05 January 2004	Monday	12 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 4: Men of letters and intellectuals held forth at more than 80 book-launching ceremonies in the year 2003. Booksellers and publishers point out that book-launching ceremonies play little role in boosting the sales of a book. According to them, in most cases a book launch is an exercise in public relations.

The chairman of the Urdu department at the University of Karachi, Dr Moinuddin Aqeel, said that by and large the sales of a book remained unaffected by book-launching ceremonies.

Mr Aqeel, who has authored, edited and compiled 35 books over the past 34 years, said that most speakers at book-launching ceremonies spoke about books without having read them. He added that some speakers only glanced through blurbs printed on the cover of books before speaking about them in a very knowledgeable manner.

He pointed out that few speakers commented critically about a book at its launch. He added that those who spoke at book-launching ceremonies were usually friends of the author and they hardly ever said anything critical.

Despite the fact that so many book-launching ceremonies take place in the country, reading habits have yet to take root among the masses. At the most 1,000 new local titles hit the shelves of bookstores every year, most of them only to gather dust and become shop-soiled in the process.

Even the circulation of dailies has also dipped considerably. In 1992, 294 newspapers came out every day. This figure has now dropped to 168 or thereabouts.

Interestingly, the import of foreign titles has risen considerably over the years. Private entrepreneurs estimate that the worth of books imported into the country is somewhere in the region of Rs200 million a year.

The editor of well-known literary magazine Mukalama, Mobin Mirza, said a book launch is a celebration of the publication of a book. "It does not actually demand critical appraisal of a book. Which is why most speakers do not critically examine the books that are launched at ceremonies."

The chief editor of the Urdu Lughat Board, Rauf Parekh, observed that those who organized book-launching ceremonies sought nothing but self-glorification. "Did Ghalib and Iqbal launch their works amid much fanfare? Shahabnama is one of the best-selling books of Urdu literature. It was published one year after the death of Qudratullah Shahab."