Rajat Book Corner: Taking Books Beyond the Bookstore

A Book is the Smartest Hand-Held Device

The one thing that has worked magically for us was when we took away the bookstore logo from an initiative we began in Jaipur. It is called – A Book is the Smartest Hand-Held Device. It was done to position a book vis-à-vis a digital gadget in the hands of children. Apparently, books are still one of the only tangible things that a child can hold and experience while gaining something meaningful out of it. Under this initiative, we have begun curating author discussions not only inside the bookstore but all over the city. We collaborated with the government, local tourist spots, schools, colleges, institutions and various organizations.

Connecting the Reader to the Author!

We feel bookstores have two beautiful powerful associations that can be used for a collective good – Access to good content in terms of books (obviously!), and access to patrons. Bookstores’ primary role is to connect the reader to a book. We are taking it a step ahead and connecting the reader to the author!

We did a book talk at Albert Hall with Harinder Sikka, the celebrated author of Calling Sehmat. We gathered about 300 people and sold a lot of books post the event. We had to make a lot of collaborations to make it happen, and we strongly believe collaborations empower the bookstores like nothing else.

We also initiated a professionally run book club called 2-Pages (www.2pages.in), that has become a sort of talk of the town. We have done various collaborations within the city with organizations, cafes, even hospitals to host these book club meetings. The members are empowered to run the club holistically. We aren’t focusing on promoting the bookstore, but diligently working towards promoting books, and the reading habit. It not only brings a lot of flavour but empowerment.

Consistency of events like author visits, book readings, etc., is the key. With the book-club meetings happening alternate Saturdays, we have initiated a magical discipline amidst our readers. They not only look forward to meeting regularly, but also help if there is an author event happening in between.

Creating a Brand Image

Rather than focusing on social media we are playing on our strengths and creating a brand image where the reader feels all the books that the bookstore promotes are genuine. We are trying not to ride the tide but also not going against it. Author visits are not confined only to book-signings at the bookstore but a more engaging activity and occasion for the entire city. We are doing workshops and events in schools, colleges and various organizations, institutions, etc., to make it an inclusive process. We got a social media influencer – Ankur Warikoo to visit Jaipur a couple of weeks ago, and simply asked a few schools to purchase his books to curate a session. His popularity got them to readily agree! However, having a good rapport with the author as traditional and dedicated booksellers also plays a role.

In July, we organized a Mental Wellness Conclave with the book-club members, where we curated five panels with eminent personalities who are also authors such as the former editor-in-chief of National Geographic, the former captain of the Indian Polo team and a popular folk singer. All the panels were designed around books. And we also kept a corner of curated books that the book-club has collectively read thus far. The members talked about those books to the people who came for the event for the first time. We raised the money locally with institution partnerships, book-club members, food brands, etc. This was entirely designed, produced, and executed by the book-club members as their own. All the above initiatives are done with the branding of the bookstore; however, the book club is bringing in the discipline and the regularity of doing such awareness activities at a larger scale.

Empathy to Become a Bookseller

Bookstores are not struggling as much with economics or change of reading habits as we are struggling because of the dearth of booksellers. It requires a huge amount of training and empathy to become a bookseller. Let alone the patience. With the initiative of the book-club, we are trying to garner sensitivity amongst our book-club members and patrons to also double up as booksellers if and when required.

Mohit Batra is a third generation bookseller, and also the man behind the initiative: A Book is the Smartest Hand-Held Device. The idea for the initiative generated from positioning a book as a meaningful gadget in a child’s hands. His aim to achieve this is by creating more booklovers. He has curated sessions with the likes of Sudha Murty, Vishwanathan Anand, Malcolm Gladwell, Robin Sharma, Indira Nooyi, Harsh Mariwala, Jeffrey Archer and over 100 more renowned and established authors. A gold medalist from XLRI, Jamshedpur, he is also spearheading a literary agency, deftly named Paper Sparrows, under which he aims to introduce new—and some old—voices in publishing.