Huge crowd delights sellers

The sellers and publishers at the ongoing Amar Ekushey Book Fair Monday expressed their joy at getting satisfactory responses from the readers since the beginning of the fair.

The month-long book fair was inaugurated on February 1 and the member secretary of the book fair organizing committee Dr KM Mizahidul Islam confirmed Views Bangladesh that till Monday evening 1,030 new books have been published in the fair.

Meanwhile, the sellers and publishers said that they are witnessing better sales this year compared to last year. The selling of books reached a satisfactory level from last Friday (February 9) and they hope that it will continue till the end of the fair.

They said a large number of readers are still fond of the writings of Humayun Ahmed, Muhammed Zafar Iqbal and Zahir Raihan while books from influencers are also attracting the readers.

Milan Kanti Nath, publisher of Anupam Prakashani, said that the book selling situation is very good this year. Before the beginning of the fair, we expected a huge crowd and our expectation had already come true.

“But the rate of book selling in comparison to the number of visitors might be termed as poor,” he observed, adding, “But the difference is, last year most of the visitors came to the fair as if to take selfies only, whereas a good number of visitors this year are buying books.”

“Youths are roaming on the fair premises, but they are also buying some books as well, increasing the volume of sales,” he said.

Besides, many readers are coming to the fair to buy some specific books, Milan Kanti informed.

Md Parvez, sales representative of Tamralipi Publication, also said that the sales are satisfactory this year. Usually the sales get higher after half of the month. But this year, the sales increased just after one week of the beginning of the fair.

According to Parvez, books written by the influencers are selling more this year.

Meanwhile, Shahin Shikder, manager at the stall of Mowla Brothers, said, “As the publication focuses on research-based writings, the customers mostly remain the same every year. But the best part of the fair this year is that an increasing number of visitors have started coming to the fair at an earlier time. Moreover, a good number of youths are showing eagerness to research-based publications.”

“We tried to bring quality books to the readers. And now youths are getting attracted to these books as well,” he observed.

Vice President of the Bangladesh Publishers and Booksellers Association Shyamal Paul, also the publisher of Puthiniloy, said “Since 2020, the publishers and book sellers have been incurring huge losses. But the situation started improving from last year. The turbulent political situation in the country last year affected the sales at the book fair.”

“However, the political situation is stable this year. The election is over and the overall political situation is calm. Again, metro rail added a new colour to the festivity at the fair. As a result, a huge number of people are coming and their eagerness to buy literature is overwhelming us with joy,” he said.

“If the sales continue like this, it will help the sector to turn around from the losses incurred during the pandemic. We are expecting record sales this year since the emergence of Covid 19,” he added.