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Despite a huge crowd of visitors at Amar Ekushey Book Fair almost every day, book sales have not yet gained momentum even after 16 days.
However, the booksellers and publishers are hoping for a boost in book sales in the last week of this month.
They claim that the majority of visitors browse books, take pictures and leave the fair without buying any books.
A good number of booksellers expressed dissatisfaction with poor sales as the scenario was the same even on Valentine’s Day and Pahela Falgun.
Md. Jakir Hossen, Manager of Prothoma Prokashan, told The Business Post that the book fair had been witnessing huge crowds in the last few days while most of the visitors were couples who came to the fair especially to leaf through books and take pictures.
He also said that genuine readers did not come to the fair on the last day of this week to avoid crowd. Overall sales were very poor in the last three days, he added.
Md. Farukue Hossain, manager of Pearl Publications, echoed the same. He told The Business Post that many visitors visited the fair on Thursday, but most of them were couples. They came to the fair only to visit it but not to buy any books.
“Sales may gain pace from this Friday. We are waiting for getting satisfactory sales in the last ten days,” he added.
According to the booksellers, the bibliophiles used to look for the books in the first week and sales start after two weeks while the fair see a boost in sales in the last week.
They said that the book fair witnesses high turnout and good sales in the middle of the month-long fair every year, but it did not happen this year.
They attribute the fall in book sales to ongoing inflation and high cost of living. Besides, many readers get discouraged to buy books due to price hike despite their love for books.
Compared to the previous years, the price of paper rose sharply in the market. So, the prices of books went up by 22-25 per cent, according to the Bangladesh Publishers and Booksellers Association.
Ibrahim Hossain, a student of Dhaka University, said that he used to purchase at least 10 books from the book fair in the last couple of years, but this year he could not do so.
“My living cost nearly doubles and the income of my father has not increased. This is why I have decided to cut my budget on books. I can buy half of the books I need to cope with the inflation,” he added.
However, many booksellers and publishers hope that defying all odds, readers would flock to the book fair and purchase books as they have love for books.
