Shoppers Stop-promoted Crossword Bookstore has decided to back new authors and publish their work. It has engaged two publishing companies to bring out titles from budding writers, which would be marketed across its 95 stores and loyal customers.

“Self-publication is to be a new business model, and is being treated as a service to the new authors,” said Kinjal Shah, CEO, Crossword Bookstore. “Apart from printing and packaging, we will market the new books across our 95 stores and 4.5 lakh loyal customers. This will be a new revenue stream for the company.”

Even as most of Crossword’s competitors have either exited or scaled down the bookstores business, Shah says the category still holds potential. “Business is not easy, and competitors have either exited or moved into new categories like toys. We still feel it’s a virgin market, where the concept of a community bookstore can work.”

With plans of adding six new stores in places like Goa, Bangalore and Hyderabad, the company expects physical stores to work better than the online space, and e-books. “Our experience with e-books has not been that great. Currently, less than 1 per cent of our revenue comes from this space. We will continue to expand to tier 2 cities through physical stores, and these will be led by franchises,” said Shah.

Crossword book stores tend to measure from as low as 500 sq ft to 20,000 sq ft. In some places, a part of the store is leased to coffee chains such as Cafe Coffee Day and retail outlet Moshe to compensate for the steep rental costs in metro markets.

Currently, almost 60 per cent of its revenue comes from books, though the company has also diversified its portfolio to include toys, stationery, music and movies. “Books are not a commodity, and we will continue to be a content-driven company,” Shah added. With a turnover of ₹180 crore, Crossword is among the largest book store retail companies in the country, and competes with Tata’s Landmark and Apeejay Group’s Oxford Book Store.

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