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President Pranab Mukherjee’s yet to be released book, The Dramatic Decade--The Years of Indira Gandhi, is among the top five on Amazon’s bestsellers list, even in the pre-order stage. The book will be released on Mukherjee’s birthday next Thursday and will be sold exclusively on Amazon till the end of 2014.
During pre-booking only one book can be ordered by a buyer on Amazon.
Although this is not the first time a book is being exclusively pre-booked and sold on an e-commerce platform, the initial interest in Mukherjee’s work appears to be significant.
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Mukherjee, fondly called Poltu in his village in Bengal, is generating more hits among online buyers, leaving behind works by former president APJ Abdul Kalam, former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and former comptroller and auditor-general Vinod Rai. Mukherjee’s book focuses on the challenging decade of the 1970s, including the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government.
According to Ritu Vajpayee Mohan of Rupa Publications, keeping the book away from offline stores and exclusively on Amazon is a safe move, given the response to high-profile launches. “The president’s name is, of course, a big draw. Even with Rai’s book we had seen enthusiasm among readers skyrocketing on the e-route,” Mohan said. She added the publisher was ambitious about the number of copies that would be sold once the book was available from next Thursday.
“Books are one of the fastest growing categories on Amazon.in and continue to receive overwhelming response from customers. Just on Monday, our daily order rate jumped by four times after the campaign went live,” said Samir Kumar, director, category management, at Amazon India. Recently, a book by Sanjaya Baru, former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s media advisor, generated high interest among readers. Details of the book launch are still under wraps but Mukherjee might surprise with some sort of involvement on December 11, sources said.
Before becoming president on July 25, 2012, Mukherjee was a troubleshooter for the Congress. He has held key portfolios in the government, including foreign, defence, commerce and finance. He has also been deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
