Amazon India has come out with it’s annual reading trends for India, where in buyers from Amazon market place were surveyed and actual sales data analyzed to determine what India is reading right now.
And the most noticeable change is the dip in popularity for Chetan Bhagat.
Colaba Conspiracy by Surendra Mohan Pathak, a Hindi crime fiction novel was the most popular Indian book of 2014, as per the answers provided by respondents across India.
Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat was ranked a distant #4, behind Sudeep Nagarkar and Durjoy Dutta.
The Top 5 most popular books of 2014
- Colaba Conspiracy by Surendra Mohan Pathak
- Sorry, you’re not my type by Sudeep Nagarkar
- When only love remains by Durjoy Dutta
- Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat
- Your Dreams Are Mine Now by Ravindra Singh
However, when it comes to actual books sold on Amazon India last year, then Chetan Bhagat’s Half Girlfriend beats them all. Rupa & Co., which published this book, ran full page advertisements on leading newspapers, a luxury which other Indian writers never enjoy. Avid book readers are mentioning the aggressive marketing strategy behind Bhagat’s books as one of the reasons of it’s massive sales.
Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography: Playing It My Way is ranked at #2 in this list, followed by The Accidental Prime Minister by Sanjaya Baru.
Encouragingly, out of top 10, 7 best sellers are from Indian writers, and only three are from International authors, which is certainly a good sign for Indian authors.
Top 10 Best Sellers of 2014
- Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat (Indian Writing)
- Playing It My Way – My Autobiography by Sachin Tendulkar (Autobiography)
- Accidental Prime Minister : The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh by Sanjaya Baru (Politics)
- Forge your Future by A.P.J Abdul Kalam (Self-help)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (Book 9) by Jeff Kinney (Children)
- Your Dreams Are Mine Now by Ravinder Singh (Indian Writing)
- The Deliberate Sinner by Bhaavna Arora (Indian Writing)
- Adultery by Paulo Coelho (Literary Fiction)
- Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus Book 5) by Rick Riordan (Young Adult)
- Sorry, you’re not my type by Sudeep Nagarkar (Indian Writing)
Even in Non-Fiction category, popularity of Indian books is rising. For instance, Nikhil Inamdar’s Rokda: How Baniyas Do Business was the most popular book in business and Not Just an Accountant by Vinod Rai received more votes than books by International non-fiction authors.
Then One Day: A Memoir by Naseerudin Shah was the most popular book in Biographies genre, even beating Sachin Tendulkar’s Playing It My Way.
The report observed that Politics and Children’s genre are the fastest growing categories in Amazon India, as the sale from these categories were highest last year. Compared to International authors, books written by Indian writers and in some cases Hindi books (Colaba Conspiracy) are increasingly liked by Indians.
Samir Kumar, Director, Category Management, Amazon India said, “It is indeed a matter of great pride that Indian authors are gaining a strong foothold amongst readers and are amongst the most read authors, for the second consecutive year. We are committed to helping our customers enjoy their passion for reading by surfacing them with wide and unique choices across languages, genres and authors,”
Most Well Read Indian City
In terms of cities, Delhi-NCR region witnessed most number of book sales, followed by Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Here are the top 10 cities where most number of books was sold:
- Delhi – NCR
- Bangalore
- Mumbai
- Hyderabad
- Pune
- Chennai
- Kolkata
- Jaipur
- Lucknow
- Coimbatore
You can find the complete report here.
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