Re: [Goanet] Why Goa-related books sell and do not sell - personal impression
Frederick FN Noronha wrote thus about MY personal experience (as the subject title clearly indicates): Assuming your experience reflects a wider reality, at best YOU could conclude that Goans *who attend a expat festival overseas* are more inclined to buy more of sausages and feni rather than books. Comment: Please vide the title of my post. Have a good week ahead. jc --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
Re: [Goanet] Why Goa-related books sell and do not sell - personal impression
Having read Frederick's post on the topic, I can safely say that most of it makes infinite sense to me. As far as I am concerned, he is an expert in the field of publishing. Others, surely, are likely to know other experts in the field and other fields. My comments (infra) are related to the following from Frederick Bosco: [A] Frederick wrote: all this talk about Goans not READING, about them being more interested in feni and sausages rather than books, is just loads of crap. [B] Bosco wrote: I wonder how Frederick quashes the notion that Sausages and Feni trumps books. (...) perhaps we should read Silviano's perspective right here on Goanet, circa 2006. http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2006-July/132454.html COMMENTS: re [A]: Frederick may be right. I could not comment on the reading habits of others and I did not. My post was related to the 'purchase/sale' of books. I submit that the 'reading' of books is not evidence of quite separate and apart from the 'purchase' of books. re [B]: I remember that Toronto Viva Goa festival in the uncomfortably warm, poorly ventilated and claustrophobic Bombadier site on July 29, 2006. There were a number of stalls. During our 2 hours in stalls' area, not a fly visited the book stall whereas the sausages and pickles were selling like hotcakes (so to speak). I have reminded myself that all I could did write (as the subject title states) is with reference to my personal impression. jc --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
Re: [Goanet] Why Goa-related books sell and do not sell - personal impression
On 4 December 2011 19:25, J. Colaco jc cola...@gmail.com wrote: There were a number of stalls. During our 2 hours in stalls' area, not a fly visited the book stall whereas the sausages and pickles were selling like hotcakes (so to speak). Assuming your experience reflects a wider reality, at best you could conclude that Goans *who attend a expat festival overseas* are more inclined to buy more of sausages and feni rather than books. But even that might be debatable. Anyway, your experience is not sufficient for us to draw a wider conclusion that Goans as a whole won't buy books, or won't read. (Even just reading is good enough for me...) On the contrary, my experience since 2007 suggests something very different. Of course, pricing the book aptly, making it easily available (we are still struggling here), packaging it well, and choosing a good (preferably non-fiction) topic makes a big difference. FN --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
Re: [Goanet] Why Goa-related books sell and do not sell - personal impression
JC, Thanks for conferring me on expertise in a field where I don't claim to have it. Yes, I have been a longtime collector of Goa-related books (if given the license to brag a bit, over 1500 in my home collection when I last stopped counting, but far fewer than Eddie Fernandes of course). In addition, one has been applying some ideas from the world of Free Software to a certain kind of alternative publishing here. But apart from that, I'm still learning and clearly have a long way to go. Even from my limited experience of the past four years, I would tend to disagree with your analysis though. According to me (and I'm open to correction), below are some of the significant reasons why books don't sell (and incidentally I'm not just pointing fingers, because we at Goa,1556 have made our fair share of mistakes too): * Lack of awareness of a book -- few reviews happening still. * Lack of effective distribution networks -- in Goa, rest of India, overseas. * Incorrect pricing. * Unappealing packaging. * Not reaching the target audience. * Not easily available in bookshops and non-bookshop spaces. * Fiction and poetry can be tough to draw attention to. I'm presuming that quality per se would not be an issue. Anyone who spends so much time and energy in writing a book would mostly know what they're in to. Being anti-Portuguese, anti-Indian, anti-Catholic or anti-whatever is not an issue. There is always a market willing to read anti-something books. Salman Rushdie didn't lose out on readers for the stands he takes, nor did Priolkar (The Goa Insquisition). An even more extreme example is Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf', which mysteriously gets repeatedly often in India itself. Going to experts is not necessarily helpful. Some individuals have themselves learnt the job, and done well. Vasco Pinho's books are