ¶

28. 67355 1:07 - 1:09
    I, too, lived on my phone.
29. 69053 1:09 - 1:12
    I ordered my groceries online,
30. 71561 1:12 - 1:16
    and soon my app knew
    that I needed a monthly dose of diapers.
31. 76339 1:16 - 1:19
    I booked my cinemas on my phone.
32. 79244 1:19 - 1:22
    I booked planes on my phone.
33. 81937 1:22 - 1:26
    And when I did the long commute back home
    like most urban Indians,
34. 86350 1:26 - 1:28
    and was stuck in traffic,
35. 88167 1:28 - 1:32
    I passed the time on WhatsApp,
    video-chatting my twin.
36. 93437 1:33 - 1:38
    I was part of an extraordinary revolution
    that was happening in India.
37. 97827 1:38 - 1:42
    Indians are the second-largest
    users of smartphones in the world.
38. 102466 1:42 - 1:46
    And data prices have been
    slashed so radically
39. 106347 1:46 - 1:50
    that half of urban India
    and even a part of rural India
40. 110069 1:50 - 1:53
    now have a smartphone
    with a data connection in their hands.
41. 113371 1:53 - 1:55
    And if you know anything about India,
42. 115228 1:55 - 1:59
    you'll know that "half" means,
    like, all of America or something.
43. 118578 1:59 - 2:00
    You know, it's large numbers.
44. 120149 2:00 - 2:01
    (Laughter)

    ¶

45. 122220 2:02 - 2:05
    And these numbers are just growing
    and growing and growing.

    ¶

46. 125022 2:05 - 2:06
    They're exploding.
47. 126228 2:06 - 2:08
    And what they're doing
    is empowering Indians
48. 128324 2:08 - 2:11
    in all kinds of extraordinary ways.
49. 130806 2:11 - 2:14
    And yet, none of these changes
    that I was seeing around me
50. 134268 2:14 - 2:17
    were reflected in my world,
    my world of books.
51. 138006 2:18 - 2:21
    I live in a country the size of Europe,
52. 141125 2:21 - 2:24
    and it only has 50 decent bookshops.
53. 144053 2:24 - 2:27
    And Indians just didn't seem
    to want to read for fun.
54. 147314 2:27 - 2:30
    So if you look at all
    the best-seller lists in India,
55. 149849 2:30 - 2:32
    what you'll always find
    in the best-seller list
56. 152094 2:32 - 2:34
    is exam and professional guides.
57. 153933 2:34 - 2:38
    Imagine if you found the SAT guides
    as the "New York Times" number one seller,
58. 157953 2:38 - 2:39
    month after month.
59. 161659 2:42 - 2:46
    And yet, the smartphone revolution
    was creating readers and writers

    ¶

60. 166484 2:46 - 2:48
    of a different kind.
61. 168254 2:48 - 2:51
    Whether it was on Facebook or WhatsApp,
62. 171119 2:51 - 2:56
    Indians were writing and sharing
    and reading all kinds of things:
63. 175984 2:56 - 3:00
    terrible jokes, spurious pop history,
64. 179722 3:00 - 3:02
    long, emotional confessions,
65. 182422 3:02 - 3:05
    diatribes against the government.
66. 184617 3:05 - 3:08
    And as I read and shared these things,
    I wondered to myself,
67. 187927 3:08 - 3:12
    "Could I get these writers
    and these readers,
68. 192213 3:12 - 3:15
    could I turn them into my readers?"
69. 195212 3:15 - 3:18
    And so I left my plush corner office

    ¶

70. 197919 3:18 - 3:22
    and my job as the publisher
    of India's top publishing company,
71. 202315 3:22 - 3:24
    and I set up on my own.
72. 204017 3:24 - 3:31
    I moved into a single large room
    in a cheap bohemian district of Delhi,
73. 210744 3:31 - 3:32
    with a small team.
74. 212402 3:32 - 3:35
    And there, I set up
    a new kind of publishing house.
75. 216355 3:36 - 3:40
    A new kind of publishing house
    needs a new kind of reader
76. 219789 3:40 - 3:41
    and a new kind of book.
77. 222218 3:42 - 3:45
    And so I asked myself,
    "What would this new reader want?
78. 225162 3:45 - 3:49
    Would they prize urgency, relevance,
79. 228980 3:49 - 3:51
    timeliness, directness --
80. 231282 3:51 - 3:55
    the very qualities they seem to want
    from their online services,
81. 234982 3:55 - 3:58
    indeed, the qualities they seem
    to want from life today?"
82. 239149 3:59 - 4:02
    I knew that my readers
    were always on the go.

