Think publishing houses and the first name that probably pops up in your mind is Sapna Book House. Their outlet in Gandhinagar today is considered a landmark store in Bengaluru, with the three-storey building housing some of the best Kannada literature, English and Kannada textbooks for competitive and medical studies, stationery, school supplies and more.
Sapna was founded in 1967 by a Suresh Shah, a Gujarati who came to Bengaluru from Mumbai. He set up a small bookshop in Gandhinagar, which today has 10 branches across Bengaluru, 10 outside Bengaluru in Karnataka including Mangaluru, Hubballi, Dharwad, Belgaum and Kalburgi, and outlets in Coimabtore and Erode.
“To cater to the needs of the online shopper, we started our online store, where we provide all kinds of books,” says Nitin Shah, the current Managing Director, Sapna Books and the son of the founder, Suresh Shah. “This vertical is taken care of by my son, Nijesh Shah.”
Nitin says his parents were struggling financially. “We lived in a chawl. My father would sleep in the RSS gymkhana at nights. He could not pursue his studies post class 10. He joined a company that was into book distribution. He worked hard and was promoted and transferred to Chennai, where they opened a branch called Pocket Book Distribution Company. After a short stint there, he was posted in Bengaluru. That is how we landed in this city.”
A one-stop shop | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The family, Nitin says has lived in Bengaluru Central ever since. “It was when we moved to Bengaluru that my mother, Bhanumati, suggested that my father do something on his own, something, which would not need a huge capital investment. That is how the first bookshop was opened in 1967.”
There were two reasons for the 40 square-foot bookshop, being called Sapna, Nitin says “My parents had two dreams, to have a daughter, and to start something on their own.” Nitin completed his education in Bengaluru’s government schools and graduated from MES College, Malleswaram.
“I had turned 20 and completed my studies when my father asked me to join the family business. Unlike today, where children choose their careers, we did not have that option. My father asked and I followed.”
The USP of Sapna Book House is that though it is founded and run by a non-Kannadiga family, it has been promoting Kannada books, authors and even become a springboard for debut authors from rural areas.
“Becoming a Kannada publishing house happened by accident. I met the Jnanpith Award winning author, Shivram Karanth, in the early days of my career in Sapna. He asked me if we were publishing books as well. At that time we had helped a few friends by publishing their books, nothing on a professional level. Karanthji asked me if we would publish his books and if so, he would publish only with us. That is how we forayed into publishing.”
Publishing is outsourced, Nitin says. “We have four printers who publish exclusively for us. Today we publish around 200 new titles every year and reprints of around 500 to 600 books.”
K Shivarama Karanth, Chandrashekara Kambara, Beechi, Aa Na Kru, Javaregowda, MM Kalaburagi, M Chidanandamurthy, KS Nissar Ahamed, GS Shivarudrappa, Sudhamurty are some of the authors who have been associated with Sapna for decades.
Sapna Book House also publishes English-to-Kannada translations. Publishing translations from Kannada to English, is a decision left to the author Nitin says. “Sudha Murthy gets her books translated to English, Marathi and other languages. Publishing in English comes with a few hiccups, so we steer clear of it.”
Karnataka Rajyotsava Award for Kannada books Publication, Best Book Seller Award By Kannada Pustaka Pradhikara, Best Book Seller Award for South India, Distinguished Book Seller Award from the Federation of Publishers Association in India New Delhi, Distinguished Publisher Award from Federation of Educational Publishers, New Delhi and Limca Book of Records as India’s Largest book mall are some of the awards Nitin has been conferred with.
Today Sapna houses around 7,000 plus titles in Kannada, 600 plus titles in college textbooks. Though they do not publish English books, they do have a wing that promotes self publishing in every language. “Some people say self publishing does not work. What we do here is we buy back the books from the author and sell them in our stores and platform. We look at a minimum printing of 200 copies, which are bought back from the author and then sold.”
Sapna Book House started by selling popular English fiction titles and dictionaries. “We used to sell James Hadley Chase, and magazines. My father had good business acumen. And soon with books, he sold lottery tickets. It was a small side business and fortunately, for us, the very first Karnataka State Government’s lottery ticket won was sold by us. We got a commission of one lakh rupees without any tax deductions. My father bought a house with that money. The remaining money was invested in a bigger shop.”
Nitin Shah, the current Managing Director | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Being a family business, everyone chipped in, Nitin says. “My mother would be at the shop helping my father. We too would reach the shop after school and help around till we downed the shutters. It was a constant struggle, yet, it was a good life. It is lessons learnt then that have taught me the value of money, trained me to be better equipped to face the challenges of the world.”
Like most bookshops, Sapna too hosts launches and readings. “Anything to do with agriculture, women empowerment, health, humour and self development do well. Interacting with people and children at such events gives you an understanding of what works and what does not.”
Every year, to celebrate Kannada Rajyotsava, Sapna Book House publishes the number of books to commemmorate the number of years of the Rajyotsava. “We do this every November. This is the 68th Rajyotsava year, so we will publish 68 books in November.”
Seminars on books, Pustaka Suggi (anniversary celebration with offers), Sankranti Kavigosti, Ugadi Kathasangama and Back to School for children are some of Nitin’s ideas and take place regularly at Sapna.
Till date celebrities including Kamal Hassan, Ramesh Aravind, Sapthami Gowda, Aamir Khan, Kabir Bedi and Shashi Tharoor have visited the bookstore as part of events.
An avid reader himself, Nitin says he reads in English, Hindi, Kannada and Gujarati. “I hope the government collaborates with Sapna Book House not just to buy books for their libraries, but also help in the growth of reading platforms.”
