Many people tend to think that media-hype boosts a book’s sales. To some extent, it is correct. But, it is primarily the readers who have the power to boost the image of a book. To click in the market, you need a good product more than good exposure. First, the book has to be good to get good exposure. To capture readers’ attention, the book has to be a wonderful read.
In the book market, it is usually word of mouth that makes a book successful. Word of mouth is stronger than any publicity. A satisfied reader is a writer’s or a publisher’s sole agent in the market. A satisfied reader recommends his/her pick to his/her community. They are the real ambassadors of a wonderful creation. That is what I have been doing with regard to any book that I really like.
I would like to cite an example from The Tipping Point, a great book by Malcolm Gladwell, which helps us understand the word-of-mouth phenomenon. The book’s sub-title itself flags the message: How little things can make a big difference. The Tipping Point gives an example of the classic American shoe brand Hush Puppies. The Hush Puppies executives were almost ready to scrap the brand. However, it gained momentum when a few young New York hipsters took a liking for it. Then, everyone from cool kids to less cool kids copied them and in a couple of years, the brand’s sales exploded by 5,000 percent without the company spending a dime on advertising. Later on, it became a super brand and won several awards.
It is the readers who make or break a book
Karnali Blues is doing wonders among readers. What I found in the reader´s fraternity is that they are ready to talk about the book. They are ready to mention their reading progress. Surely, some of them think that the book is a bit long and have suggested the editor to shorten it. Despite the length, after finishing reading 370-plus pages, one feels that one has read a great book.
There are many books in recent times that have left the readers hooked. Palpasa Café of Narayan Wagle set an encouraging trend in the book market. By capturing the imagination of both classes and masses, it created a good market for Nepali literature. Before Palpasa Café, B P Koirala´s two books – Jail Journal and Atmabritanta – remained all-time pick of readers. The readers are intelligent enough to pick perfect reads.
I am talking about these books because they have left a visible mark among readers. Before 1990s, there were very few books that came up with second editions. University and college text books were an exception though. For example, Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s Muna Madan is an all-time hit. It is a book that has come out with the maximum number of editions. But now, you do not need to publish a college text book to qualify as an all-time hit. More and more books are seeing more than one edition.
It has been happening because of the readers. True, there is a certain contribution that the media makes. They ignite you to read a certain book. However, without word-of-mouth publicity, it cannot become a real success. I have learnt that Tara Rai Anamol´s Chhapamar Yuwatiko Diary, a diary of a young guerrilla woman, has seen four editions within four months this year. I could sense dissatisfaction over the book in the Maoist critics’ camp. These critics think that the book has succeeded because the journalists in the anti-Maoist camp have campaigned to make it popular.
However, I do not subscribe to this idea. Why Chhapamar Yuwatiko Diary is enjoying unprecedented success is because it has changed the way in which popular left writing is approached. Tara subscribes to Maoist ideology, but she loves to tell the real story. In conventional left writing, all are villains except their own comrades and their ideology. However, in the story, Tara has even shown the kind face of a Nepali army officer whom she encountered during her detention. This is what the Maoist writers and critics do not want to do. For them, portraying a nice face of the enemy is not revolutionary writing!
The recent readers’ response to books has clearly shown that you need not be famous to be a successful writer. If you have a flair for writing, you can become successful. What the readers want is a good read; they just do not care about the writer. It is the final creation that makes or breaks the writer.
From Palpasa Café to Karnali Blues, what I found is that they are stories of commoners. The characters are like the readers themselves with whom they can easily relate. The writings do not have any prejudices. In addition, the characters are innocent. Karnali Blues is a great story of underdogs. That is our own story. We can reflect on our own past and our father or family members through this mirror. This is what makes the story likeable to the readers.
(Writer is Associate Editor of Nagarik national daily.)
gunaraj@gmail.com
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