Saturday 28 April 2012

Books in Pakistan: Market and Potential



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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