How could any talk of books these days be complete without a mention of fairs and fests? Even as the country?s largest book fair is on at Delhi right now, we focus on lit fests mushrooming across the country, with cities such as Agra, Kasauli, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram and Delhi joining the festival circuit
What a book fair does for publishers
display space
For publishers, events such as the World Book Fair provide a platform to showcase and put forth the entire or most of their range directly before consumers and distributors. ?A consumer-based fair is great for publishing in general. As physical bookstores are shrinking, there is a paucity of space for publishers to put on display their entire range. The World Book Fair provides us that opportunity to tell our readers that we have a lot more to offer than what they might be aware of,? says Ananth Padmanabhan, vice-president, sales, Penguin Books India. VK Karthika, chief editor and publisher, HarperCollins India, agrees. ?There is immense value that can be attached to the book fair for both publishers, as well as readers. People flock in large numbers to browse through books and see what all is available in terms of range and variety. Therefore, the first objective for a publishing house is to be able to present their entire range, which they seldom get to do,? she says.
Consumer interface
Publishers do not often get to interact with readers directly as both exist on two extreme ends of the supply chain. That?s where events like a book fair play a pivotal role for publishers to understand the needs, choices and demographics of their readers. It is a critical exercise as it helps them to gauge market trends and changing reading habits, which further helps them to tweak their range and content in accordance with the taste of their target readers. ?For us, one of the primary objectives of participating in the book fair and other such events is to interact directly with our end consumers?the readers. Such events are the only chance for us to meet our readers. Publishers can spot trends among consumers in terms of their reading habits and changing tastes, which frankly can?t be done by sitting in your office and looking at a few charts. After all, publishing is about knowing the taste of your readers,? says Kapish Mehra, MD, Rupa Books India.
Mapping competition
Apart from what readers want, publishing also has a lot to do with observing the competition like most consumer businesses. The book fair, too, presents a great opportunity for these publishers to assess themselves vis-a-vis their rivals. ?Apart from showcasing your own range at the fair, it?s always a great learning experience to see the entire range of books other publishers have on display,? says Karthika of HarperCollins India. She adds that events like the World Book Fair, in particular, are now evolving from being just consumer-centric fairs to events that provide opportunities in terms of collaborations and interactions between publishers, distributors and agents. ?Selling books is increasingly becoming one part of the book fair and is not its primary objective any more. It is developing into a facilitating platform for various publishers and distributors to interact, exchange ideas and do business together. It is definitely a positive trend,? she says.
Sales and offers
A few years ago, when the likes of Flipkart had not emerged to revolutionise shopping for books in India, events like the World Book Fair used to be flocked by avid readers and book lovers for great offers and discounts, among other reasons. While the expansion of major bookstore chains and online retailers have knocked away some sheen from the sales aspect of the fair, publishers are more than eager to offer discounts and other offers. The discounts range from 10% to even 90% in some cases. However, what has dampened the publishers? spirits this year is the fact that this edition of the World Book Fair is just a seven-day affair, unlike previous editions, which were of longer durations. This essentially means that this edition of the fair is devoid of one weekend in comparison to the earlier editions that had two weekends?critical for sales at the fair. ?Organisers should have included two weekends instead of one and should have given us 10 days at least. This move of curtailing it to seven days is having a negative impact on sales at the fair. It?s just bad planning by the organisers,? says Padmanabhan of Penguin. Publishers and booksellers across the board are busy doling out discount offers, free merchandise and special schemes and offers to lure readers.