    ¶

83. 241807 4:02 - 4:05
    I'd have to fit into
    their lifestyle and schedules.
84. 244752 4:05 - 4:08
    Would they actually want to read
    a 200-page book?
85. 247834 4:08 - 4:11
    Or would they want something
    a little bit more digestible?
86. 251676 4:12 - 4:15
    Indians are incredibly value-conscious,
87. 254676 4:15 - 4:17
    especially when it comes
    to their online reading.
88. 257244 4:17 - 4:21
    I knew I had to give them
    books under a dollar.
89. 261735 4:22 - 4:25
    And so my company was formed,
    and it was born.
90. 265191 4:25 - 4:31
    It was a platform where we created a list
    of stories designed for the smartphone,
91. 271450 4:31 - 4:36
    but it also allowed amateur writers
    to upload their own stories,
92. 275649 4:36 - 4:38
    so they could be showcased
    along with the very writers
93. 278244 4:38 - 4:40
    they read and admired.
94. 279998 4:40 - 4:45
    And we could also enter into
    other people's digital platforms.
95. 284999 4:45 - 4:47
    So, imagine this:

    ¶

96. 286809 4:47 - 4:50
    imagine you're a receptionist,
    you've had a long day at work,
97. 290197 4:50 - 4:53
    you book your cab
    in your ride-hailing app,
98. 292668 4:53 - 4:54
    it shows up,
99. 294031 4:54 - 4:57
    and you get into your car,
    and you lie back on your seat,
100. 296935 4:57 - 4:59
     and you put on your app.
101. 299125 4:59 - 5:03
     And you find a set of stories
     waiting for you, timed to your journey.
102. 304347 5:04 - 5:07
     Imagine you're a gay young woman,
103. 306538 5:07 - 5:11
     in a relatively conservative city
     like Lucknow, which lies near Delhi.
104. 311300 5:11 - 5:14
     There's no way your parents
     know about your sexuality.
105. 314046 5:14 - 5:16
     They'd completely freak out.
106. 316403 5:16 - 5:22
     Would you like lesbian love stories
     written in Hindi, priced under a dollar,
107. 322339 5:22 - 5:25
     to be read in the privacy of your phone?
108. 325244 5:25 - 5:28
     And could I match readers
109. 327879 5:28 - 5:32
     to the events that were taking place
     around them in real time?
110. 332982 5:33 - 5:37
     So we published biographies
     of very famous politicians

     ¶

111. 337180 5:37 - 5:40
     after they won big elections.
112. 340633 5:41 - 5:44
     When the supreme court
     decriminalized homosexuality,
113. 344212 5:44 - 5:48
     an LGBTQ collection was waiting
     on our home page.
114. 348482 5:48 - 5:54
     And when India's Toni Morrison,
     the great writer Mahasweta Devi died,
115. 353615 5:54 - 5:57
     our readers found a short story by her
     as soon as news hit.
116. 358046 5:58 - 6:03
     The idea was to be relevant
     to every moment of a reader's life.
117. 363823 6:04 - 6:05
     Who are our readers?

     ¶

118. 365562 6:06 - 6:09
     They're mostly young men
     under the age of 30.
119. 368681 6:09 - 6:11
     There's someone like Salil,
120. 370689 6:11 - 6:14
     who lives in a city where
     there isn't a modern bookshop.
121. 373792 6:14 - 6:17
     And he comes to our app almost every day.
122. 376852 6:17 - 6:19
     There's someone like Manoj,
123. 378702 6:19 - 6:22
     who mostly reads us
     during the long commute back home.
124. 382266 6:22 - 6:26
     And there's someone like Ahmed,
     who loves our nonfiction
125. 385885 6:26 - 6:30
     that he can read in a single sitting,
     and that's priced very low.
126. 390831 6:31 - 6:34
     Imagine if you're like a young, techie boy

     ¶

127. 393856 6:34 - 6:38
     in India's Silicon Valley
     city of Bangalore.
128. 399031 6:39 - 6:42
     And one day, you get
     an in-app notification
129. 401602 6:42 - 6:45
     and it says that your favorite actress
     has written a sexy short story
130. 405077 6:45 - 6:47
     and it's waiting for you.
131. 406696 6:47 - 6:49
     That's how we launched Juggernaut.
132. 408792 6:49 - 6:53
     We got a very famous ex-adult star,
     called Sunny Leone.
133. 413212 6:53 - 6:56
     She's India's most Googled
     person, as it happens.
134. 416371 6:56 - 7:00
     And we got her to write us
     a collection of sexy short stories
135. 420419 7:00 - 7:03
     that we published every night for a week.
136. 422982 7:03 - 7:04
     And it was a sensation.
137. 424434 7:04 - 7:08
     I mean, no one could believe
     that we'd asked Sunny Leone to write.
138. 428466 7:08 - 7:10
     But she did,
139. 429650 7:10 - 7:12
     and she proved everyone wrong,
140. 432236 7:12 - 7:15
     and she found this immense readership.
141. 435084 7:15 - 7:21
     And just as we've redefined
     what a book is and how a reader behaves,

