The dominance of paperbacks, when it comes to reading habits, is still prevailing as the recently-concluded month-long book fair saw records in book sales as well as publishing, despite the digital revolution and huge promotion of e-books. Information provided by the Bangla Academy showed that the publication of books has nearly doubled and sales have increased by almost eight times compared to six years ago.

A total of 4,995 books came out during the Boi Mela and books were sold amounting to Tk 82 crore (estimated), while the number of released books was 2,963 and sales amounted to Tk 11 crore (estimated) in 2013. The number of published books in the fair in the years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 stood at 2,995, 3,700, 3,444, 3,646, 4,591 and 4,685 respectively, while the estimated total sales were Tk 17 crore, Tk 22 crore, Tk 40 crore, Tk 66 crore, Tk 71 crore and  Tk 77 crore.

The academy stalls alone also sold books worth Tk 2.33 crore this year while total sales of the Academy were Tk 68 lakh in 2013, Tk 1.1 crore in 2014, Tk 1.61 crore in 2015, Tk 1.5 crore in 2016, Tk 1.55 crore in 2017, Tk 1.51 crore in 2018 and  Tk 2.16 crore in 2019. Alongside, four eBook stores - Muthoboi, Boitoi, Sheiboi, and Chorui Dot Com – were set up at the Bangla Academy premises this year to promote e-books. But there was still a demand for paperbacks or hardcovers.

Jamiya, a third-year student of Jagannath University, termed the book fair a place of meeting between writers and readers.  “When we go to the book fair for buying any book, we can sometimes take selfie and autographs of the writers. It’s not possible in digital format (e-books). Paperback book has a unique appeal, I think,” she also said.

New writer and reporter Dipan Nandy said he found the ultimate comfort in reading paperback books.  “Though I read e-book for saving time and money, I find the real enjoyment in paperback books,” he said. Young writer Abdullah Al Imran has published five novels -- Aishob Valobasha Miche Noy, Kalchakra, Dibanishi, Hridoyer Dokhin Duar, Chandralekha -- so far and got a huge response from his readers and fans.

He shared his experience on reading paperback book with UNB. “Reading paperback book gives me an immense source of joy which is missing from e-books. I don’t deny the importance of e-books for the demand of the digital era. But I don’t find the real happiness and pure ecstasy in them,” he said. Farid Ahmed, the President of Knowledge and Creative Publishers Association, said the process of publishing books should be made easier for publishers to publish more books at low cost.