Re: New Book - Binaca Geetmala Ka Sureela Safar

UVR wrote:

On Mar 12, 12:39 pm, asi...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I mean, a Shobha De sells for much more
than a Jnanapith award winner. :-(



I think you're comparing apples and oranges here.
(The price of) Shobha De (books) must be compared
with (those of) other authors who target the same
reader-base. Price was never an indicator of quality!

Whether the Jnanpith award winners' output is or isn't
more valuable than Ms. De's is NOT the topic of this
discussion. The facts of real life are that Ms. De's books
do sell at the price they are priced at (sad, but true).
As do those of other authors who peddle the same
kind of fare. A new author who writes the same stuff
should not, therefore, be taken exception to if s/he
hawks her output -- such as it may be -- at comparable
prices.

My point, likewise, is simply that if KC Kanda's stuff
can sell at $25-30, then so can this book. More on
the same lines below.


I agree with Afzalji. There is no 'creative content' that Mr Bhargava
had to produce. Nor imho, is the market small (akin to Engineering/
medicine books which have to price steep due to the small volumes).


The absence of 'creative content' does not always
a "worth less" publication make. Nor does the fact
that the information presented in the publication was
already available in the "public domain" before the
author repackaged it. If you disagree, may I ask you
to state unequivocally your opinion as to the "creative
content" in (and hence the "fair market price" of) the
HFGK volumes? Or, if that's a bigger bite than you
would care to chew, do the same for the Saigal or
Mukesh Geet Koshes. Or, for that matter, the Hindi
Filmography (1981 and more recent)? For full credit,
state your opinion before visiting Dr. Singh's site for
the actual price of these.

-UVR.





As for the last part of your response, I hope the good Professor
doesn't interpret it as a "hint" !

Though the trend of this thread is now seriously OT, I can't help
making a few observations :

Obviously, Ms. Shobha De's writings do not appeal all that much
to you or Shri Simha. But the fact remains that she has recently
been given a special award for being an outstanding/great woman
in this particular field ! Such Awards may or may not be indi-
cators of excellence !

Price may not be an indicator of quality. But, here, we are
dealing with a situation that comes (more or less) within the
ambit of certain economic laws (Diminishing Utility/Marginal
Returns etc.). If Shobha De's books didn't find sufficient
number of buyers, the price of her books would definitely come
down. To some extent, therefore, the relative wealth or poverty
of a consumer also comes into the reckoning. I presume there are
a large number of people wanting to purchase Kannada books,
encouraged no doubt by their more affordable price. I wish the
same were true of Urdu also ! Urdu books these days are so
highly priced, that they cannot be afforded by most of the Urdu -
knowing public. Which is a pity.

"Creative content" (or its absence), "worth" (or worthlessness)
are not quite germane to our discussion here. The point I was
trying to make was that the actual contents of the above book
may not be subject to any copyright laws. It should, therefore,
be a simple matter for some intrepid soul to keep on posting
these annual lists online, one by one, and then there can be a
general and spirited discussion on each of these "masterpieces".

Another point : what about the authenticity of the contents ?
Has Mr. Ameen Sayani vetted the book or even written its Fore -
word ? What are the credentials of the "compiler" Shri
Bhargava ?





Afzal
.

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