Author Chetan Bhagat's much talked about book ‘Half Girlfriend' and cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar's autobiography ‘Playing It My Way' have failed to win the hearts and minds of the readers, says a recent online readers' poll conducted by e –commerce giant Amazon India yet these two were the top-selling books of 2014 in the same poll.
Readers have voted in favor of Surendra Mohan Pathak's Hindi novel ‘Colaba Conspiracy' in Indian author category instead.
While, in the autobiography section, “And Then One Day: A Memoir by Naseerudin Shah” scored higher than Sachin Tendulkar's ‘Playing It My Way'.
That's not all. The survey exposed one more interesting aspect about the readers' world.
Despite emerging as highest voted books by readers in respective categories, both ‘Colaba Conspiracy' and ‘And Then One Day: A Memoir by Naseerudin Shah' could not make it to the top 10 list of most selling books.
On the other hand, standing fourth on the popularity chart, ‘Half Girlfriend' topped the selling charts while Tendulkar's autobiography boasted the second slot, according to Amazon India's 2014 reading trends.
So, if given a look at the common factors behind the success of these two books, four major factors will come out -
1) Big Names
Obviously! Sachin Tendulkar and Chetan Bhagat need no introduction among the Indian denizens.
2) Publicity/Advertising
The amount of publicity, advertising and promotion during the pre-release period, launch date and after release is directly proportional to the number of copies that the author will sell.
3) Traditional and social media
There is no denying the fact that being the fourth pillar of democracy; media does hold the power to influence the masses. And, Chetan Bhagat and Sachin Tendulkar are more than popular on all media platforms, especially on social.
4) Controversy
Do admit! Indians likes spicy things and Chetan Bhagat is a notorious figure in himself, considering his remarks, writing style and people's reaction, for that matter.
On the other hand, leaking out some ‘off-the-field' talks and controversial statements from big players worked in favor of Tendulkar.
No doubt reading habits of Indian audience has been devastatingly affected by the big names, controversial issues, media coverage and overall buzz, whereas content quality has remained to be a negligible aspect. This doesn't mean that ‘Half Girlfriend' and ‘Playing It My Way' lacked on content part, but certainly other factors were more influential in their case, resulting in the immense sky-rocketing selling graph of the two books.
The poll was conducted over a period of 10 days starting from Dec. 26 until Jan. 5, where more than 25,000 respondents voted for their favorite books and the Top 10 Bestsellers of 2014 were:
1. Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat (Indian Writing)
2. Playing it My Way- My Autobiography by Sachin Tendulkar (Autobiography)
3. The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh by Sanjaya Baru (Politics)
4. Forge your Future by A.P.J Abdul Kalam (Self-help)
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (Book 9) by Jeff Kinney (Children)
6. Your Dreams Are Mine Now by Ravinder Singh (Indian Writing)
7. The Deliberate Sinner by Bhaavna Arora (Indian Writing)
8. Adultery by Paulo Coelho (Literary Fiction)
9. Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus Book 5) by Rick Riordan (Young Adult)
10. Sorry, You're Not My Type by Sudeep Nagarkar (Indian Writing)
