Books, publishers, readers and book fairs

In Assam, it is currently a season of book fairs, with a number of such events being organized in different towns of the state. While book fairs organized jointly by the Publication Board and All Assam Book Sellers' and Publishers' Association have been already successfully held in Nalbari, Dhemaji and Jorhat, the most important book fair in Guwahati will begin on December 29. There were also other book fairs held on a smaller scale in other places including several district headquarters, all indicating that there is considerable interest among the people of the state in buying and reading books. There is no exact data available about the total number of books published in Assam in a given year. This is because there is no mechanism in place to keep a count. Moreover, a sizable number of books published in Assam are not registered as is required under the law, and thus do not bear the International Standard Book Number (ISBN), which is a unique 13-digit International Publisher's Identifier number. Though not established with evidence, going by the number of news items published in newspapers every year, Assam would probably rank quite high among the various states of the country with respect to the number of books published. Assam should also rank high with respect to the number of book fairs – big and small – held in different states. But then, there is a general tendency among most book publishers of Assam to state that the business of book publishing is not very good. This is contradicted by the fact that book fairs across the state register very encouraging footfall, and that books worth several lakh of rupees are sold in these book fairs (in the case of the book fair in Guwahati it goes to a few crores of rupees). This contradiction does not speak well of the publishing sector. Moreover, there is also the issue of authors not getting proper royalties or remuneration from publishers. It is a fact that there is very little professionalism in the book publishing sector in Assam. While most publishers do not sign contracts with authors, it is also a fact that most publishers do not reveal to the authors the exact number of copies printed for every book published. Writing books after all is an intellectual exercise which should draw more remuneration than daily wagers. But it appears that the situation is exactly the reverse in Assam.