Losing focus? Making book fair annual good for retail, not trade: Publishers

A A

Naveed Iqbal: New Delhi, Feb 12 2013, 00:16 IST

could be an annual trade event and should be open to public once in two years.

Publishers said that an annual fair “will need better planning”. Many believe that two years is enough breathing space for new publications to hit the stands. They say that the area of the fair may have increased but its management is still an issue.

Deputy chairman National Book Trust, Pradeep Chabra said that the fair had been made an annual event as the then HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had “expressed such a wish” while inaugurating the World Book Fair 2012. “After that, we signed an MoU with the HRD ministry and India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO),” he said.

Chairman and CMD of ITPO Rita Menon said this year’s fair had more attractions, like the rights table for exchanging translation rights between publishing houses from different countries, and the author’s corner in each hall where readers met authors. The CMD said: “Though the scope of the fair has increased, there is no way of knowing if that translates into an increase in business.”

Ads by Google

Single Page Format