NUMBER CRUNCHING
Bajaj’s slim paperback about a Washington-based investment banker who descends on the IIM-Bangalore campus to find some good old “meaning in life” is the toast of the publishing industry this season. Described by some as the “IIM-wallahs’ Indian August”, it was launched last month bang in the middle of the big launches—Amitav Ghosh, Chetan Bhagat, Shobhaa De. Within 10 days of hitting the stores, it sold out its first print run of 5,000 copies. In Indian publishing, that’s a big deal because for decades now, that rather modest figure has persisted as the benchmark for a bestseller. The bigger deal is that in the last 18 months, several popular or mass-market books by first-time writers have cantered past that mark, quietly and without the noise of five-star launches. Print runs are up and so are sales figures.

“I think the 5,000 figure is really not as much of a threshold anymore,” says Kala, whose chick-lit novel is into its sixth reprint. “Almost Single, a debut novel with no Delhi launch or event, sold that figure in about a month.” Amitabha Bagchi’s Above Average, which was released in February last year, has sold 18,000 copies so far; from Rupa, we have unassuming hits like Subramaniam’s If God Was A Banker (50,000 copies) and Rajashree’s Trust Me (50,000 copies). Stories of runaway success they are not, but they point to a gathering strength in numbers of readers.
Publishers, not surprisingly, are tweaking their book lists to accommodate more snappy tales. “HarperCollins is interested in finding and nurturing a big bunch of writers who can write attractive and entertaining fiction. We want that to be our distinctiveness,” says Karthika V, editor, HarperCollins. Other publishing houses are also mining the same world of stories. Of the authors that Westland will publish next year, 15-20 are debut writers; a substantial have a penchant for the easy read. The growing market is also throwing up new towns on the reading map. Sivaraman Balakrishnan, deputy manager, marketing, of Crossword Bookstores, almost splutters in surprise as he tells you that student city Pune is one of the fastest growing centers of popular fiction. Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi are the other cities where books move fast.

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