Idea 389 of 500. Cluster 19: Heritage, archives and film
A publishing house for Sri Lankan history in English, since the good books are out of print
The mechanism, from the book
Eight World Heritage Sites and 2,300 years of records, and the country's story is told to the world by other people.
Every idea in cluster 19 uses this mechanism.
A first step
List 10 out-of-print books on Sri Lankan history that people still hunt for in second-hand bookshops, and find out who holds the rights to each. Pick the one where the rights are clear, and take pre-orders through a Sri Lankan association abroad and a Colombo bookshop. Enough pre-orders to cover a print run is your proof.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan reader abroad or a visitor who has looked for a good history of the island and found only expensive second-hand copies.
- What leaves today
- The good books on the island's history are out of print or published abroad; a local house holds the rights and keeps the income.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
More from cluster 19
- 381A film-location service: crews, permits, fixers and locations, sold to the studios of India and Europe
- 382Documentary production about the island's own stories, sold to the streaming platforms
- 383A museum shop worthy of the museum, at the National Museum, at Anuradhapura, at Galle
- 384Digitisation of the palm-leaf manuscripts and colonial archives as a paid service to the libraries of the world
- 385Architecture tours of Bawa's buildings with the houses opened by their owners
- 386Heritage-building restoration firms with the skills to work on the forts and the villas
Idea 389 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.