Concerns over sales of Tamil books
Posted on: 23/Apr/2013 6:53:06 PM
Writer and publishers of Tamil books have expressed concerns about the difficulty of selling a book. Reports say that it takes more than three and a half year to sell a thousand books.
R. Shanmugam of Tamil Nool Veliyeedu Matrum Nool Virpanai Membattu Kuzhumam says, �Publishing a book is easy. It costs just Rs. 30,000 but selling the copies is next to impossible unless they are by a popular author� At least half of the Tamil publishers depend on the State government�s libraries for sale of their books. The libraries have a quota for different kinds of publications and buy up to a thousand copies. Books including novels and popular poetry are sold but people don�t buy books on modern and ancient literature, literary criticism or short story collections.�
�Social respect for authors too has gone down. There used to be a time when authors like my guru Na. Partharasathy and Ki. Va. Jagannathan used to attract big crowds like political leaders. The only way out, as I see it, is for schools and colleges to have libraries; marks must be given for reading books,� says writer Tirupur Krishnan.
