Whatever Prime Minister Narendra Modi says seems to set off a minor fad, whether it is the Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan, the campaign he launched in October to clean up the country's streets, or the Selfie with Modi drive begun in January before the Delhi election. The first spurred thousands of people to begin sweeping their neighbourhoods and the second saw 70,000 people posing with a virtual image of the prime minister.
Then last month, during Barack Obama's visit to India, on a radio show with the US president, Modi urged listeners to read Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. This boosted sales of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, the unfinished memoirs of the polymath who was one of America's founding fathers.
"We have seen a significant surge in sales of the book," said a spokesperson for Amazon India. "We are seeing various editions of the book in top bestsellers. Interestingly, the Hindi version of the book became bestseller number 20 before the English versions came on the list. Currently, five versions of the book are among the top 100 bestsellers."
On Modi, not by Modi
Modi's books themselves, however, aren't selling much. His anthologies of poems, stories and memoirs are at the bottom of Amazon's bestseller list.
His book Abode of Love has sold just over 600 copies in English language, said a source from HarperCollins India. The book has a ranking of 17,060 in the Amazon bestseller list. His anthology of poems, A Journey: Poems by Narendra Modi, has sold only 1,800 copies, said sources. The book is ranked at 6,886 in Amazon rankings.
At the same time, books about the prime minister are doing much better. Narendra Modi: A Political Biography, by Andi Marino, has sold more than 24,000 copies, according to the publisher Harper Collins. It ranks 3,284 on the Amazon bestseller list.
Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, by Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay has sold more than 17,000 copies and ranks 7,724 in the same list. The Man of the Moment: Narendra Modi by the journalist MV Kamath has sold more than 8,000 copies, according to estimates, and its rank is 6,786.
Our prime minister is a shrewd politician and an interesting subject of study but apparently not as successful a writer.
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Then last month, during Barack Obama's visit to India, on a radio show with the US president, Modi urged listeners to read Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. This boosted sales of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, the unfinished memoirs of the polymath who was one of America's founding fathers.
"We have seen a significant surge in sales of the book," said a spokesperson for Amazon India. "We are seeing various editions of the book in top bestsellers. Interestingly, the Hindi version of the book became bestseller number 20 before the English versions came on the list. Currently, five versions of the book are among the top 100 bestsellers."
On Modi, not by Modi
Modi's books themselves, however, aren't selling much. His anthologies of poems, stories and memoirs are at the bottom of Amazon's bestseller list.
His book Abode of Love has sold just over 600 copies in English language, said a source from HarperCollins India. The book has a ranking of 17,060 in the Amazon bestseller list. His anthology of poems, A Journey: Poems by Narendra Modi, has sold only 1,800 copies, said sources. The book is ranked at 6,886 in Amazon rankings.
At the same time, books about the prime minister are doing much better. Narendra Modi: A Political Biography, by Andi Marino, has sold more than 24,000 copies, according to the publisher Harper Collins. It ranks 3,284 on the Amazon bestseller list.
Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, by Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay has sold more than 17,000 copies and ranks 7,724 in the same list. The Man of the Moment: Narendra Modi by the journalist MV Kamath has sold more than 8,000 copies, according to estimates, and its rank is 6,786.
Our prime minister is a shrewd politician and an interesting subject of study but apparently not as successful a writer.
