For the Love of Books

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The dynamic duo of the publishing world in Goa, Leonard and Queenie Fernandes, prove that partnerships can be successful at every level: as spouses and as business partners. Their award winning publishing company CinnamonTeal Publishing, now called CinnamonTeal Design and Publishing, has come a long way since the initial stirrings of their book publishing venture.



Leonard has a Bachelor of Engineering from Goa University and an MBA from the Ohio State University. He has worked at Tata Infotech Solutions, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in Cincinnati, CarrefourSA in Istanbul, and at Bank One in Columbus. Queenie, a former student of Carmel College for Women, Goa, has a Master of Economics from the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune and has experience in working on research projects for Maharashtra Industrial and Technical Consultants Limited (Mitcon) and the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. She has also been part of the India-Irrigation Impact Study Project of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The two entrepreneurs launched dogearsetc.com, now www.thedogearsbookshop.com, in 2006 where for the first time in India the buyer and seller could interact directly. It was also the first website to allow the trade of used book besides new books and e-books. In the same year in May the company Dogears Print Media Pvt Ltd, was established.


CinnamonTeal Publishing arrived in 2007: India’s first self-publishing service which offered print on demand. Queenie looks after the everyday workings of the company from e-book development and distribution to digitisation and archival. Some of the books published by CinnamonTeal are Children of the White God by Nayanathara, The Exciting Journey of a Village Boy by Dr Kasichainula Kameswara Rao and The Many Lives of Vamona Navelcar by R Benedito Ferrão.

CinnamonTeal offers pre-publishing services such as proofreading, copy editing and substantive editing. The level of editing is determined by the publishing house after a perusal of the manuscript. CinnamonTeal insists on editing to maintain high standards of publication. Fact checking, page design, cover design, indexing, digitising and so on are offered as the pre-publishing package too. The post publishing services entail print on demand, marketing and distribution, creating audio books and/or e-books, etc.

After Leonard was honoured with the Young Creative Entrepreneur (Publisher) Award by the British Council in 2010, Leonard and Queenie co-founded the Publishing Next conference which provides a space for publishing professionals to discuss new business practices, new technologies and other issues in the publishing world.

In 2014, the company joined hands with a US-based Indian researcher and digitised over 500 documents and books for the Endangered Archives Programme (EAP).

Cinnamon Teal Publishing won the Business Goa Publisher of the Year Award in publishing and for the Publishing Next conference in 2016. The next year Cinnamon Teal grew to include graphic designing and software development as part of its services.

The Dogears Bookshop was opened by Leonard and Queenie in 2016 first as a children’s bookshop but soon expanded to include other genres of books. There are books on Goa, culture, history, architecture, cuisine, poetry, biographies, books in Konkani, second-hand books (particularly popular fiction), graphic books and more. This cosy bookstore in Margao, Goa (India) provides a comfortable ambience to relax and read a book. The authors’ meets and movie screenings are singularly interesting. There have been screenings of Portuguese films which were part of the 3rd annual Portuguese Film Festival in collaboration with the Centre for Portuguese Language and Culture of Chowgule College. Authors who have had book readings and discussions include Jessica Faleiro, Cyprian Fernandes and Rana Ayyub. The bookshop has workshops and poetry slam meets as well.


More information about self-publishing through CinnamonTeal Publishing is available here: cinnamonteal.in

The online bookshop can be accessed here: www.thedogearsbookshop.com

(Originally published in September 2019)

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