Aurangabad, Nov 1:
The bookstore business did not recover even after the unlock was announced. Publishers, distributors, authors and sellers have been hit hard as regular readers have been away from purchasing books for the past seven months. Collective efforts are underway to reconnect readers.
The number of e-book readers had increased during the lockdown period. However, now it has declined. In the last seven months, the book business has suffered a setback. The publication of books is stalled and the sale of old books is hampered. While the situation is improving since unlock, regular shopper, readers aren’t visiting the shops. This has broken the chain of publishers, sellers, authors and distributors. At present, readers are not ready to come to the store for purchasing books due to fear of Covid-19. As a result, booksellers across the city have lost millions of rupees. To revive this business, publishers have decided to reconnect readers by providing quality books at discounted rates. Saket Bhand of Saket Book World said, "Sales of the most widely read Marathi, English and Hindi books have also been adversely affected. Book fairs in Delhi, Jaipur, Bhopal, Mumbai and Kolkata are closed. The rules were relaxed after unlock. Yet the fact remains that the readers are not coming to book stores."
Reading awareness campaign
Leading publishers from the state have come together to connect readers to literature. Publishing houses like Mehta, Majestic, Sadhana, Jyotsna, Rohan, Manovikas, Diamond, Padmagandha, Saket and Rajhans have started ''Vachan Jagar Abhiyan'' (reading awareness campaign). Popular books will be available at a discounted price from November 1 to 25. Through this, publishers expect readers to come to the shop.