According to publishers, the resonse this year was so bad that some of them have decided to not participate next year
The Delhi Book Fair that concluded on Sunday, turned out to be a damp squib, with booksellers ruing that low turnout. According to publishers, the resonse this year was so bad that some of them have decided to not participate next year.
Events beyond anyone's control had contributed to the low turnout. The conviction of self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh ensured that less visitors from the Capital and neighbouring Haryana and Punjab came last weekend.
Another factors were to blame too. Publishers say that sales dropped this year because of increased prices of books post GST. But their biggest grouse was the lack of publicity prior to the event.
"There was not even one hoarding of the book fair anywhere outside. Moreover, earlier there were regular announcements at metro stations, where they would also sell fair tickets, but this time, there was nothing.The result is in front of you. This time we are finding it hard even to recover the money we spent in renting this space," said a visibly worried Kaushal Goyal, from Pigeon and GBD Books.
"There is no next time for us. This is the last time we are participating in this fair," he added.
Publishers also claimed that the cost of stall this year had risen with the price of Rs 56,000, being few thousand extra as compared to last year. However, ITPO, who organises the fair, denied the allegations saying that the stalls were made available at "subsidised rates".
"Each of them got a space on subsidised rates. We never increased the price of any stall. The minor increase in prices is because of the taxes," said an official from ITPO, on condition of anonymity. With barely 120 publishers showing up at the fair, the count was significantly lower than last year that boasted of the presence of 180 plus exhibitors.
Speaking condition of anonymity, a publisher who made his debut at the fair this year, rued his decision to participate.
"Obviously, the poor promotional campaign is to be blamed for the low turnout. But other than that, GST too played its role. So this too went against us, which only affected our business further," he said.
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