Book releases of English language books in India are usually affairs confined to five star hotels, with the right dose of writers, publishers, and book-lovers.
The trend has switched to upmarket bookstores in the recent years, but the audience has still been a limited number. The book release of Chetan Bhagat's latest 2 States at my suburb threw the niche notion to winds. It took place at Oberoi Mall, Goregaon. To rake in enough crowd, the mall placed a prominent ad in the newspapers, announcing the book release, with the name of an actress.
The actress in question for the best-seller writer's book release - Vidya Balan. Glitter. Din. And a huge crowd. Not so much for the book, but Vidya Balan.
``I have never seen this huge an audience for a book release,'' she remarked to the crowd spread over two floors above the atrium where it happened. The actress added, that she related to the book because of her South-Indian connection. When you have your star quotient and are decked up enough for the shutterbugs, and at a mall on the weekend, what else do you expect?
She made a quick exit after the event. Needless to say, the writer spend the next couple of hours autographing copies of his book that sold like hotcakes. The book, is a love story. Its back cover summary is filmy enough for the sales to come in.
In my recent trips to the mall, I had seen a dip in the numbers. Marketing brains surely work overtime to sell more copies! Am wondering how conventional lovers of literature, and writers, would digest such sweeping changes in writing and marketing books.
1 comment:
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