E-BOOKS ARE FUTURE: A LOOK INTO THE WORLD OF NEW DELHI WORLD BOOK FAIR 2017
Mangrol Multimedia at New Delhi World Book Fair 2017
Monday 09 January 2017
Visit us at HALL 12A STALL 160
DAY THREE:
A lot is expected from an event as big and highly anticipated as the New Delhi World Book Fair 2017
(NDWBF 2017). One could safely say that those who live in Delhi and is an avid reader, would seldom
afford missing NDWBF 2017. For, where else would you get an opportunity to have a dekko at so
many titles, get attractive discounts on books and most importantly, show your love and respect for
literature! And why Delhi only, NDWBF 2017 attracts people not only from several parts of India but
also from abroad.
Monday was the third day of this 8-day fair. Being the first day of week, it was obvious that crowd would be lesser than Sunday. We managed to reach to the venue and open up our stall for visitors well on time, i.e. a minute before 11 am, as we wished not to miss even a single interesting person coming to Mangrol Multimedia’s stall. At one end, one of our teams was at the stall, while another team started meeting other stall holders for networking. The response on both the fronts, we must say, was far better than Sunday’s.
We felt that Sunday’s crowd was more about family outing and also, book seekers who spared time
to visit the fair. Monday’s crowd, on the other hand, was about a perfect mix of book lover and
business enthusiasts and collaborators. We got indication of this quite early in the day. For, people
from media, publication, designing, web business started coming to our stall on their own to inquire
about our services. Visitors wanted to know about our translation services, languages in which we
provide this service, and how could we help them in trans-creation, localisation of content. Our
assurance of quality and timely delivery of job were what most visitors appreciated alike.
One or two of our visitors also had a question which we could not answer to their satisfaction. They
asked: What do you charge for translation services, on per word basis and on per page basis. While it
was easy for us to quote per word rate, it was difficult to do so for per page rate. That’s because, we
explained to them, one needs to know how many words a page would have. While we know it well
that certain publishers do manage to get translation done at dirt cheap rates, we felt really bad for
translators’ fraternity and clients alike, as both end up as loser in most such cases.
While translators are paid way below their rightful money in such cases, clients do not get top-notch
quality because translation in such a fashion, at almost no cost, can never stand the test of quality
and perfection. No lunch is free, and we all know this well. If you expect quality, you should pay for
it. We had some really engaging conversation on this topic which also helped us know way of
operation in other parts of the country. We also had visitors from other countries and few of them
showed interest in our services.
We also had many visitors who inquired about our web designing, social media management
services. Someone wanted to start an e-commerce website, while another wanted to re-haul his
website and yet another visitor wanted to do social media management of his existing website.
What surprised us, in most cases, was lack of knowledge of people in general about which, when,
how and for what a certain technology should be used. For example, we had this enterprising
businessman who already had a stint as a seller on Amazon. Then, his account was suspended by
Amazon because of delayed or declined deliveries to buyers. He wanted to start selling products on
Facebook and was very insistent. He believed that selling products on Facebook, so that he does not
have to pay commission to likes of Amazon, is the ideal way out. We had to explain him at length
that neither Facebook, nor Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Shopclues or any other marketplace would
be of any use to him unless, 1) he knows why and how to sell online and 2) it is imperative to deliver
right product on time to be a winner.
Few others also had interesting questions about thing ranging from domain registration to
redesigning of a website. We really loved explaining things to visitors. Few aspiring publishers asked
us how great it would be to start ebooks business and we said why not, that’s going to be the future
of books. While print copies will always remain in use, takers for e-versions are surely going to
increase manifold with passage of time!
For us, Monday proved to be a really great day. We received inquiries, we met likeminded people,
we learnt new things from others and also got positive vibes for the remaining days of NDWBF 2017!
Mangrol Multimedia is a participant in NDWBF 2017. We invite you to visit our stall to explore our services and samples.
Dates: 07 to 15 January 2017
Venue: Pragati Maidan, New Delhi
Hall: 12A
Stall: 160
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