Juggernaut Books
FoundedSeptember 2015
FounderChiki Sarkar, Durga Raghunath
Country of originIndia
Headquarters locationNew Delhi, India
DistributionOnline and physical
Key peopleSimran Khara, Nandan Nilekani, Aveek Sarkar, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Neeraj Aggarwal, Gavin Morris, Jaishree Ram Mohan, Nandini Mehta
Publication typesOnline publishing, short stories, autobiographies, ebooks
Official websitewww.juggernaut.in

Juggernaut Books (informally Juggernaut) is digital book publishing house headquartered in New Delhi, India.[1][2] The publisher emphasizes on short length books written by new writers. It also allows writers to self-publish their books through their digital platform. The digital books are distributed via their website and mobile apps.[3] They also power the content library (around 70,000 books) of the Airtel Books app by Airtel.[4] They also publish physical books, which are distributed and warehoused by Hachette India.[5] The App has been discontinued since 2020.

History

The publishing house was founded by Durga Raghunath and Chiki Sarkar in September 2015.[6]

Before co-founding Juggernaut, Sarkar was a publisher of Penguin India and founder-publisher of Random House India. Raghunath was the CEO of Network18 Digital, senior VP-Growth, at Zomato and also founded Firstpost.[7]

Juggernaut raised Rs 15 crores in its initial round of seed funding from Fab India's founder William Bissell; former CEO and co-founder of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani and MD of Boston Consulting Group, Neeraj Aggarwal.[8]

In April 2016, Juggernaut launched India's first mobile-publishing application.[1][9] Priya Ramani was appointed as the editor-at-large for its digital properties in the same year.[10] In February 2017, Raghunath resigned from the post of CEO and decided to continue as a shareholder.[11] Simran Khara is the current CEO of the publishing house.[12]

In December 2017, Bharti Airtel acquired a strategic stake in the house.[13] In March 2019, American publishing house HarperCollins joined in a partnership with Juggernaut Books, becoming their sales, distribution partner.[14]

Self-publishing platform

Juggernaut writing platform is a self-publishing platform of the publishing house that allows writers to self-publish their books by uploading the texts and book cover through their app and website. The publisher also runs a programme named "Juggernaut Selects" that identifies and develops five new writers every month and provides them all the benefits of a publishing house.[15]

Awards

In 2018, the book Jasmine Days by writer Benyamin published from Juggernaut Books won the inaugural JCB Prize and Crossword translation award.[16][17] In the same year, Swati Chaturvedi won the London Press Freedom Award for Courage for her book I am a Troll: Inside the Secret World of the BJP's Digital Army published from Juggernaut Books.[18][19]

Controversy

On 4 August 2017, Delhi High Court imposed a ban on publication and sale of book Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev from Juggernaut Books written by Priyanka Pathak Narain based on Ramdev's life.[20] After a legal battle with Ramdev, the ex-parte interim injunction was lifted from the book on 28 April 2018.[21]

In 2018, the book The Burning Forest: India's war in Bastar published from Juggernaut books, written by Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar based on Maoist insurgency and the violence in Bastar was dropped from the department's syllabus. Sundar was also indicted in a murder case filed by a woman called Vimla Baghel of her husband, a Maoist activist. But in February 2019, the professor was cleared of murder charges by police.[22]

Authors

The following authors are published by Juggernaut

References

  1. 1 2 "India's first smartphone publisher is now live—with stories from adult film star Sunny Leone". Quartz. 22 April 2016. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  2. ↑ "Juggernaut India's answer to Wattpad gets its first movie deal as an injunction against another Juggernaut title is restored - The New Publishing Standard". 19 May 2018. Archived from the original on 23 August 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  3. ↑ Kuruvilla, Elizabeth (30 December 2016). "Juggernaut turned the page". Livemint. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  4. ↑ "Business News, Shares Market, Stock Markets News LIVE - IPO, Mutual Funds, Income Tax and Finance News". Mint. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  5. ↑ "Juggernaut, the first to tap mobile phone publishing". The Hindu. 24 September 2015.
  6. ↑ Banerjee, Ruben (5 August 2018). "Juggernaut Books announces the release of Naveen Patnaik, the first political biography of Odisha's CM". OdishaDiary. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  7. ↑ "Here comes Juggernaut, Chiki Sarkar's new publishing venture". Printweek. 23 September 2015. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  8. ↑ "Airtel picks up stake in online writers platform Juggernaut Books". Entrackr. 4 December 2017. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  9. ↑ "India's think-outside-the-box publisher Juggernaut partners with Youth Ki Awaaz for exclusive digital originals". The New Publishing Standard. 31 March 2018. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  10. ↑ "Juggernaut Books appoints Priya Ramani as editor at large". MediaNama. 4 January 2016. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  11. ↑ "Durga Raghunath Steps Down As CEO Of Chiki Sarkar's Juggernaut Books". Huffington Post. 2 October 2017. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  12. ↑ "Airtel picks up stake in Juggernaut". The Indian Express. 4 December 2017. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  13. ↑ "Bharti Airtel acquires strategic stake in Juggernaut Books". The Hindu Business. 4 December 2017.
  14. ↑ PTI. "HarperCollins to be sales, distribution partner of Juggernaut Books". @businessline. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  15. ↑ "Juggernaut Books announces new programme for emerging writers". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  16. ↑ "Author Benyamin's 'Jasmine Days' Wins Inaugural JCB Prize for Literature in India". Publishing Perspectives. 26 October 2018. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  17. ↑ "Crossword announces the 16th Crossword Book Award jury shortlist". The Hans India. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  18. ↑ "Swati Chaturvedi wins Press Freedom Award for Courage". Deccan Herald. 9 November 2018. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  19. ↑ "Indian journalist wins Press Freedom Award for Courage in UK". Deccan Chronicle. 9 November 2018. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  20. ↑ "Delhi High Court stays publication and sale of book on Ramdev's life". The Economic Times. 10 May 2018. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  21. ↑ "In 'landmark victory for free speech', injunction on book on Ramdev's life lifted". The Financial Express. 28 April 2018. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  22. ↑ Scroll Staff. "Chhattisgarh: Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar cleared of murder charges by police". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
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