The Dynasty Of Ink

Ajay Mago, 28, is a quintessential Punjabi Delhiite. Cherubic, ambitious, with apassion for all things good. Three years ago, returning after picking up an mba from ucla,he stuffed his bags with Rodeo Drive haute couture and an alert mind with new plans forhis family’s book distribution and publishing business. The trans-Atlantic mantra wasstark: spruce up the portfolio and join the retail rush. Or simply die away.

Today, Mago maintains a 12-hour-plus routine, managing two bookshops in south Delhi andis seriously mulling expansion. "At least three more Om Book Shops in the city by themiddle of next year... Everyone who was busy writing the epitaph for books since theupsurge of TV and the Net is now coming back and business is positively up," he says.And the cynics be damned.

Some 2,000 km south, Bangalorean N. Sankaran, owner of the Sankar’s book chain, isalso a contented man with people pouring into his showrooms. Ask him about the future ofthe book in the cyberian age and he resorts to Michael Korda instantaneously: "Thisis a habit that cannot die."

In Chennai, where bookworms hitherto scrambled to reach the city’s nerve-centresat Mount Road or Nungambakkam to scour for the latest arrivals, the proliferation ofbookshops has come as a cerebral bonanza. There is now a decent bookshop in everyneighbourhood. And if you are only interested in numbers, well, it’s upwards of 30.All added in the last four years.

Mumbai’s Fountainhead is more than just a swank showroom. Business has always beenbrisk ever since the chain opened its branch here, after Chennai and Bangalore, lastSeptember and a quick look at its balance-sheet would reveal that 70 per cent of therevenue is generated from books and the rest from cd-roms and stationery.

Even in Calcutta, the retail juggernaut is creating ripples. Two new stores-Landmarkand Seagull Book Store-are fast redefining bookselling. "In a way, it brings a bookfair flavour for readers throughout the year," says Sayantan Roy, a CalcuttaUniversity student. "The principle behind this shop boom is the retail counter. Fromthe publishers to the distributors, everyone wants to put their money on retail,"says Anuj Bahri of Bahri & Sons, a Delhi store. But he is quick to add, "There ishardly any newcomer in the trade. Survival for them is almost impossible now."

It took just a Booker to transmutate the Indian book trade. Forever. "The God ofSmall Things turned out to be everything but small," quips a publishing official."It catapulted India on to the global platform." Riding piggyback on this hypeand the changing behavioural patterns of the readers, bookstores all over the country arealso breaking out of straitjacket marketing at reckless speed. They are on amphetamine.From adding interactive kiosks, stationery, cd-roms, audio and video tapes, watches et alto their product line to organising art exhibitions and literary interactions or evenincluding a cyber cafe and a coffee bistro, bookstores are fast imbibing sure-fire ways tostay ahead in the retail race.

And suddenly, the little bookshop around the corner is lost forever amid the spaciousenvirons of a 4,000 sq ft ‘mega-mall’.

Customer retainability lies at the crux of all strategy. Ergo, the innumerable andinnovative schemes to woo the public and enhance brand loyalty. "Bookmark is anattempt to give something to every age, social and interest groups," highlightsSuparn Vaidik, manager of the Delhi-based store. If the display plays the most significantrole in the children’s section of the store, it is the regular literary debates andthe book-reading sessions that enthrall the adults. All to accentuate the "more humanaspect of the store". Agrees Sankaran: "The best marketing strategy is to retaina relationship with the customers. There is nothing that you can change, it’s onlyassistance to them and not salesmanship."

The gameplan varies with the store. For some, the reliance is more on discount schemeswhereas for a few it is a bogus proposition. But in-store activities top most lists, be ita quiz contest or an art competition. "We’ll soon be launching a cd-rom onBollywood villains and plan to invite them to the store," says Mago. Moving beyondthe trivial freebies, Delhi’s Teksons even has ‘happy hours’ a la pubs,offering a 25 per cent cut during summer afternoons. "Not everyone is a seriousreader, hence the stimulus differs with individuals," says a seller in the capital."And if reaching out to more people is the key agenda, then a coffee bar or a motleyselection becomes imperative."

Few are complaining. "It is a wholly good idea," feels writer Mukul Kesavan."Despite the romance that is attached with a small shop, the retail buzz has made thebusiness of reading more comfortable. It has democratised the whole set-up with morepeople getting hooked into its dragnet." The feeling’s mutual for fellow-authorGitha Hariharan. "There are different shops for different people. My kids would loveto spend time in these new retail chains."

The excitement encompasses the publishers. "The media is creating a great wave. Ijust hope that this is transformed into sustained buying," says R.K. Mehra, managingdirector, HarperCollins India. If the business is in a state of flux, he feels publishersare also busy repositioning themselves with the 3Ps: packaging, pricing and presentation.

For Poonam Malhotra and husband Shekhar, their Delhi outlet Full Circle-"awonderful place beyond the mainstream"-is more of a specialised hobby with an immensebusiness potential. Pegged more as an "alternative lifestyle shop", eco-friendlycandles and bric-a-brac jostle for space with books on spirituality, reiki, pottery,textiles and, to cut the list short, high art. "Other than music that helps one staycalm, we’re also set to introduce Cafe Turtle-a green gourmet’s one-stopshop."

Such niche operations dot the national biblioscape. At Calcutta’s Seagull, thespecialisation, explains spokesman Jayanta Banerjee, has always been in the realms ofserious academia. "Our collection naturally evokes interests in the scholasticcircles yet the response has been fantastic: around 6,000 loyal bookbuyers."

But does this rise of mega-stores imply the demise of their old-world counterparts?Raise the issue and you get a deluge of animated replies. For Delhi’s Ashok Galgotiaof Galgotia & Sons, it’s a matter of priority: "You remain a bookseller atthe end of the day, not a coffee vendor. If the books are not available in your store, noone will ever come back despite all the razzmatazz."

The relatively older shops in Calcutta and Madras thwart the competition relying ontheir collection of rare books. "Just try to buy Darkness at Noon at a newbookshop," retorts a spokesman of Mullick’s, an old Calcutta store with adedicated, if tiny, clientele. Chips in Nalini Chettur of Giggles, Chennai: "Whenothers were storing Chicken Soup books, my readers warned me they’d stop visiting myshop if I stocked them. "

Even book-buying trends are witnessing a rapid transition. It is the professional booksalong with the ones on computers, spiritualism and popular fiction that now rule. And thismakes former MacMillan chief editor Ravi Vyas rue, "The new stores don’t revealintellectual vibrancy. An average Indian doesn’t browse, he is only interested in hisspecific needs." For Vyas, the big picture is grim. "The economics are hard.Booksellers can only make money if overheads are low. If a proper costing is done, onewill see that margins are high but volumes down."

S.K. Bhatia, president, Delhi State Booksellers’ & Publishers’Association, is more irate. "We face the prospect of closure. Piracy is rampant. Isthis what you mean by a boom? It is more like doomsday for me." Anybody reading thatwriting on the wall?