22 Jun 2021  |   06:31am IST

The writing is on the wall: Bookshops see hardships on the shelves

The lockdown and the virus have ensured the sale of books have collapsed in the state of Goa. Players in the market had much to say about the state of affairs
The writing is on the wall: Bookshops see hardships on the shelves

Reading is one of the pleasures of life. That apparently is one axiom that needs to be followed diligently. But it seems to have been forgotten according to book retailers in the state. The lockdown has certainly ensured that. Books shops have been shut and those that have remained open have struggled to stay afloat due to very poor sales.

Frederick Noronha, founder of the alternate publishing house, Goa 1556 had much to say about the rather poor state of affairs. He said “It’s terrible. It’s a challenge to print (lockdowns). If we manage that, it’s difficult to get it back. We can’t reach bookshops due to erratic and unpredictable lockdowns (including the overkill of 2020). We can’t even depend on post offices sometimes to dispatch. Book launches are rare. Government support continues to be lackadaisical. Added to it all, we’ve spent a significant time fighting with the bullheaded agencies in charge of doling out ISBN numbers at Delhi! It’s more “profitable” to create and or share free ebooks! Society, not just booksellers and publishers, have to give serious thought to where its knowledge and information dissemination systems are headed. Some of these issues are not pandemic-related alone, but relate to the poor performance of official institutions and a lack of vision or Cancer in the wider society”. One can always depend on the soft spoken Frederick to say it like it is.

Divya Kapur of Literati said the fact she was located in a containment zone i.e Calangute did not help matters for her. She expressed the hope that with regulations easing up, she would be able to open up. She said “We definitely need assistance. The second phase has been really tough for us. We have been paying full salaries. Whatever we had is dwindling fast. We don’t really know how long we can continue like this. People are exhausted. It has been a tough year financially and the effect of seeing people die around us has had an effect. It has certainly caused a lot of damage.” She said plans were afoot to form an association but due to the lockdown they were not able to complete the formalities. It would be along the lines of a similar association formed by independent book sellers.

Crossword Book shop based in Panjim has been shut and if responses from staff talked to earlier are anything to go by then they have been struggling to stay afloat due to poor sales. Another retailer based in Margao, Leonard Fernandes of The Dogears Bookshop said since they had just reopened last week business had been good. He said “People were asking for books on Whatsapp and online sales have been ongoing. People are coming to the bookstore in good numbers. We have our regular customers and new clients too. Since homeschooling has commenced there has been sale of children’s books. It should improve in the days ahead.” That was certainly good news.

However Khalil Ahmed of Broadway Books, one of the major players in the business, said business had been very bad. He said “No one is coming out of fear. Those who want to buy textbooks and books for entrance exams come and leave fast. Earlier there was always sale of children’s books but now with schools shut that avenue is closed. Earleir we used to also get sales from institutions but that is all gone now. Business I will say has dropped by 70-80%. This is not only my case but also all booksellers. Online sales have dropped. I was talking to the Amazon office in Bengaluru and they revealed online book sales have dropped by 60%.”

That is the sad state of affairs with the industry in the state. One can only hope the situation improves fast because a society without access to books is not a society that will be remembered in the future.

IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar