On a different wicket

Czar of book retailing in the city, A.K.Kuppuram, is passionate about giving adults and children enough food for mind, writes Soma Basu

A.K. Kuppuram is a familiar name among city’s book buffs. In fact, he is popularly called “Bookram” by many who know him for years. But tug him a bit and he reveals he doesn’t mind being called ‘Jonathan’.

“I am like the free-wheeling seagull in Richard Bach’s book learning about life and struggles. I am an ordinary man who wants to be different,” when he says so, his earnestness spills over. He is perhaps one person who defies his qualification, background and knowledge to own Madurai’s one of the landmark shops and definitely the only decent book store – The Turning Point.

With no qualms, he utters humbly, “I may not be well-read and love reading comics. But I want our children to be passionately interested in reading. Selling books is not a profession but a service. The reader alone enjoys reading the book he picks up and to help him choose the best book is my interest.”

This service he has been rendering in his own way for the past four decades, burning holes in his pocket all along. Yet, nothing can beat the zeal and sincerity of this 60 year old. The sheer tenacity and desire to draw both adults and kids to reading, drives him on his chosen path.

Full report here Hindu

Words’ worth

Will online book stores be the nemesis of their brick-and-mortar cousins?

Middle school is probably the worst place for a nerd to be in. It's what a cocktail party is to a good K-serial bahu. What McDonalds is to a card-holding communist. And right at the heart of the whirlwind of adolescent hormones, stood the very own panic room. A soberly lit room that smells of paper and words, that indulges a spine to be colourful, and not necessarily uptight. The only place where a nerd society I knew very well, would feel cooler than the middle-school fest queen. Bookstores, have stood for several such slam-book-perfect stories, before an Amazon gatecrashed into their quiet fairytale. And took not long to prove that we were only to willing to have our books delivered at our doorstep.

When Barnes and Noble announced a sell-off, they only made a formal validation of the guilt that we have been living with for some time now. “When you have something definite in mind, buying a book from an online portal is only more convenient. Also, while a brick and mortar bookstore can house not more than 50,000 titles at a time, an online store usually stocks 3-4 million titles. Also discounts offered by these portals are more,” says Sachin Bansal, CEO of Flipkart.com, India's answer to Amazon. Ritam Haldar, a media professional, would agree. “What matters is the book. And we can even browse the latest titles on these portals. And the time you take to buy a book on these portals is what you take to update your Facebook status,” says Haldar, emphasizing the demands of a Twitter-happy generation.

Full report here Indian Express

Bookstores opening a new chapter on survival

This is an epilogue that is being rewritten. Indian bookstores are changing the narrative of selling books by trying new and innovative ways to counter the threat posed by the internet age that has such scalps as the iconic US bookseller Barnes & Noble on the block.

One of the main challenges that face bookstores these days is online ordering of books, through websites that offer discounts of anywhere between 10-40%.

Big Indian book retail chains like Crossword, Apeejay Oxford Bookstores and Starmark are moving beyond the bookends and taking initiatives to transform the in-store experience that is not just about reading. Some are even making inroads into cyberspace.

“We are contemplating getting into the online business. For this, we are looking to buy an online book site,” says Gautam Jatia, Starmark CEO.

Full report here Economic Times

The ink goes pink

Mumbai entrepreneur starts online bookstore for queer literature

The champagne is on ice and the celebrations are in preparatory mode as the queer community readies to mark the one-year anniversary of Section 377 being struck down by the High Court.

But now, they have one more reason to cheer. They can now buy queer literature online.

 "I think I am in the right place at the right time," says Mumbai-based Shobhna Kumar, founder-director, Queer Ink, an online store and publishing house for queer literature. It's website address is: www.queer-ink.com
"It is such an exciting time to be in India," says Shobhna, who is a lesbian herself.

"I see transformation everywhere and not just in the gay scene. I thought it was an apt time to launch and talk publicly about Queer Ink, which has been up and running for about two months now."

Full report here Mid-day

A bibliophile's paradise

Dreaming of a store devoted to books about books? Wake up to reality; Oak Knoll Books makes this fantasy come true.

It's the bookshop that every bibliophile secretly fantasises about, and occasionally encounters in a Jorge Luis Borges story. An entire bookstore full of just books about books. Reader, I'm here to tell you that this is no ficcione: such a dream bookshop exists. You will find it in the historic colonial town of Old New Castle in a three-storeyed Opera House built in 1879 where two floors house, in an almost labyrinthine fashion, shelf upon shelf upon shelf of books on books.

