Despite the initial euphoria, the sales of Jaswant Singh's memoirs A Call to Honour have slid to 40 percent of the initial levels even as the publisher Rupa claims that the book was a runaway success with a fourth print run.
According to a book distributor in New Delhi, the book which has an initial sales of 600 to 700 copies a day in the first few days of release, has fallen to 250 copies. As many as five top book stores in the capital Business Standard spoke to, are reporting a similar trend.
Priced at Rs 495, the book was riding high on the controversy surrounding it. According to a publishing source, Singh overdid the hype around his book on the 'mole in the PMO' issue and that tactic has largely fallen flat.
Nothing has come to the light either in his book or in his public remarks which has proved much of a let down for the readers causing the sales to dip, he added.
The publishers, however, refute this claim. "The sales have been fantastic. We have about 20,000 copies sold with the book going in the fourth print run. The fifth reprint is being planned and we have retailers coming to our office to pick up copies. How can a book go for these many print runs if it is not being pushed off the shelves", asks Kapish Mehra, publisher, Rupa & Co, while declining to quantify the size of print runs.
"The controversy was contrived. Sales, similarly, were higher initially and have almost disappeared now", said Rakesh Chandra, proprietor, New Book Depot. He added that just the count of print runs was immaterial because one can have a print run of 10,000 copies or even 500 copies.
While any book in India, that sells over 5,000 copies is deemed a success, the book circles had pegged their expectations sky high in Singh's book at 50,000 copies. Disappointment then seems natural.
According to many, the controversy - supposed to aid book sales - has proved bit of a let down for readers, cutting into the expected sales.Om Arora, proprietor of one of the largest distributors in the country, Variety Book Depot said : "The book hasn't done as well as expected. The sales have slowed down suddenly in the last few days."
He added that while it was too early to write off the book yet, the word of mouth publicity - the most potent tool to sustain sales over a period - isn't doing too much to drive the sales.
Sources in the trade circles claim that as a result of the initial massive booking, all book stores are well stocked for now. And decline in the sales curve would set in soon.
"The sales are dipping. The pre-launch and launch time bookings were very high that have resulted in good stocking by most book stores now. One cannot be sure but the this or the next print run may be the last one unless he reveals the Mole", commented a book store owner.