World Book Fair: Small publishers struggle for profit margins

Small publishers, especially in Hindi, participating in the 26th New Delhi World Book Fair, say it's been a struggle to maintain profit margins this time around.

The publishers IANS spoke to said the the cost of booking a stall had risen but there had been no exponential increase in sales.

"Firstly, there has always been limited readership of Hindi books and this is going down. So balancing profits with the increasing in the booking raets is becoming very difficult for us. Every year there is a hike but this time it has been a little more than usual. It is affecting us," Lalit Kumar of Samyik Prakashan told IANS.

Unlike big publishers who primarily participate to promote their brands, build their network and improve marketing, for small publishing houses or book shops it is about clearing their stock and make some profits.

"My stall is of three by three square feet and I am paying around Rs 70,000 for it. Apart from the weekends, there's limited sale. Also brand name do speak for themselves. So, the big stalls always remain crowded and they manage to get profits. But for us, this is not the scenario"" Raman Kumar Chaudhary of Prakashan Sansthan explained.

Another factor that makes a difference in profits is location. Ravish Ojha of Mukta Book Agency pointed that if the stalls are located at the end of a hall or placed nearer to big brands then there are fewer chances of getting noticed.

"Last year we were in a different hall and we had really good crowd. But this year we got another hall and there are hardly any visitors. If we get a stall at the entrance or a exit corner then there are more chances of people making a visit. But then, it is done through lottery and we cannot complain about it"" Ojha commented.

Being held at Pragati Maidan and co-organised by the National Book Trust (NBT) and ITPO, the annual New Delhi World Book will continue till January 14.

--IANS

som/vm