The importance of the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela for the Bangladeshi publishing industry is irrefutable; we have, perhaps, reached a point where the Bangla book scene has become almost synonymous with it. With the arrival of the Boi Mela, the month of February is transformed into a time of festivities for readers and publishers alike. Publishing companies and authors spend all year preparing to release new books and to bring back older books for devout bookworms in February, and the fair sees the culmination of their collective efforts. While this creates a sense of community in the book world, this over-reliance on the Boi Mela is also a cause for concern because it translates to publishing companies being economically dependent on the Boi Mela. 

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What ails Bangladesh's publishing industry?

"Most smaller publishers make a huge chunk of their yearly revenue from Boi Mela because it is very difficult for us to generate year-round sales. Unlike publishing houses like Mowla Brothers, who have a large shop through which they can sell a substantial volume of books, many of us end up depending on the Boi Mela. This is particularly true for seasonal publishers that have to engage in other businesses throughout the rest of the year", states Rumman Tarshfiq of Pendulum Publishers. "Smaller players like Pendulum have a smaller body of work and fewer books in our catalogue so distributors don't want to take our books to remote places outside of Dhaka. Thus, our reach remains limited and it becomes difficult for us to maintain sales throughout the year."

Monirul Haque of Anannya Prokashoni gives us a wider perspective on this: "The situation varies from publisher to publisher. Many smaller publishing houses are largely Boi Mela-centric because they don't have a showroom from which they can make sufficient sales year-round." Elaborating further, he states, "For larger publishers like Anannya, the Mela is more of a matter of participating in the festivities. We do rely on the event for taking off some of the pressure for our yearly sales and for launching many of our books. However, we do not depend upon it because we have other avenues for securing sales."

While the lack of a physical outlet might seem like a non-issue to us readers because of the availability of books on online bookselling platforms like Rokomari, the reality is somewhat more complicated. "We can utilise online channels for selling books during the rest of the year, but we usually have to pay the online booksellers a large cut of our sales. Our profit margins get minimised as a result", explains Rabi Ahmed of Puthi Puran Books. "At the Boi Mela, on the other hand, our margins are better and we end up with a sustainable profit." 

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Women and Bangladesh's publishing industry

Most publishing companies in Bangladesh are not big enough for them to have a fully functioning marketing team or a viable marketing strategy. They rely, for a large part, on word-of-mouth to attract a customer base. For these publishers, the Boi Mela can turn out to be a valuable marketing tool. The Mela is essentially a melting pot of book lovers. The crowd is a heterogeneous mixture of all sorts of readers who come to the Mela to explore new books. The online book shopping experience limits buyers in their ability to sift through multiple books and, thus, they usually end up making a limited number of purchases. At the Boi Mela stalls, these buyers have the opportunity to physically go through the books being flaunted on display. They become more likely to buy books that they usually would not have had just through a cursory look on the internet. 

However, many publishers are now having to re-evaluate their dependence on the Boi Mela. Monzur Hossain, a representative of Jonaki Publishers, laments the growing problems associated with the event. "Many of the larger publishing companies have formed a sort of syndicate and they practically usurp the largest and most attractive locations of the Mela themselves. Due to this, many of us smaller players get pushed to the sidelines and end up in a poor position where we are unable to draw in enough customers. Making a profit is still a large way off, we are not even able to break even or make up the cost of production." He adds, "The disappointing reality is that even the Boi Mela can no longer help us survive long-term."

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Surviving in a stagnant industry: What are emerging publishers doing differently?

One possible solution for evading these issues can be to shift more towards a direct-to-consumer business model using individual websites and creating more social media engagement to attract a larger reader base. However, the publishing business in Bangladesh is still largely back-dated compared to how publishers function in the developed countries, making the necessary changes will be an uphill battle. Major infrastructural changes might be the only way to effectively and systematically patch the problems within the industry. 

Adrita Zaima Islam is a struggling student, a failed guitarist, and a poet in need of better poetic ideas. Send her your condolences at zaima2004adrita@gmail.com.