Thomas Abraham
It’s that time of year in Delhi when publishers, distributors and retailers are frantically getting everything from point of sale to stock. This is the World Book Fair (WBF), which takes place once every two years in the grand halls of Pragati Maidan. This is the 20th edition of the fair, and although there are similar audiences across the country, it is undoubtedly the mother of them all.
In the 1980s and 90s, the Calcutta Book Fair was the go-to fair. But with the exit from the field, apart from other venue and organizational problems, Kolkata were to lose their title. Today the Delhi WBF is a big deal, and just one type of retail show.
In fact, no book fair in India would really qualify as a ‘trade fair’ like Frankfurt or London, where trade and rights deals are the norm. But like the Jaipur Literary Festival, what we lack in focus, or “arrangement and approach”, we make up for in sheer numbers.
WBF is a big carnival. The last edition had more than 800,000 visitors, and organizers are wondering if it will cross the million mark this year, given that Pragati Maidan now has direct metro connectivity and that entry is free. Spectators have since grown to around 1,300. This is still, of course, less than one-tenth of the total number of broadcasters in the country, as estimated by the various federations at more than 15,000.
The month of March
This year, for the first time, the WBF dates have moved down the line from the traditional end of January to the beginning of February. This caused some concern because many publishers felt that it was too late for the library budget, and many schools would have exams, and this might have some effect on attendance. The jury is out on this one – the verdict will be out on March 4th when it’s all over. So what are the fair trade statistics? Here lies the maswak – there is none. Surprisingly, for an industry that is seeing technological change at a pace like never before, and especially for an industry still grappling with management information, there is no reliable data other than estimates.
The National Book Trust (NBT) – organizers of the fair – blame this on the traditional mindsets of publishers and the archaic concept of “trade secrets” where exhibitors do not disclose figures. But even just by conservative extrapolation, assuming an average turnover of Rs 2.5 lakh per participant (incidentally, adults are up to Rs 20 crore) one is looking at a decent turnover of over Rs 30 crore in cash sales, which is more than three times the turnover of all leading bookstores across India per week. Business purchases, rights deals, subscription sales, publishing contracts, and other “collateralized businesses” fall under this heading.
Trade and Law
The WBF – indeed the industry – needs to take it to the next level with two days dedicated to “business and rights”. Years ago, the first two hours of the fair each day were designated business hours where librarians and archivists could browse without interruption, a practice that has since been discontinued. But if the 9-day fair is shortened to seven days for consumers with two days as trading days, India may still be able to meet the need in its rights trade, as it builds local-to-international rights networks.
India has a large contingent to Frankfurt but most of it is either English publisher-distributors, visiting editors or remaining traders buying extra stock. The size of India’s Hall of Rights testifies to the fact that the last part of our rights is worthless.
When was the last time we heard of an Indian work being copyrighted in translation, like Wolf-Totem from the Chinese or Suspect X-Devotion from the Japanese? It is only when we create a rights model here within the WBF, that one can gradually work (yes it will take years) to exploit the potential of Indian language translation rights.
So what is the purpose of fairness? With the rise in online bookstores, is it still relevant? I believe it still has great relevance. Simply put it is, at its most basic, the only real direct interface publishers have with their end readers. This is the only time you can really put the range you want out there, and see readers when they search.
For many publishers, long boring days of playing with floor assistants and traffic cops in search of that obscure book you thought would never sell are rewarded in meeting that die-hard fan. The joy of finding that long-lost book, the sadness of seeing something that costs more than one’s budget, the surprise of seeing a deal or combo offer…it’s all there every day, hour by hour. For readers, this is the one time you will see, touch, explore the catalogs and get the full range like you can never get anywhere else.
Online has its convenience, but by and large you need to know what book you want, despite the cross-recommendations that the best sites have. This is where a reader can experience the joy of discovery – where he will see complete series, obscure titles, rare titles.
Then there are the deals. Fair rules make it impossible to have deep discounts but deal tables with “reasonable prices” and combination offers abound. What we have over the nine days of the fair is essentially the world’s largest bookstore – over a million square feet of books to choose from – in every Indian language, many foreign and of course English.
(The author is the managing editor of Hachette India)
