There was a time when I used to be absolutely dazzled by anybody publishing a book. I was horribly naive then. Well, life teaches you to be wise, and I have learnt how to oneself remain clean, innocent, pure, but know/understand the games behind the (smoke) screen. I know now for certain that most all books published are paid for by the authors.
Quite a game it is. You pay the publisher to get your manuscript published. Next you get it distributed to the University/college and/or public libraries, and, voila, you are an author. Of course, you need deep pockets for that. There are UGC funds to thus splurge on your Ph.D. thesis (most often approved by an "I scratch your, eh, I pass your student's thesis, you, mine" clique), too. For that UGC fund facility, you, of course, need to be a permanent college/University employee.
That, too, that is, both getting a Ph.D. and/or a job, is a proposition that needs equally deep, if not deeper and wider pockets, it seems. My M.A. students knew the exact 'rates' involved, they would nonchalantly quote these 'rates'. One needs to know the right contacts, and pave the way through a lot of splurge, it seems, moreover, because, informed my M.A. students, one needs to 'manage' the 'right' expert committee, not to forget the authorities in the college/parent organisation and in the Univ. Dept.
One of these students used to maintain that a xerox shop would be a better proposition instead, while most others would opine that it is a better proposal to pay your way through as life is sheer luxury once the mandatory two years of probation are over. Despite my stunned recoil, I could not refute a word of all this "money makes the mare..." manipulation because the entire education system abounds with such careers. Yes, there could be exceptions, but these would be one in a million.
In India, as it is, without a sugar ( or, most times, real/biological) daddy or a fairy (read the same 'in bracket' stuff here, too) mother, a career is impossible anyways as that entire mafia gets used to carry on a smear campaign against a deserving candidate without any of the advantages mentioned above. One of the reasons behind the inferior quality of education could be such selections, too, right? People who cannot speak/write a single correct sentence in English get Ph.D.'s in English Lit./Linguistics, and are college/Univ Heads of Departments, comfortably retiring with a huge pension!
To get back to publication, now a new trend is emerging, self publication through/on the internet. Comparatively lesser money is involved. You can, moreover, have the entire net as your worth(y) marketplace. Virtual takes over virtue, true?
Well, I am extremely happy that for none of the articles, leads, reviews, books, Distance Mode teaching material to my credit, have I ever paid my way through. I was instead paid by the authorities concerned, as should be the real cause/case. Nor have I taken the short/smart route to an academic (!) career. That, in my opinion, is the real way to be and become a good sensitive author/lecturer at all (the educational levels)!
Pratima@ money matters!
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