Even if medical books have never been part of your pleasure reads, the stall for Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers at the World Book Fair in New Delhi will make you pause. Are you back at the Auto Expo held last month? In design and quality of the stall ? spacious, well-lit, proper signs, couches and chairs for the weary legs, background music, even a designer conference room ? it is a far cry from the days of steel racks and tables provided by the organisers, National Book Trust (NBT) and Indian Trade Promotion Council (ITPO). The NBT stall still has them, but a look at the stall for publishers such as Rupa, Hachette, Penguin, or even niche publishers such as LexisNexis Butterworth or Osho reveal the extent to which the publishers are going to lure the traipsing customer. At Rs 42,500 a stall ? and most of the larger ones take multiple ones, Hachette for example has taken 20 ? this is quite an expense to be recovered in a nine-day fair.
Cut to the Kolkata Book Fair, now in its 34th year, and the contrast is telling. Barring a few of the 600-odd stalls at the new venue since last year, the cramped Milon Mela grounds, there?s been no attempt to dress it up. The fair was thrown open on January 27 when many of the stalls hadn?t even finished laying out the books and power supply was intermittent, leading to a blackout on January 30 when thousands of book-lovers were inside the premises. There was no back-up, no generator or emergency lights, no exigency plan in place in case of a stampede.
In a country where publishing business is still minuscule, albeit with a huge potential and growing exponentially, private initiative at the WBF is an indication of how this sector seeks to align itself with a more prosperous clientele who will look beyond buying just the textbook. On the other hand, the Kolkata Book Fair, which attracts tourists from around the world, and always has a theme country in focus ? this year it?s Mexico ? will have to learn fast to clean up its act or lose out to better organised fairs which are becoming bigger.
In fact, quite a few expect the fairs to play a larger role in providing a stimulus to growth in the sector ? and yet what has befuddled many publishers is the fact that the two fairs have been allowed to overlap.
Many publishers like Hachette, HarperCollins and Random House stayed away from the Kolkata Book Fair, citing preparations for the World Book Fair from January 30 to February 7.
Insiders say this is on purpose as international visitors can visit both, but evidence of this practice is flimsy at best.
In its 19th edition now, the biannual WBF has traditionally showcased Indian publishing and its retail, making it different from its more famous counterparts, such as the fairs in Frankfurt or London. Those are essentially trade fairs, with no concession to retail sales and function like clockwork to appointments set six months earlier, sell global rights ? distribution and translation, a place where publishers woo authors and showcase their future lists in attractive stalls, where Big Money talks. They are now being replicated in other major fairs around the world ? Abu Dhabi, Jerusalem, Adelaide, Leipzig, Miami, Beijing, Cairo.
India?s two largest book fairs, on the other hand ? the largeness is in terms of number of people attending and not financial worth ? have been characterised essentially by their stress on retail. Says Tridib Chatterjee, general secretary, Publishers and Booksellers Guild, organisers of the KBF, ?This year?s book fair is better than last year. There?s enough buzz created around the fair. We did a turnover of Rs 1.7 crore last year and this year we expect to do much better.? However, according to an international publisher, the amount is equivalent to what one makes from a single stall at a big fair.
Many at the book fairs are here only to sell as much as they can ? giving discounts above the decreed 10%. But increasingly there is a call for the fairs to serve a greater agenda ? especially in the absence of any other platforms that brings the sector together at a platform. ?We need to revert to the practice of having 11 am to 2 pm for business visitors,? says Surit Mitra of Maya Publishers, a leading distributor, who points to the lack of basic infrastructure at the WBF. Kapil Kapoor, director, Roli Books, suggests two or three days being earmarked separately for the purpose. Agrees Ajay Parmar of Research Press, who feels right now it is a mela: ?All we need is a demarcated hall for business.?
?Though there is some, any sale of rights is incidental,? says V Karthika, editor in chief, HarperCollins. Mitra, while decrying the shoddy condition of the fair ground, feels if a body such as Reed Exhibitors, organisers of the London Book Fair, were to take it up, exhibitors could possibly pay more for the facilities.
Still, compared to the sorry state of affairs at the Kolkata Book Fair, the World Book Fair is ?organised very well?, feels Sidharth Pansari, owner of Crossword Bookstores in Kolkata, who is participating at the Delhi fair. ?We need a professional body, which will be systematic in its approach, to run the show,? he adds.
For a number of large publishers, the objective is increasingly shifting to brand building. Hachette, world?s second largest publisher, is making its debut at the fair. And it has spared no efforts in making its stall attractive, says Anurima Roy, publicity manager. Going by the buzz about the stall at the WBF, its efforts seem to have been justified. AK Soorma, senior sales manager, UBSPD, too feels any exhibitor today needs to make efforts to get the customer in.
For specialised publishers such as Wiley, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Tata McGraw Hill, WBF is a great opportunity to showcase to their target clientele ? the institutions. For many schools, colleges, universities and libraries, this is the time to purchase as all books are available for comparison and government funds are also released about this time. ?The primary objective is to let people know what is available,? says Ajit Sharma, marketing manager, Elsevier, whose 14 stalls make their presence felt at the WBF. ?This is our one chance to interact with the readers directly,? says Karthika, who feels the fair is beginning to add new features such as bargain counters or more focused selling. ?It is a must for us to participate, as this is good promotion,? feels Saurabh Chaudhary of Oxford University Press. ?There is a lot of retail sale, and even if the institutions do not buy immediately, they will buy later.?
The World Book Fair is also allowing for the changing face of publishing to make its presence felt. A 2007 start up, Flipkart.com is an online sales portal that has seen 100% growth every quarter since it started. ?We want to increase awareness about ourselves,? says Tapas Rudrapatna, vice-president, marketing, while pointing out that the site is taking care of a customer?s needs from cradle to grave and offering discounts too. ?People initially come to us to buy say a Chetan Bhagat book, and once they are more confident, do more purchases with us.? E-books will take a little more time to make a difference at a platform as such as these, feel industry insiders, but could well be one of the game changers for the sector.
For the Kolkata Book Fair organisers, they will first have to get their act together in putting up a world-class show before thinking of e-books. The dust won?t allow it.
