Once considered a big deal for book lovers in the city, the annual Bangalore Book Fair is a pale shadow of its former self with fewer customers and fewer sales, according to exhibitors.
As the seventh day commenced on Thursday, and with only a trickle of customers, many stall owners lamented the lack of response. “Our sales have dipped about 30 per cent when compared to last year,” said Bhyresh A., manning the Kendra Sahitya Akademi outlet.
Tepid sales
Similarly, while Venugopal T., from a stall selling Telugu books, said his losses could be as high as 50 per cent, Vijay Kumar, who sold Tamil books at the exhibition, said his sales had dropped 80 per cent compared to last year.
“We have sold just five books till now. It is mostly families who come to the exhibition; college students have been few in number,” said Firoz from Researchco Books and Periodicals. Having paid Rs. 25,000 for the stall, he doubts whether his company will even make half of that by the end of the 10-day book festival.
While exhibitors cite the lack of advertising for the low turnout, they also blame the increasing frequency of book fairs across the city. “Hardly two months ago, there was a Bangalore University book fair. Because it catered mostly to students, we sold more there,” said Mr. Firoz.
Good bargains
However, the range on display — around 340 stalls selling more than a million titles in eight languages — impresses visitors. Sporting a bag with straps strained from the weight of books inside, George Thomas said: “There are more books on display than last year and the bargains are very good too.”
Though applauding the variety on display, schoolteacher Shakira said the discounts could have been much higher, instead of 10 per cent at most stalls.
While admitting that fewer people have been coming in this year, Lal M. Prasad, a member of the Bangalore Booksellers and Publishers Association, which is organising the exhibition, said the association expects a large turnout over the weekend. “The book fair has been growing in size every year, and we expect sales to be higher this year,” he said. The fair concludes on Sunday.
