Pay-your-way book launch!

Spells doom for writers hoping to garner a crowd!

Readers and book-buyers (and of course writers) must now be fairly familiar with the drill when it comes to book launches. You get anxious invitations from the writer (orphaned suddenly as he or she is by his publisher going AWOL as soon as the book is out). If you are a friend, you go along, to express solidarity and encouragement. If you are a book-lover, you go along to hear about the book, perhaps enjoy hearing excerpts being read. There may be a minor or major celebrity thrown in to sweeten the deal, and chai-biskoot or even wine-and-cheese for the high end writer’s launch.

Some readers obligingly buy a copy, often at a decent-ish discount by the bookstore on that day. Some others steadfastly refuse to buy into this protocol, either marching out without buying a book, or escaping patli-gali sey, trickling quietly past the book shelves and leaking out of the exit doors. Some buy the book a little grudgingly, only because they kind of have to.

There is a new challenge facing attendees, and as a consequence, the hapless writer too. Consider this:

A book launch at a toney eatery last week left attendees rather shocked at a new ‘protocol’. After we were seated in the casual outdoor location, each person was discretely approached by a young person from the event organizer (not  the venue/eatery or the book publisher), and asked to pay up a Rs 200 ‘entry charge’.  

Huh? We come to listen to a writer, who is there to publicise a book, so that he as well as his publisher earn money, and we have to pay up for this? Not just buy his book, but pay to listen to him talk about this book?

Sadly, I did not get this request; the person accompanying me got it, and quietly paid up for two of us. If I had been approached, I would have said a polite “Eh? No, I think I’ll pass.” I would have then paid my respects to the writer, even bought his book (because it was an interesting book for me) and simply left.

Later, when I asked the young band of organizers about this strange new practice, they defensively said “we are only doing this as a brand-building exercise for our own company, we don’t earn anything from this book event…and we had put it on our posters, the fact that there was a Rs200 entry charge…and err…we gave you cutting-chai and a Panini sandwich.”

Sure you did (and no one gave anyone a receipt for anything, by the way). But, that apart, here’s my point: there are four layers of potential hosts for something like this, all of whom stand to gain either money or publicity by my and other reader-buyers’ presence there: the writer, the publisher, the venue-eatery and the organizer. Then how did it occur to them all that the person who must pay to be there is the potential reader-buyer?

When I wrote off all hot and bothered to a few writer friends, some LOLed and some said “this is the height – now no one will come only for book launches!”. Another writer said soothingly (a writer who steadfastly refuses to speak ill of anyone): Well book publishers and book sellers are not doing that well and if they can possibly create good value entertainment based around the book and charge for it that may not be a bad idea…”

Another writer and marketing man was taken aback, but said… “Everything is in a flux and we are going to get used to new ways of doing things ...many of which will be unpalatable ...I suppose we pay for a music performance, and the organizer keeps some of the money and the artist gets some of it…Can’t we see this paying-to-be-at-a-book-launch in the same vein?”

Well no, because the writer is selling his book, and not providing you with a performance. It’s like some vacuum cleaner salesman begging to let him give you a demo, and then asking you to pay for the demo!

One writer friend added: “Heck, these are some new bizarre evolving norms perhaps – and will quietly become accepted practice.”

I doubt it, though. It is likely that readers will get wise to this new trend, and the already thin crowd at book launches, will get even thinner.

Wondering if I was only horrified auntyji on the block, I checked with a couple of non-writer enthu reader friends, whether they would think it is ok to pay an entry charge to go listen to a (non-known) writer speak about his book and then sell you the book. Their response was a more robust one than the people I had spoken to up to then. As one of them put it, using my most favourite Indianism: “Ay! mad-or-what?” And someone else added an incredulous: “Kuchh bhi?”

Gouri Dange

Pune Mirror Jan 2013