GUWAHATI: The ongoing 33rd Guwahati Book Fair has been drawing huge crowds, but the sale of books is yet to meet the expectation of the sellers.
Despite an impressive footfall, some of the stalls have maintained that sales have been lesser compared to the pre-COVID times, reported UNI. They claimed that people are reluctant to spend big on expensive books, and cheaper books being way more preferred.
Utpal Patowary of Khoj Publications, who publish their own books and also sell books from other popular publishers, said, “Books are selling, but we expected the sales figure to be much better.” Manager of Anggik Prakashan, mostly selling children literature, shared similar view and said sales have not reached the earlier levels.
Personnel of another stall, Abhigyan Book Store, said though the sales have been decent so far, people are more willing to access books online rather than buying the printed copies.
The Book Fair, organised by the Publication Board, Assam, that will end on January 10, has been witnessing around 60,000 visitors on an average daily, secretary of the Board Pramod Kalita said. The new year’s day recorded over 80,000 footfalls, which was even higher than pre-COVID times, he claimed.
With a budget of around Rs 50 lakh and over 100 stalls, the sales volume has already exceeded Rs 2 crore. Some of the popular books at the Fair include an Assamese translation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Letter to Mother’ called ‘Aai loi sithi’, translated by Utpal Dutta which was released on the inaugural day of the Book Fair, and ‘Life of a Driver Kebinar Epare’ by Rupam Dutta.
Hiren Bhattacharya’s poems and Kanchan Baruah’s fictional works have seen decent sales as well.
