PANJIM: Books maketh the man. Or so they say. Current Indian writers are growing in popularity driven by an aggressive PR machine. It has made a few authors as popular as movie stars and able to live writing full time. However the ground reality for traditional book sellers may not be as ruddy as it may seem.
The Singbals have been in the business of retailing books in Panjim for over 40 years. From newspapers to novels and guides for students in schools and colleges, they have it all. Roma Singbal who overlooks the business said students from local schools and colleges could be expected to come over and purchase books related to their education. Since schools were not providing students after 9th standard, they had stocked up on note books. Textbooks for standard 9, 10, 11 and 12 along with guides dominate sales around this time of the year. Books that helped candidates face entrance exams were also popular. With regards to fiction or non fiction; non fiction was more popular amongst tourists both domestic and international. Self help books she said remained popular with Goan customers though thankfully this year there was a visible change with Goan parents now bringing in kids to the shop and buying children’s books. She hoped business would stay stable and grow in the years to come.
Another long time resident on the landscape has been Broadway. Khalil Ahmed has been an observer of the evolving scenario in the State. His pithy observation “Business is good but the sale of best sellers has reduced. This I will blame on the various e-commerce sites that sell books at a discount and more importantly provide the option of returning the copies if the party was not happy, which happens a lot.”
He said buyers could come over to his shop, spend hours and perhaps pick a bestseller or any other book but the discounts he provided could never match those available online. He however said Indian authors had gained popularity over a period of time and there were consumers who came over to buy their novels. Indian and foreign tourists were avid consumers of the novels written by these authors. Self help books and children’s books were popular amongst local Goan consumers. Asked if books shops would remain open in five years, he smiled and said if he was alive his store would continue to stay open but he felt the pleasure of buying the physical form of the book would come back in fashion. The demand for books would return in time.
Another book shop owner who did not want to come on record said the State government ought to help by ensuring the big libraries buy books from local book sellers. This he felt would help the trade a great deal. B S Kohli of New Rama Publications and Distributors who is presently touring Goa meeting various book sellers in the State said the discounts provided online was not good for the retail business. He however said the distributors had now stopped dealing with online retailers because of the very poor payment schedules which meant a cheque would take months to clear.
People he said were still interested in buying books and this was evident when there were book launches attended by the author. He said it was not unusual for the book store to sell the new novel of the author as well as package his or her old novels in a special deal.
Goa, he said was interesting in the sense a large percentage of the sale of fiction novels was generated by domestic and foreign tourists. Local interest was confined to bestsellers and self help books which did not usually guarantee continuous sale.
Leonard Fernandes the man behind the self publishing platform Cinnamon Teal said the problem with regards to publishing in Goa was that it was too fragmented. There were 4 or 5 publishers dependent on grants to survive which were given by the government. No one could manage a run above 500 and even this would usually take around 5 to 6 years to sell. The grant was usually Rs 25,000 which was the extent of the horizon. With sales minuscule, he said it was difficult to make money. He blamed online retail platforms for taking a large chunk of the sales.
In Goa, with online very popular, a large number he said were buying books reading them and returning the books. He however felt there would be a correction next year and this gap would be sorted out by the authorities. In addition Leonard felt there did not seem to be a connection between the readers and their e-readers which was always the case with the physical book. The market he said was continuously evolving and with authors like Stigg Larrson and the Game of Throne series proving successful, there was a spot under the sun for best sellers. The numbers however were not significant.
The average bookseller is having a tough time but the market is present and with the demographic changes a ongoing process, the nature of this market will change too. Time will tell what shape this market will look like in say five or in even ten years. Perhaps technology will play another role to change the dynamics yet again.
