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I am with Lino Leitao when he says that Goans don't read. Many years ago Prof. Peter Nazareth asked me to collect copies of his book, The General Is Up, from M. J. Vassanji, the prize-winning Canadian writer, who also runs a publishing house, Vassanji told me that very few Goans bought the book. I tried to sell some copies but Goans were reluctant to buy. Similarly, Prof. Olivinho Gomes asked me to take names of people who were interested in his book, Village Goa, as he would send them to me from Goa. Unfortunately, the books didn't come but a few copies were sent, I think, through Lino Leitao. The books were smelling of pickle. There were stains of oil. I traded one book with John D'Souza for a copy of the book on the proceedings of the International Goan Convention. Isn't it nice to read and smell Goa at the same time (haha. Even when Prof. Nazareth asked me to see if it's possible to sell the novella, Pears from the Pear Tree, by Violet Dias Lannoy, which was published by Three Continents Press, I couldn't convince any Goan to buy a copy. At the hall where the tiatr, Chukh, was held, Tony Fernandes had put a stall selling his book, Memories Of My Homeland. I am not sure how many copies he sold. However, I think Tony's pirce of $20 is stiff. No doubt one has to encourage Goan writers, but writers must be sensible enough to charge resonable rates. Just because it's self-published and the writer needs to recover his costs, the book shouldn't be priced so much as to turn people away. The late Ladis da Silva, a Toronto writer, self-published his books but kept them at reasonable price. If Tony had priced it about $12, I think more people would have bought it. I know of at least people who didn't buy the book because of the price. The book is slender and cerlock-bound. The pages of my book are already coming out of the binding. Some may blame me for not handling it properly. My point is that Tony should lower his price and see if more buyers are attracted to have a copy. I must admit that I requested a "review copy" from Tony and he obliged. I believe a writer canafford to give away some copies free for publicity -- good or bad -- that may follow. Eugene Correia __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail