Youngsters at the World Book Fair are making most of the stalls selling second-hand books at heavy discounts. Popular fiction titles are being offered at a price as low as Rs20. Shrabasti Mallik reports
El James’ trilogy has never gone out of demand ever since it was released in India. Now that the movie based on the novel Fifty Shades of Grey is also out, the demand for the series is on an upswing. But while earlier people were spending over Rs1,000 for the three books, now they are picking them up at as low as Rs100 at the ongoing World Book Fair. In fact, at the stalls selling second-hand books one can also pick up a fourth book along with the trilogy at Rs100.
This year there are numerous stalls at the fair which are selling second-hand books and they seem to be doing good business as compared to a few big players in the publishing industry. In one of these stalls you will find the entire Fifty Shades series at Rs100 while it is priced at Rs1,399 at the Penguin bookstore.While most of the big publishing houses like Sahitya Academy and Khurana Publishing House are failing to attract buyers, a few book stalls owners are finding it difficult to manage the huge crowd thronging their stalls. People are flocking to the stalls with posters which read ‘Classics at Rs20’ or ‘Two for Rs50.’
From international bestselling authors to the not-so-well-known ones, these book stalls have almost everything to offer. It is, however, the works of fiction that are finding most buyers. “It has been only a few days and almost 50 copies of Nicolas Spark have been sold out.
The discounts and low prices are in a bid to encourage people to read. Along with known names like John Green and Danielle Steel we also have renowned writers like Scott Turow, Audrey Niffenger and Charles McCarry. This is a good way to familiarise the Indian readers with these names,” says Arti Jain of Friends of Books.
lured by the discounts and offers, youngsters are picking up books in large numbers, irrespective of the genre of the books. “Today a water bottle comes at more than Rs20 and here I am getting an unabridged copy of Jane Eyre at that price,” says Malvika Dua, a second year student of lady Irwin College, who bought a mixed collection of Jane Austen, Ian Flemming and John Grisham.
Most of these books are shipped from UK and US and the booksellers are making marginal profit out of the sales. Rajkumar of Student Book Centre says that with every second hand book they sell, they make a profit of Rs5 to 10. “Even after selling books at roughly Rs15 to 20 each, we make a profit of Rs2,000 at the end of the day,” he says.
Moreover, Hemant Kumar of Maadan Book Collection feels that when everybody is concerned about saving the environment and not cutting trees, re-using old books is a good initiative. The low prices are also making parents happy. Simran lohia has been trying to get her three kids to read for quite some time and buying expensive books pinches her pocket. “Here I can buy a couple of books at the price which I otherwise have to pay for one book from a publishing house,” she says.
For most teenagers it is convenient to buy erotica novels at low prices than spending a lump sum for a first hand one. “I am in love with the Crossfire series by Sylvia Day and one book comes at Rs399 at a bookstore or online.
My parents don’t allow me to splurge so much on these kind of books because they are mostly one time reads but in these second hand book stalls the entire series is available at Rs150, so it is an obvious choice,” says Anshu Singh, a 12th standard student of Delhi Public School. Popular titles like Mills & Boons and Sydney Sheldon are the favourites.
However, big publishing houses are not affected by this craze for second hand books. Says Shruti Katoch of Penguin, “There are a section of readers who will always want a fresh publication for a quality read. There are also many who like to collect books and they would never go for second hand ones. Plus, they will never be able to provide such a wide variety of books in so many different genres.”