     ¶

142. 440728 7:21 - 7:23
     we're rethinking who an author is.
143. 443228 7:23 - 7:25
     In our amateur writing platform,
144. 444905 7:25 - 7:28
     we have writers that range
     from teenagers to housewives.
145. 448315 7:28 - 7:30
     And they're writing all kinds of things.
146. 450421 7:30 - 7:36
     It starts as small as a poem,
     an essay, a single short story ...
147. 456292 7:36 - 7:40
     Fifty percent of them are returning
     to the app to write again.
148. 460514 7:41 - 7:42
     Take someone like Neeraj.
149. 462024 7:42 - 7:47
     He's a middle-aged executive,
     wife, two kids, a good job.
150. 467053 7:47 - 7:49
     And Neeraj loves to read.
151. 468839 7:49 - 7:52
     But every time Neeraj read
     a book that he loved,
152. 471697 7:52 - 7:54
     he was also filled with regret.
153. 473895 7:54 - 7:57
     He wondered to himself
     if he could write, too.
154. 476529 7:57 - 7:59
     He was convinced
     he had stories in his mind.
155. 479450 7:59 - 8:04
     But time and real life had happened,
     and he couldn't really manage it.
156. 484434 8:04 - 8:08
     And then he heard about
     the Juggernaut writer's platform.
157. 487672 8:08 - 8:12
     And what he loved about it
     was that he felt this was a place
158. 491546 8:12 - 8:15
     where he could stand
     head and shoulders, equally,
159. 494637 8:15 - 8:17
     with the very writers
     that he most admired.
160. 497165 8:17 - 8:19
     And so he began to write.

     ¶

161. 499252 8:19 - 8:23
     And he snatched
     a minute here, an hour there,
162. 503038 8:23 - 8:25
     in between flights in airports,
163. 505276 8:25 - 8:28
     late at night, when he had
     a little bit of time on his hands.
164. 508867 8:29 - 8:31
     And he wrote this
     extraordinary story for us.
165. 511208 8:31 - 8:34
     He wrote a story
     about a family of assassins
166. 514057 8:34 - 8:37
     who lived in the winding
     lanes of Old Delhi.
167. 517371 8:37 - 8:40
     We loved it, it was so fresh and original.
168. 520275 8:40 - 8:45
     And before Neeraj knew it,
     he'd not only scored a film deal
169. 524736 8:45 - 8:48
     but also a second contract
     to write another story.
170. 528323 8:48 - 8:52
     Neeraj's story is one of the most read
     stories on our app.
171. 533619 8:54 - 8:56
     My journey is very, very young.

     ¶

172. 536159 8:56 - 9:00
     We're a two-year-old company,
     and we have a long way to go.
173. 540984 9:01 - 9:04
     But we already, and we will
     by the end of this year,
174. 544029 9:04 - 9:08
     have about half a million stories,
     many priced at under a dollar.
175. 549159 9:09 - 9:12
     Most of our readers love reading
176. 551959 9:12 - 9:15
     and trying out authors
     they've never, ever heard of before.
177. 555117 9:15 - 9:18
     Thirty percent of our home page reads
178. 557601 9:18 - 9:21
     comes out of the writing
     that comes from our writer's platform.
179. 562210 9:22 - 9:24
     By being everywhere,

     ¶

180. 564345 9:24 - 9:27
     by being accessible and relevant,
181. 567734 9:28 - 9:31
     I hope to make reading a daily habit,
182. 570538 9:31 - 9:34
     as easy and effortless
     as checking your email,
183. 574800 9:35 - 9:36
     as booking a ticket online
184. 576514 9:37 - 9:38
     or ordering your groceries.
185. 578800 9:39 - 9:40
     And as for me,
186. 580419 9:40 - 9:45
     I've discovered that as I entered
     the six-inch world of the smartphone,
187. 584540 9:45 - 9:47
     my own world just got very, very big.
188. 588484 9:48 - 9:50
     Thank you.

     ¶

189. 589706 9:50 - 9:54
     (Applause)

     ¶