Like it or not, we have to acknowledge we live in a
consumerist world and book is also a commercial product. But we often fail
foresee that because so many spiritual and moral values are associated with
book. Hence when Time of India carried a full front page advertisement of the
book ‘Half Girlfriend’ by Chetan Bhagat few months back murmurs were heard all
over the reading community.
Many accused Flipkart and Chetan Bhagat of selling
book like you sell cola or chocolate. That’s
outrageous?
They are right.
Mr. Bhagat defended “Come on, I am not fighting
against any book or writer; I am fighting against apps, I am fighting against
video game. If books are discussed, advertised in an innovative way and if that
helps a book to develop readership against all odds what wrong with it?
I believe
Mr.Bhagat is also right.
Then a writer of moderate popularity appeared before
the TV screen and commented with a mischievous smile “I don’t want to go into
merits of Chetan’s writing but even after intense involvement and many awards I
fail to grab attention like Chetan do, but in morning I was twitting a series
satire on the TOI advertisement by evening I am in a elite panel disusing
serious business J
So that’s the dilemma of promoting a book.
One have to aggressively promote a book or after two
months of release will be nowhere in picture even if it deserve to. But if you overstretch,
people accuse you of overdoing.
I also belong to the generation to whom books belong
to the sacred element. But when we look at the worldwide trends we observe books
have suffered heavily after the advent of so called modern fast live (with
Smart phones ,apps, multiplex ,mall ,20x7 TV etc etc) ,but books are still in
business and we have observed some unexpected phenomenal success in the
publishing industry also, which might not have been possible had the business of book opted to the old way of
marketing .
Yes ethical aspect is a big issue and that have to be
maintained.
Old timers are still amused at the money and fame these
new writers are generating. Even conventional old time writer are seeing some
light after lifelong misery they have lived in.
But that is happening only with English language publishing,
as English publishing house are adjusting to the wind of change.
In most places of India vernacular book business is being
operated in the same way as it has been doing in last fifty years. But like life
and society the business of book is also changing to a great extent.
Last year I met one book seller who used to run the
profitable business of running a book shop in a popular bus stop in the
national highway that connects Delhi to Dehradun. He was running the business
that his father had established way back in forties. Now he has call it a day
and closed his shop. But the business of book was inherited to his son in some
other way. The son works with flipkart and does something that has to do with
book. We can call it degradation as the son stopped being his own master, but
we can also call it need of the day in order to survive.
Book shops are closing everywhere, and that is an
ominous sign. Thankfully this epidemic has not spread to my home state Assam
yet but when I observe the business of book in Assam I have an apprehension that
it is bubble that can burst anytime soon.