one example. Then too, you can get expert advice for free or next to free, if you know whom to ask -- for instance, I myself learnt the rudimentary principles of book publishing from a National Book Trust (New Delhi) course that set me back by a princely Rs 500! Even Cecil Pinto, whilst we jostle in cyberspace, has helped gratis with designing the Goa,1556 logo and some of our early covers. I'm not saying don't-pay-if-you-can, but a good idea will somehow find the route to surface, whether you have the money or not. I agree fully on c below. We should not expect a fellow Goan to buy a book just because it is written by another Goan. Book-buying is not charity; it is an economic decision. We should make an attractive offer. Lamenting that Goans don't buy books is futile; are we giving them good enough reason to read? When it comes to constructive criticism, let's acknowledge that there is a lot of subjectivity in this field. One man's food is another's poison. You can take on a lot of the work yourself, if strapped for resources (or if you feel you can do it well). I feel though that cover-design should be assigned to a professional -- even if you have to beg for help (we do!), or someone who has a good sense of aesthetics. Secondly, trying to edit/proofread your own writing can be a disaster. At the very least, give it to someone with a good eye for detail; second- and third-readings help a lot. So do fourth- and fifth-readings, though time is always in short supply. We have gained and learned a great deal from veterans like Goanetter Victor Rangel-Ribeiro on this front (and have more to learn). Publishing a book is not an end in itself. I would disagree with your suggestion (e) below. It needs to get visible and possibly become viable too (or as close to it as possible, using a range of sources for making it viable if possible). This is the test of a job well done. Lastly, all this talk about Goans not reading, about them being more interested in feni and sausages rather than books, is just loads of crap. Every book has its own set of readers. Finding them is the challenge. Pricing the book well, and making it easy to buy is an even bigger challenge. Not being able to find the readers is a hint that we're getting something wrong; or not working smartly enough or hard enough. Just because we have a whole lot of market inefficiencies (and 'broken links') in the scattered market that is Goa and her diaspora, let's not blame the reader unfairly. I agree, it's a challenging situation. But don't overlook the other side of the picture. To conclude: my visiting Sri Lankan friend MJR David (one of the key players at the Kothamalee radio station and part of the BBC Sinhala service) was just this evening commenting over how many books-in-print Goa currently has. Definitely no other part of India of comparable dimensions would have as many. Twenty years back, you could choose from five or 10 to 15 easy-to-buy books. Today, some bigger bookshops have a choice of upto 300 books on Goa, and there are many more if you dig deeper! So, the issues might be more complex than it seems... FN On 3 December 2011 21:46, J.
Re: [Goanet] Why Goa-related books sell and do not sell - personal impression
-Original Message- From: J. Colaco jc f: Always remember that if I wanted to sell my book to some Goans, I may have to attach a free gift (of Goa sausages AND Feni) to the book. From: Frederick FN Noronha Lastly, all this talk about Goans not reading, about them being more interested in feni and sausages rather than books, is just loads of crap. RESPONSE: Interesting points raised by Jose and then Frederick. I am highlighting a couple for a specific reason - books. St Francis Xavier's feast is celebrated in Toronto by various groups of people, most notably by the G.O.A. Toronto. See flyer and what is on sale: http://www.goatoronto.com/events/details/108-feast-of-st-francis-xavier-2011 Today, Dec 3, there was another event organized by individuals who I know to be fantastic supporters of the Goan community. Apparently (as I had to pass my ticket to a Divadkar) post-religious ceremonies, there was a getogether with food and music and it was an enjoyable affair. And there were sausages, pickles and Christmas sweets (neuris, etc) on sale. No books!! Perhaps, Jose's is a novel idea to get the thousands of copies of books (some decaying) out of the storage where authors and publishers have them stored. I wonder how Frederick quashes the notion that Sausages and Feni trumps books. I thought food (and music) of all cultures trumps all other attributes of respective cultures. I like Hakka noodles, shawarma, the fado, etc...don't own any books from those cultures. For all the recent brouhaha regarding Silviano's book perhaps we should read Silviano's perspective right here on Goanet, circa 2006. http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2006-July/132454.html Too bad I missed the SFX event again this year due to a conflict with my other passion - the kura. - B --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
