President Pranab Mukherjee's online deal for book leaves bookstores fuming

New Delhi President Pranab Mukherjees yettobe released book has already created a controversy not for its content but for an exclusive deal signed by its publishers with an online retailer Bookstores have termed the publishers choice monopolistic and unfair and many have decided to boycott the publisherThe publisher Rupa has signed a deal with amazonin giving the online platform exclusive rights to sell the book The Dramatic Decade The Indira Gandhi Years for 21 daysPresident Pranab MukherjeeThe book to be launched on Mukherjees birthday Dec 11 will only be available in bookstores after three weeks and this will invariably give a huge advantage to the online portalBookstore owners are not happy with this exclusivity and prominent shops like Om Bookstore and Bahri Sons have decided to boycott Rupa and are in the process of sending back its earlier booksHow stupid it is of a publisher who has sold more than 5000 books to sell this one book exclusively to the online retailer Are we jokers sitting here Who is going to do justice to his other books Anuj Bahri CEO of Bahri Sons a leading Delhibased publisher and distributor told IANSWe have decided to boycott all his books If he thinks he can survive on his own without the trade then good for him It is his policy and his decision Let him sell all his other books through the online platform he addedAjay Mago of Om Bookstores questioned the medium the publishers have chosen as the online platform in the West has already sounded the death knell for brickandmortar storesWe have nothing against the online medium but in this case what should be questioned is why the publishers have chosen this medium to sell the book Why they chose to restrict offline selling for three weeks asked MagoThis Mago feels is adding to the woes of bookstores who have to manage salaries and staffWith online platforms offering generous discounts on books as much as 60 percent that exceeds the margin publishers usually offer to bookstores the hugelydiscounted books act as a bait for readers who have started ordering books onlineWhat we have seen in the last couple of years is that people would come to the bookstore and then order books online What we are saying is that online platforms should behave like another bookstore They should offer sensible discounts Mago told IANSHe said most online retailers were incurring losses and disturbing the entire industryAccording to Charan Singh Rawat sales manager of Jain Book Store the publisher Rupa has been drawing silly rules for the past one yearThis had happened previously with Chetan Bhagats latest novel The publisher has been telling us not to sell the book online What sense does it make Such tantrums wont be accepted and they cant run the business like this Rawat told IANSWe have told them we wont keep their books on such terms and conditions We cant afford to sell books with such huge margins So let them sell books exclusively online he addedWhen IANS contacted Kapish Mehra managing director of Rupa he offered no commentsHowever Amazons public relation team said that for them it was another channel to reach out to the customers and the publisher would be the best to throw light on this arrangementPriyanka Malhotra director of Full Circle and Hind Pocket Books feels that when a publisher chooses to sell his or her book as a commodity there is a problem because then it is not about literature and reading anymore it is about hardsellingFor books to be sold through physical stores and also online is fair But to sell exclusively through an online retailer cutting out the traditional bookstore completely seems selfdefeating Malhotra told IANSShe feels publishers authors and readers should respect each others rolePublishers need our support to sell their books It is important for us to realise that bookstores online and brickandmortar publishers authors and readers understand and respect each others role she added