More Readers, Better Publishers
Teachers, and not
parents, are the ones who can mould an adult public that craves for books suggests
Muhammad Aamir Uppal.
The News 1993
In Pakistan writers must not only
successfully apply their minds and express themselves well, but they must also
master the art of successfully negotiating a variety of challenges - the most pernicious
one being publishers’ attitude.
There is a great deal of
interdependence between writers and publishers that introduces elements of
negotiation and reciprocity into their relationship. Writers need publishers in
order to give their work broad circulation and to enable them to achieve a
certain legitimacy in the public eye.
While most publishers prefer to work
with familiar and well established names, everyone recognizes the need for new
talent. Still, few are ready to move beyond recognizing this need.
An overview of Pakistan’s publishing scene
tells a sordid tale. Aside from the efforts of a few strong and well
established multinationals there are also a number of active indigenous general
publishers who have done much to make publishing a legitimate and respected
industry. All indigenous publishers tend to be handicapped by the constraints
of lower capitalization and more limited distribution and marketing
capabilities than their multinational colleagues.
Another challenge facing publishers is
that the sales potential for scholarly books is almost miniscule. One example
is Dr. Mubarik Ali, a local historian who studied for a doctorate degree in Germany, and the author of
30 books, both in English and Urdu. Ali only last year wrote ‘Barr-e-Sagheer
Mein Musalman Muashreyt Ka Almiya’ (The Tragedy of Muslim Society in the Subcontinent),
but with fears of poor marketing potential, Progressive, Publishers, Lahore could only print a
meager 500 copies. Given the fact that the book was published in Urdu which is
not only most widely read language of the country, but is also the most popular
language among academies interested in this topic.
Consequently the production of every
book involves a high degree of financial risk. It is the recognition of the
sever limitations of the market for scholarly books that has led publishers to
change their philosophical orientation and examine the possibility of
publishing a selection of non-scholarly trade and textbooks in order to subsidise
the substantial loses that are incurred in the production of scholarly work.
Another problem publishers and writers
have to confront is the non-existence of moral ethics and weak copyright laws.
The piracy issue is a complicated one. From the publishers viewpoint, it is
totally unjustified and an unmitigated evil. The increase in piracy has even
stated threatening the future of many a reputed publisher.
Aside from piracy, the other major
difficulty facing publishers today is the question of how to sell their books.
The problem is twofold. First only a limited market exists. Second, it is
usually an uphill task to reach this small market,
The second problem exists because of
the lack of an efficient infrastructure. Publishers usually do not have
wholesalers and distributors, promotional agencies and book clubs or even
effective review media. Moreover, the logistical problems involved in moving
books from publishers’ warehouse to
bookstores sometime can be onerous.
There is little doubt that people
read,, as is evident from the circulation figures for newspapers, but it is
also a fact that they seldom pay to read. Libraries, government and civil
institutions, do buy newspapers readily. However, the habit of reading books
during leisure time is not widely practiced, even among the elite.
That parents should encourage their
children to read by buying books as gifts has been widely debated in the print
media. Despite the validity of this argument, the fact is that most parents
have little extra money to spend on gifts for their children and the extra they
do have can be put to more practical use.
In view of this situation, it would
appear that teachers have an important role to play in motivating children to
read. Teachers must convince children that reading is not only informative ,
but the it can also be enjoyable. Publishers can do their part by producing
books aimed at the children’s market.
It is only when children start reading at an early age that an adult public
which reads for pleasure rather that purely utilitarian purposes will
eventually emerge, thus, in time, the market for books will expand and
therefore publishers should not fined it difficult to sell their books.
All in all the problems facing writers
and publishers in Pakistan can not be solved immediately
and need to be tackled on several fronts at the same time.
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