Oxford's e-author contest

IN CONVERSATION

Oxford Bookstores was the first book retail chain in India. Besides the flagship Kolkata store, there are four other Oxford Bookstores in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Goa. As first mover, has Oxford been able to build on its advantage? Or are the new entrants in the field snipping away at its heels?

Rajiv Chowdhry, chief executive officer, Apeejay Oxford Bookstores, tells Business Standard that there are plans afoot to bring the excitement back to the brand, starting with E-Author Version 4, the online writing competition, launched in the capital on January 27.

What is E-author?

E-author is an initiative by Oxford Bookstores to spot writing talent. Thus, only those who have not published anything are eligible to send in entries. In earlier years, the competition was restricted to novels.

This year we have extended it to short stories. In later years, we're thinking of poetry etcetera. Prizes worth Rs 1,00,000 are on offer. We're also talking to Rupa for publishing the novel by last year's winner, Smitha Parigi.

We've tied up with Reader's Digest this year, and the first three winners will be published as a supplementary in the magazine. Besides, their work will be published online.

How is E-author different from other writing competitions such as the Crossword Book Award?

These other awards are given to people who are already established as published authors. Whereas E-author is meant to give a platform to people who want to write, but don't know how to go about getting published. We've already had 100 entries since the opening on January 27.

Is the online store a successful idea?

Very much so. The Oxford Bookstore website gets about 1,500 hits a day, and it's rising. Sales through the website are currently 5-6 per cent of total, but they are growing faster, especially on the back of 10-15 per cent discounts on bulk orders.

Orders come in from small towns like Jamshedpur and Kanpur, and from the Northeast; some overseas universities, especially from Canada, also place orders since they find it cheaper to buy books from India.

What are your expansion plans?

There will be the new store in Chennai. Also coming up next year are 20-30 franchise stores in the smaller towns. With the franchise model, the overall costs will be less since the metro shops will do all the back-office jobs for them.

Then there'll be around 200-300 express stores, in the airport-store format, for which we are speaking to various national players.

Within the Oxford stores itself, there will be a store-within-a-store for upper-end gadgets, accessories, or health goods. The idea is to get young people into the store since it is they who are doing the spending.