Is it the End...?

All of a sudden, in the past week alone, there were three instances that revealed that all is not well with the publishing industry and the book trade. The recession seems to have hit this sector as well. which is good news for those who read, because books now have become cheaper. But it has far reaching implications on the whole. What those implications are I have no idea but I guess one of them could be that there won’t be as many books coming out as were until recently.

Last Thursday there was a front page article in the Metro Plus supplement of ‘The Hindu’ titled ‘Books Get the Walmart Effect’ by Serish Nanisetti who, incidentally, has an inimitable style of writing that I rather enjoy reading. It seems major book retailers are selling books at huge discounts and that it was the best time to pick them up cheap. The article talks about the tremors shaking up the trade and how retailers are cutting prices to stay afloat.

Then on Saturday, in the business pages of the same newspaper there was a small item that ‘Shopper’s Stop’ has shut down its ‘Crossword’ book stores in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. There were no details about the reasons for the closure though you don’t have to be an economist to guess. It was news that was hard to digest. If Crossword starts shutting down bookstores in major cities then the others may not be far behind. Of course, I guess only the ‘Crossword’ stores in ‘Shoppers Stop’ have been closed and not the stand-alone ones. I plan to go and check each of their four or five stores in Hyderabad just to be sure.

Though it may not be related to the recession, the fact that the Literary Review supplement in ‘The Hindu’ had less pages than the usual six or eight pages, could also be one such sign that all is not well in the world of books. Normally the supplement is of six to eight pages but the latest issue had only four pages which was really disappointing.

Anyway, as long as there are places like Abids where almost new, hard cover titles are sold for as less as five and ten bucks, there is really nothing to worry. When the economy picks up then the book trade too will perk up. I hope.