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The Sto ryboo k of India

Chacha chaudhur i , Naagra j and Supercom m ando Dhruv are wh at came to m y mind w hen I cam e to

know about le isure read ing. In terest ing th ing about them w as tha t t hey w ere inv inc ib le , in te l ligent

and easy to com prehend. Or som et im es i t cou ld be Champ ak, Nandan and Chandamam a. And

reading Engl ish for le isure was the rem otest possibi l i ty. How could som eone read engl ish for fun ?

Then I met som e people w ho used to read Laurel Hardy, Fam ous Five and Archies com ics. I foun d

out t hat le isure had other languages as w ell .

Indians boast o f im m ense l i teratur e w hich is kept in si los in l ibraries across India.

---Asiat ic Library in M um bai

I t is now that t hese w orks o f l i te ra ture are get t ing v isib i l i ty . Up t i l l now they w ere to be m ent ioned

only by p ol i t ic ians or academ icians while del ivering speeches/ lectu res. Or should w e say , now i t is

tha t t hese are be ing read by mo re num ber o f peop le?

W ear and o ld coat and buy a new book . A say ing, wh ich em phasizes the w orth o f boo ks.

How ever, w e cou ld not fo l low w hat is sa id . Ind ians had an o ld coat bu t no m oney to buy a new/ o ldbook. In fact they w ere not in a s ta te o f m ind to w ant a book. I f we go back to t he pre- l ibera liza t ion

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era(1991-92) we f ind t ha t m ajor i ty o f Ind ians were earn ing to surv ive wh ich re f lec ted in every

sphere o f the i r l ives. Governm ent jobs w ere the major cont r ibu to r to em ploym ent .

The reput ed pr of i les l ike IAS/ IFS/ IPS/ IES w ere al l exam inat ion based w herein candidates had no

opt ion but to s log fo r hours w i th bo oks to rea l ize the i r d ream s o f be ing dr iven in a red- l igh t

ambassador apar t f r om en joy ing the f r i l ls and perks wh ich Adm in ist ra t ive bureaucrats are show ered

upon. Books w ere a need then.

Post 1991, gradual changes occurred. Indians started m eet ing peop le from oth er cultures and

psyche. They started w orkin g in cubicles and having coffee/ tea thro ugh vending machines. M c

Donalds and pizza corner caught the at tent ion. Al l th is was new to us. We started r el ishing the

w eal th . And o f course, we w ere in a bet te r pos i t ion to apprecia te the f ine ar ts. No w onder, Ar t

Cinem a becam e M ult ip lex Cinem a ; vacat ion s at Nani s p lace turn ed int o expedit ion t o Leh and

need ing a book became w ant ing a book .

Un l ike ear l ie r , today m ajor i ty o f peop le read and d iscuss books. W e are not re ferr ing to peop le w ho

be long/ed to t he educated s t ra ta w h ich has/ had a cu l tu r e o f read ing books and l i te ra ture . We are

re ferr ing to the sect ion w h ich was ob l iv ious o f th e fact tha t they can read books fo r le isure and se l f -

im provement as w e l l .

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Although, we have been qu i te v i r tu ous in the l i te rary sense w e cou ld never have a m onetary

perspect ive about the Boo k business. For in stance, Rabindr anath Tagore alw ays rem ained a m atter

o f Genera l Know ledge. How m any peop le actua l ly read h is w orks apart f rom the chapters included in

the school syl labus? The renow ned w riter s had an el i te stature bu t t hey lagged a fan fo l low ing; l ike

f i lm actors had amon g m asses. One of th e m ajor reasons w hich can also be cited is that Books and

l i te ra ture do no t se l l by mere adver t isem ent t h rough hoard ings and pamph le ts. It s done on ly

throu gh w ord-o f -mo uth pub l ic ity . The book cover can on ly conv ince a reader m ore. I t cannot m ake

the reader pay fo r t he book, un less you have a fe t ish fo r books. So how to get t he m outh adver t ise

for you? Ei ther you w r i te an ext rem ely good book or you m ake the m edia /pro m ot ions work fo r you

or else, do a m ix. Lights on to t he Stor ybook o f India!

The t rend w as in i t ia ted w hen Sa lman Rushd ie w as awarded t he M an Booker Pr ize fo r M idn ight s

Children in 81. A nam e from Indian Subcont inent receives a prest ig ious aw ard has to be a new s. But

i t w as st i l l a co f fee tab le chat fo r th e a f f luent . No m arket , no adver t isem ent .

Post Rushdie, there w as a lu l l before t he storm .

And i t b r oke w hen Arundhat i Roy was recogn ized next w i th t he same aw ard in 97 . Th is t im e Ind iaw as in a much bet te r pos i t ion than the last t im e i .e . 81 . M edia got some new stu f f t o w r i te about ,

very s im i la r to w hat happened in 94 w hen Susm ita Sen became the f i rst Ind ian t o M iss Un iverse. For

new spapers i t w as l ike an opport un i ty to r ide on the re cent exp lore m ore-spend m ore w ave

em anated f rom the w estern ph i losophy. So they t o ld us m ore about Aru ndhat i Roy. And o f course

the pub l ishers Ind iaInk le f t no s tone untu rned to prom ote the lady w i th th e book. Arundhat i Roy w as

pro jected mor e l ike the new w om en l ibera tor ra ther than an author . A new m arket d iscovered ,

signif icant level of advert isem ent.

