Creative book publishers in an uphill battle
Creative book publishers have been fighting an uphill battle to survive for over a year as their sales have nosedived for the pandemic that depressed demand for fiction and non-fiction among consumers.
And this year's month-long Amar Ekushey Boi Mela, a major annual event of the country held amidst much fanfare and festivities and a peak sales period for publishers, exacerbated financial woes as their sales plummeted to 15 per cent compared with pre-pandemic book fairs.
The crash of sales at the book fair was like pouring water on a drowned mouse for Humayun Kabir, publisher of Charulipi Prakashan.
"With few customers visiting the fair, the fair was a burden for us as it led to us incurring a huge loss," he said.
It took him around Tk 10 lakh to build and adorn a pavilion and pay rent and bear expenses of staff. However, the sales amounted to almost nothing, totalling around Tk 3.5 lakh. At a typical fair, his sales amount to around Tk 1 crore.
"Besides, the loss compounded my woes as I have to publish new books," he said, adding that Charulipi released only 11 books this year, down from 36 released in last year's fair.
According to Kabir, the business in last year's fair was also sluggish, which was followed by a devastating year when overall book sales dropped to 20 per cent, compared to pre-pandemic levels.
"Many small publishers left Dhaka for their village homes because they have lost all they have and are now unable to pay rents of their stores and homes," he said.
He urged the government to buy books for government-owned offices, institutions and libraries from coronavirus-hit publishers in a "transparent" manner.
"Not only for the sake of the publishers and writers, the government should buy books to illuminate people's lives, otherwise we would turn into a society devoid of knowledge and intellect," said Kabir, who is also a joint executive director of the Academic and Creative Publisher's Association of Bangladesh.
Due to Covid-19, the book fair, which usually starts from the beginning of February and runs till the end of the month, started on March 18 this year, allotting 154 units on Bangla Academy premises to 107 organisations, and 680 units in Suhrawardy Udyan to 433 organisations.
Amidst the resurgence of Covid-19, it abruptly ended on April 14.
Although Boi Mela is taking place in an open area, the number of visitors were low amidst the fear of a second wave of the virus which has turned out to be more lethal than the first one.
The book sales of Prothoma, a top publisher of the country, dropped 65 per cent during March 2020 to March 2021 compared to the same period a year earlier.
During this fair it sold only 5 per cent of the number of books it had sold in the fair of last year, according to its manager, Zakir Hussain.
According to industry insiders, online book sales doubled this year as customers are cautious about going out for the fear of contracting the pathogen.
"Online sales were great this year. Prothoma's online sales increased 150 per cent in the period," said Hussain.
He said an association for creative book publishers has sought incentives from the government.
So far there has been no response. If the government buys books from creative publishers for its departments, then the publishers will be able to recover from their losses at least to some extent, he added.
Prothoma released 60 new books in the latest book fair, down from 98 books published in 2020's book fair.
Readers are mainly interested in books on research, essays, biographies, religion, science and cooking, said Hussain.
From March 2020 to March 2021, Somoy Prokashon's sales dropped to less than 20 per cent compared to that in the same period a year earlier.
According to Farid Ahmed, proprietor of the publication, the sales in this book fair was only 10 per cent of that of the last one. And the turnover was around Tk 8 lakh, which is less than what it takes to build a pavilion, pay rent for the space and bear other expenses of taking part in the month-long book fair.
He said online sales were not that good as it was yet to adopt "professional practices". Online sales would be around Tk 1 lakh in the last one year, which he termed "really low".
"We do not want any stimulus or help from the government. All we want is for the government to buy books from us," he said.
There are different agencies, ministries and departments which need to buy books every year. But in the process, the publishers do not get any direct benefit. "So we want these entities to buy books directly from publishers," added Ahmed.
He urged the government to increase allocation for its entities which purchase books.
Somoy published 62 new books in the latest book fair, down from 85 in 2020's book fair.
On the back of strong online sales, the coronavirus has not been able to make a dent in the business of Pathak Shamabesh, a top publisher.
Online sales accounts for over 40 per cent of its total sales and it makes home deliveries.
"The sales at this book fair was the same as that last year. Our turnover did not decrease because of the Covid-19," said Shahidul Islam Bizu, managing director of Pathak Shamabesh.
He attributed their sales consistency to its communications efforts with 30,000 customers registered through phone call, WhatsApp and email and an app that provides one-stop service.
From March 2020 to March 2021, it released 27 new books, up from 24 during the same period a year earlier.
Pounded by the pandemic, Baatighar, a much loved publication known for its decent taste in book releases and picturesque stores, introduced its own online book sales mechanism last year amidst the pandemic. The effort paid off.
"When everything stalled in the pandemic last year and our sales crashed, we started an online home delivery process. And online sales are really good," said Dipankar Das, owner of Baatighar.
However, its sales during the period of March last year to March this year dropped to 50 per cent compared to that of a year earlier.
At the fair, the sale of the publication, which has three stores located in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet, was 40 per cent compared to that at last year's fair. And 50 per cent of book fair sales comes from online orders.
"If the government purchases quality books from real publishers in a transparent way, the sector will turn around from the pandemic-induced slump," added Das.
According to the academy, 2,640 books were published in the fair that took place in 2021, down from 4,919 published in the fair of 2020.
Jalal Ahmed, director at the division of sale, marketing and reprinting at Bangla Academy, which organises the month-long Amar Ekushey Boi Mela, said sales in this year's book fair dropped to 10 per cent compared to that in the previous one.
The UK consumer book sales climbed 7 per cent, with a 16 per cent jump in the sales of fiction, last year as British people "rediscovered their love of reading" in the lockdown, reports BBC.
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