Word: indians
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...festival, located in the desert of the Indian state of Rajasthan, is a star-studded literary event, but with a breezy, shoes-off feel. Held almost entirely outdoors, during the daylight hours overflow crowds sit cross-legged at the entrance of the Mughal tent. Turbaned waiters serve tea in clay cups. When the day cools in the evening, women in saris sip on Indian wine and tables with mixed accents relax as the vibe morphs from seminar to rock concert. (See pictures of India...
...fifth year, the gathering has mushroomed in size and reach to become one of the continent's most influential, with more than two hundred authors from around the world set to attend. "The idea of the literature festival is really to bring together the interest in Indian writing, which has been growing phenomenally, but is now really propelled by the fact that people are looking to India both as an economic power, and as a place of contemporary writing," says Sanjoy Roy, the producer of the event. (See the best fiction books...
...Despite the enthusiasm, the exact economic trajectory for the books is still open to interpretation. The Indian market, despite being considered one of the fastest growing in the world for English language titles, is unique in the world. Unlike in the U.S., where purists lament the disappearance of the independent bookshop from Main Street, three quarters of India's estimated 2000 bookstores are small, independent dealers, the majority of which still don't use computers to track sales. "So there's no way of finding out exactly what?s happening," says Padmanabhan...
...lack of computerized coordination of sales data among remote bookstores means that publishers rely heavily on newspaper best-seller lists and, perhaps more importantly, on feedback from bookstore owners to divine what kind of book the Indian reader want. There is no equivalent to Oprah Winfrey - whose television show has been launching best-sellers in the U.S. for years - so boosting sales still requires a personal touch. Authors looking to increase their numbers are compelled to visit bookstores large and small to talk up their book. This word-of-mouth method among booksellers still reigns supreme in India. "They...
...seems to be working. When well known Indian business scion Nandan Nilekani's first book hit the shelves this year, Penguin sold over 60,000 hardbacks - a total that raised expectations for best-sellers in the country. A decade ago, the company wouldn't have dreamed of printing more than 7,000 copies, says Padmanabhan. When the fourth book in the "Harry Potter" series was released in 2001, Penguin sold 30,000 copies. That was a good haul, but still small in comparison to the U.S., which sold 3.8 million copies, and the U.K., which sold another million...