Oak Knoll Books has the largest inventory in the world of books on books. Its publishing imprint, Oak Knoll Press, tops even this Borgesian fantasy by being a fine press devoted exclusively to publishing books about books.

Special interest
I stumbled on Oak Knoll in 2009 when I began noticing that nearly every great book about books I was reading was either something that was bought from their bookstore or published by them. For a time I thought they probably just have a special interest in this genre, but soon it became apparent that there was a method to their bibliographic madness. I became feverish with excitement.

Full report here Hindu

India’s first gay bookstore opens in Mumbai

India’s first online store selling gay literature has opened. Based in Malad, the store is called www.queer-ink.com and has been started by Fiji-Indian Shobhna Kumar, a self-professed lesbian.

She works within the city’s gay community, counselling people and their families, helping organise the queer rally and working in HIV prevention.

“I had a selfish reason for starting this, as I could not get access to these books,” she explains. “And Amazon would not deliver them. I think they wouldn’t get through customs as they offend Indian sensibilities. There are a few Indian online bookstores, but they take weeks to deliver. I figured other people must be in the same position.”

She started the store herself and has all the stock ready so she can deliver to any metro in two days.

Full report here Hindustan Times


Related news

Quill and Queer Indian Express
First homosexual online bookstore for gays in India BollyPatrika.com
The ink goes pink Mid-Day

A dedicated book store

At first sight, Page Turners, the new book store on Bangalore’s MG Road, looks cosy, tidy and colourful, characteristics that are guaranteed to compel passers-by to explore the store. Page Turners, which exclusively retails books published by Penguin Books, is yet to launch officially but has been functioning quietly since the second week of April, with only a few curious book lovers walking in for a browse.

Spread over three, 550 sq. ft floors, the book store stocks best-sellers and travel guides (including Penguin Books’ Rough Guide series) on the ground floor, classics and philosophy on the second, and fiction and children’s books on the third. On the fourth floor, coming up soon, will be a space dedicated to book launches and readings. Penguin authors will be given preference but authors from other publications will be welcome too. Leave your email ID with the store and they will keep you informed about book launches and reading sessions.

Penguin, known as the publisher of literary classics, has ensured that the Classics section of the store is elaborately stocked. While most books on the shelf are paperbacks, the store can source hardback and bound versions on request. Books by other publishers comprise just 10% of the store’s contents.

Full report here Mint 

Tots and tomes

Once a week,Rashmee Dixit bundles up her one-and-half-yearold son,packs his diaper bag and drives to the nearest reading hub.The next hour is spent reading aloud to her toddler as he fiddles with touch-and-feel books."I have been reading to Ajay since he was three months old," says the Bangalorebased homemaker.

Like Dixit,there are scores of parents across the country eager to wean their little ones away from television and computers and introduce them to the world of books.Catering to this segment are exclusive bookstores and clubs,activity centres and libraries.

In July 2009,Meetu Srikanth and Rakhi Prasad launched Treasure Books,a bookstore for kids located in Khar,a suburb in Mumbai."Children in our families were choosing video games over books and we felt the need to do something about it," says Srikanth.

Full report here Times of India

Borders Profit Falls

Borders Group Inc, the unprofitable bookstore chain that tried to sell itself last year, said fourth-quarter profit fell as consumers pared spending on books, according to Bloomberg.

Net income dropped 54 per cent to $29.6 million, or 49 cents a share, the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company said. Total revenue decreased 14 per cent to $1.09 billion.

Declining home values and the highest unemployment in more than a quarter century have caused consumers to spend less on books, leading Borders to post its 11th straight sales decline. Chief Executive Officer Ron Marshall announced a plan to trim employees after vowing to “aggressively” reduce expenses when he took over from George Jones in January.

“Our top priority is getting our financial house in order by continuing to reduce expenses, pay down debt and improve cash flow,” Marshall said in the release. The company projects negative sales trends through the rest of the year and is planning only “minimal” capital expenditures, Marshall said.

Sales at stores open at least a year will be “significantly” lower for the first quarter and first half of the year, Marshall said in a telephone interview. Borders said on March 5 that it would eliminate 742 positions in its more than 900 stores, about 3 per cent of its workforce, to align expenses with declining sales.