Now, read up your favourite TV serials!

By Shweta Thakur

New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) Did you miss your favourite soap "Teen Deviyaan" this week? No problem, just go to the friendly neighbourhood market and pick up its book version for a racy read.

Leading media and entertainment company STAR India has now joined hands with publishing firm Prakash Books India Pvt Ltd to come up with nearly 300 titles using show content from TV channels STAR Plus and STAR One.

"We are the biggest story tellers. When we do it on TV why not via books? It is such a popular format," Nanette D'Sa, senior vice president (L&M) of STAR India Pvt Ltd, told IANS.

Two such 15-day-old books - "Teen Deviyaan" and "STAR Rasoi", based on series of the same names - are already in the market. They cost Rs.49 and Rs.59 respectively. "Teen Deviyaan" is in the format of a novel.

Eight more will hit the stalls by March, which includes "Ganesha", "Hanuman", "Dhartiputra Prithviraj Chauhan", "Son Pari", "Naya Office" and "Sarabhai V/S Sarabhai", to name some. These will be comic books.

"Those who have missed some episodes can read them. It is an initiative to give more choice to customers - those who want to watch can watch and those who want to read can read. Moreover, it would encourage reading habits among people," said D'Sa.

Talking about the tie-up, she said: "Prakash Books is the publishing licensee for STAR India and works with the licensing and merchandising (L&M) division of STAR to develop, publish and distribute a variety of formats across novels, comics, cookery, travel and healthcare.

"The products so created use various STAR Plus and STAR One show content wherein the intellectual property rights belong to STAR. Prakash Books works under a licence arrangement that entails the payment of a licence fee to STAR for use of such content," she added.

The books will come out once a month.

Sanjay Verma, branch manager (Delhi) of Prakash Books India Pvt Ltd, said: "Our association is about six months old and the official launch is expected on March 9."

"The upcoming eight titles will be in comic format and cost Rs.35 each. Each edition will be based on the episodes, so all TV serial buffs can collect them and revisit them whenever they want," he added.

• Television