Book selling not up to the mark yet on the fourth day of book fair

Book fair-2024, which started on February 1, is on its fourth day today. Prime Minister opened it to the public after its inauguration, but the fair was not fully assembled due to the weather. The sellers said book sales were fairly good on the second day. However, book sales fell yesterday (Saturday, February 3) compared to the previous day.

On Saturday, the fair started at 11 am and continued till 9 pm. At 4 pm, a discussion program titled 'Bicentenary Tribute: Michael Madhusudan Dutta' was held on the main stage of the book fair. Rafiqullah Khan, Khusru Parvez and Hosne Ara were present the discussion. Muhammad Nurul Huda presided over the event.

Milan Nath, publisher of 'Anupam Prakashani, ' said, "People are more interested in taking selfies with books than buying books. Even if 1% of the number of selfies taken with books were sold, a lot of books would be sold.

"The earlier people used to come to book fairs with their families, exchange books, give books as gifts - now that has reduced," he added.

"The condition of the publishing sector is getting worse than before. We are not financially incentivized; that's right, we are not branded either. It is difficult to sustain the publishing sector without new writers. But how many new writers have been produced in the last few years?" 

The publisher of Howlader Publications similarly feels that the publication sector is not in a good place. 

Khandaker Mizanur Rahman, publisher of Racks Publication, thinks that people do not come to the fair to buy books; they come to visit. Food stalls sell more than book stalls at book fairs. 

"I thought book sales would increase due to Metrorail, but now I see it as the same as in previous years."

Imrad Zulkarnain, the publisher of Kahini Audiobook Publication, has provided an audiobook stall this year. Audiobooks can be listened to through the app. Each audiobook will cost 40-200 tk. He thinks that their different passions will respond well.

"Many are out of the country; they can't buy books from here. So they can listen to audiobooks easily."

Talking to numerous sellers at the book fair, this writer found that some new books are selling well, but books by older authors are selling more.

The sellers of Kakoli Publication said Humayun Ahmed's book is selling more as always. The sellers of Mizan Publication are also selling books by the same old authors like Rabindranath and Manik Banerjee and others.

Publishers said that sales of new books by some authors, including Anisul Haque, Asif Nazrul, and Sadat Hossain, are going well. Also, nonfiction books like Self-development are going well.

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