Book Publisher have been busy all over the world in the past few weeks. It was more than making Hay while the Kerala sun shines. Sure, rock legends, Sting and Bob Geldof stirred up a storm singing during the Hay- on-the-Arabian-Sea (Trivandrum) Literature Festival last week. But Hay-on-Wye, the world’s most prestigious literary festival, didn’t choose Kerala for those dazzling shores and coconut trees — or delectable fish curries and appam.

These days, Book Publishers India is the place to be — or to forage for talent — for those in the business of books. Literary agents now swoop down regularly, fishing for the Next Best Thing. And, there is money that goes along with the buzz that’s getting louder. Moreover, writers from the Indian subcontinent, including those who live overseas, are landing on the short and long lists of prestigious literary prizes.

Indians may have gone missing from the Man Booker List this year, but they are popping up on many other lists of literary prizes.

The long list of the 2011 Impac Dublin Literary Award, the world’s most valuable literary prize ($170,000) has just been announced. It includes three books from Indian Book Publishers; Delhi- based Rana Dasgupta’s novel Solo, which also won this year’s Commonwealth Writers’ prize. The other two are Pinki Virani’s Deaf Heaven and HM Naqvi’s Home Boy.

The Costa Book Awards’ shortlist of five debut novels by writers based in the UK and Ireland has a strong desi presence this time. It has Aatish Taseer for his Delhi-based story, The Temple-Goers, Kishwar Desai for Witness the Night, and Nikesh Shukla for Coconut Unlimited. The prize is not negligible: $45,000.

Our diasporic desis have really done well this year. The 2010 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award was recently won by Raghuram G Rajan for his book, Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy.

Meanwhile, back in the homeland, our impresarios of the literary scene have begun to put their money where their mouths are. The freshly instituted DSC Literature Prize of $50,000 will be announced at the forthcoming DSC Jaipur Literature Festival.

DSC’s mandate is to scout for the best examples of the contemporary novel set in, or about South Asia. However, the authors do not have to be from the region. The Hindu has also got into the business of self-publishing awards. Manu Joseph’s debut novel Serious Men, recently won the first Hindu Best Fiction award — worth Rs5 lakhs.

Literary prizes and festivals are partially responsible for moving Indian and South Asian writers into the mainstream. Clearly, they, as well as the diasporic Indian writers, have begun find a place in the upper reaches of the international literary pantheon. It looks like they are here to stay. “People now talk about a novel written by an Indian as a novel and not an ‘Indian’ novel,” says VK Karthika, publisher and chief editor, HarperCollins India. “We are now on a level playing field.”

The earth is becoming flat for Indian writers and publishers as well. Indian and international Book Publishers now have separate deals for the same book: India is not necessarily an add-on, or a distribution outlet.

So, those of you who feel that you have a book in you, don’t be shy. Beginner’s luck seems to be working: Arundhati Roy and Arvind Adiga won the Booker with their debut novels. And many of the lucky strikers on the lists this time are first-time novelists.

In other news, Rocker and writer Patti Smith has won the prestigious National Book Award for her memoir "Just Kids," a haunting chronicle of poverty and pain while Book Publishers living in New York City with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe during the early years of their careers.

In an emotional acceptance speech, the singer, songwriter, poet and playwright also known as the "Godmother of Punk" pleaded with publishers not to let new technology do away with the printed word.

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Book Publisher Innovations can spring from bad experiences of everyday business.

That's how crowdSPRING, the world's largest marketplace for creative services just in its fourth year of existence, got its start.

Mike Samson was looking to acquire a video post-production company and outsource the work to India, while Ross Kimbarovsky, an attorney, was turned off by a top vendor's response to his request for a website redesign.

The two men realized that businesses need to cast a wide net in order to find talented designers, marketers, packaging experts, and now writers, and that the creative workers are always on the hunt for new clients.

CrowdSPRING started with 25 designers in 2007 and has grown into a community of more than 75,000 creative talents in more than 150 countries worldwide. The creatives and book publishers have submitted more than 1 million entries, in total, for projects for clients.

"We are now working with more major ad agencies and brands than all of our competitors combined," said Kimbarovsky. "These companies, including those on the Fortune 500, have realized the cost and time efficiencies of crowdsourcing design and written content."

Indeed, the crowdSPRING founders played off the term "crowdsourcing" -- outsourcing work for book publisher through an open call to a large group -- when they named the company.

The company has benefitted from tremendous growth overseas, which has led to freelancers finding work in China, France and Australia.

"It's a great way to level the playing field for both sides (free-lancers and the businesses who pay for their services)," Kimbarovsky said.

CrowdSPRING is registering more than 900 self-publishing users each week and averages posting about 230 open projects at any given time. The company intends to introduce more sophisticated services for businesses, especially for start-ups and small companies that lack access to global talent and feedback.

Samson, who grew up in Chicago's South Shore and Rogers Park neighborhoods, said the Chicago Innovation Award is especially meaningful because crowdSPRING aims to be a constant book publisher presence on the local area's tech and business start-up scene.