DIVERSE READ Non-fiction works are emerging to be the new pick-me-ups in bookstores

Get real. It takes more than a good yarn to make your tome a bestseller. The Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter series and Shantaram haven't lost their sheen. But non-fiction works are emerging to be the new pick-me-ups in bookstores. If Kiran Desai's Loss of Inheritance sold 70,000 -80,000 copies in the country after winning the Man Booker Prize, Amartya Sen's The Argumentative Indian has crossed the one-lakh mark. According to the publishers Penguin India, the book has recorded sales of 30,000-40,000 in Hyderabad alone. Non-fiction isn't the stuff that's confined to the `intelligentsia' anymore. With enough real issues, ranging from biographies and history being packaged well, new readers are being drawn into the fold.

"Thank God reading non-fiction means more than self-help books. Some of my friends still buy self-help books, but what's nice to see them also reading titles like The Last Mughal, Two Lives and In spite of the Gods," says Kavita Nagraj, a software engineer. Scanning through a few titles at a bookstore, she admits she too is relatively new to reading non-fiction. "It basically started off with not being able to spare time to read enough and wanting to read something informative in the time I get. Going by a friend's suggestion I read White Mughals and discovered that history can be so interesting. I then began reading more writings on history," she says.

If you don't take our word for it, the national figures do the talking: White Mughals sold 40,000-50,000 copies while The Last Mughal has crossed 40,000 and orders are being made for re-prints. Publishers and bookstores vouch for the fact that any title that has reference to Mughals does well in Hyderabad. On the other hand, IT companies too are helping boost the sale of non-fiction volumes. The Google Story, World is Flat and Freakonomics top the list of corporate orders. Current affairs, economics, health and cuisine are also high on the popularity index.

"There's a lot of good writing and many sub categories to choose from. The range is commendable: Vikram Seth's Two Lives, Suketu Mehta's Maximum City, Rajmohan Gandhi's Mohandas: A True Story of a Man, His People and an Empire and host of IT and management titles have done well," says Aniyan Nair, head of operations and marketing, Crossword. Interestingly, he points out that the increasing reading population in the age group of 20-30 years has also pushed up sales of books on parenting.

In terms of volumes, non-fiction still has some way to go. "That's primarily because you may not pick up such titles while travelling or when you want quick, easy reads. Paperback editions and mass print editions of fiction are priced at Rs. 150-300 but non-fiction costs a bit more. What's gladdening is more readers are willing to buy hard cover editions of non-fiction, especially economics and current affairs, and don't wait for paperback editions," says Deshkumar of Penguin India. He picks Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam's Ignited Minds, P. Chidambaram's The View from Outside: Why Good Economics Works for Everyone and Amartya Sen's The Argumentative Indian among the consistent bestsellers.

So what's on your reading list now?