The books kept sel l ing in India. The boo k stal ls at t he rai lw ay stat io ns (one of the f ew places w here

Books/m agazines are sold in large num bers ; but o f course next to t he Chai ) sudden ly start edadornin g names l ike Jeffrey Archer, Sydney Sheldon , etc. Not that these books w ere not being read

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ear l ier bu t t hey w ere def in i te ly no t be ing so ld on ra i lway sta t ions. The reader who burn t the m id

night o i l in o ld l ib raries, schools, col leges had t aken a casual appro ach t ow ards reading. I t w as

reading in t r a ins, locals and buses. And then came t he ult im ate change.

5 Point Som eone: Engineering/ Hostel l i fe/ Booze/ Cigarettes/ prof essors daughter / low grader bu t

intel l igent . A stor y aroun d th ese w as sure t o be a success. But Chetan Bhagat m ade i t even a bigger

success wit h his d i l igent ob servat ions, one l iner s and a storyl in e w hich everyone w ants to l ive. The

book br oke several records and was a m ust read for an engineerin g stud ent. Later i t w as translated

in ot her languages l ike Hindi, Gujarat i ,etc. The craze for the b ook w as pheno m enal and hence a huge

potent ia l market to m i lk . Chetan Bhagat and pu b l ishers lef t no s tone unturn ed t o use h is M BA sk i l ls.

He travel led across India; held events in malls wher e people could bu y the auto graphed book and

get a pictur e cl icked w ith t he auth or. Crossw ord, Fl ipkart and landm ark al l jo ined the chorus. In facti t w as a huge opportun i ty fo r the a i r -cond i t ioned b ookstores to a t t ract crow ds f rom road side

pirated books sel ler. M ore so, because the M RP of t he b ook(95 INR) w as uncongenial for p irates. The

cost ing fo r p i racy wo u ld not leave any marg ins fo r st ree t vendor s. And the 95 isn t too m uch for a

book w h ich everyone s read ing. It s an opportun i t y t o jo in the bandw agon and Ind ians love do ing

tha t !

M eanwhi le , several o ther authors too w ere get t ing in to the m ainst ream of t he book wr i t ing

business. Apart f r om the fo rth com ing books by Chetan Bhagat, other s l ike Rashm i Bansal(connect ing

the do ts), Kaavya V ishw anathan(How Opel M ehta p lag iar ized a book) a lso w ere prom oted t o t he

fro nt shelves of t he bo okstores. Som e of th e book s w hich had already been a success got t heir sales

in th e aroused reading spree pr evalent am ong Indians. For eg. M onk w ho sold his Ferrari ( Robin S

Sharm a) & Alchem ist(Paulo Cohelo). For pr om otio ns Robin S Sharm as India visi ts w ere repo rt ed innew spapers and m agazines.

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M BA ent rances exams too w ere cont r ibu t ing . Otherw ise , peop le can t r ead a descr ip t ive and

phi losophical book l ike At las Shru gged or Fountain Head fo r no reason.

A clear indicator of a grow ing dem and is alw ays the Piracy Industry. Pirates deal in Fi lm s, M usic and

sof tw ares/ comput er gaming; a ll th ree are h igh ly prone to p i racy on ly because o f t he dem and for

them . No w onder, you f ind b ooks be ing so ld on t ra f f ic signals. A c lear ind ica tor o f the grow ndem and. And i ts good for t he books indust ry . Like wh at p i racy d id fo r M icrosof t , the sam e w i l l

happen for books.

Pi racy m ight seem to eat in t o t he shares o f pub l ish ing houses but i t s do ing mo re good t han

damage. Let peop le get add ic ted to read ing. Awai t a day w hen peop le read a book o ver the long

w eekend. And then t he books wi l l se l l wi th m uch bet te r m arg ins than ever .

So f in al ly, the stage is set for w ri ter s.

Grow ing levels of educat ion and aw areness in India is the f i r st Prom otio n for bo oks. As w e get m ore

educated, the bestsel lers w i l l be included in t he school curr iculum as w ell .

Upcom ing bookstores are the second pr om ot ion enab lers. W e have a p lace to put posters fo r t hefor thcom ing edit ions/ novels. Bookstores that are placed in M alls and shopp ing com plexes having

h igh foo t fa l l .

And let t he pir acy play i ts ro le. I t s a blessing in disguise.

As a foo tnot e , one th ing is to be m ent ioned.

* W atch out f or eboo ks. I f ipads and kindle have their w ay, the struggle to success stor y for h ard

bounds wi l l end here .

>the aut hor is pursuing an M BA in India. In h is f ree t im e, he l iked to t r avel and ta lk to h is f r iend s.

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----Please drop in a l ine at shwetank20@gmai l .com in case you have anyt h ing t o say