The end of Australian books?
Is Australian literature about to be handed a death sentence?
The question has been raised after the release of a report from the Productivity Commission, the government's economic think-tank, which has recommended the abolition of restrictions on importing books, which have driven up prices but helped nurture local authors.
Under the existing law, Australian publishers are given a 30-day period to release a local version of a book that could be imported more cheaply from Britain or America. Aussie bookshops are then compelled to sell the Aussie version of the book, even though they could source the same books more inexpensively abroad.
The idea is that Australian authors, like Tim Winton and Kate Grenville, are protected for 30 days and get paid decent royalties for internationally-acclaimed books. After that grace period is up, foreign-made imports pay a much lower royalty.
The argument is that the next wave of Tim Wintons - literary pun unintended - would not emerge if the present system was scrapped.
The big bookshops and supermarkets claim it places them at a competitive disadvantage, because consumers can now import cheaper books themselves through online stores.
They also argue that the Aussie consumer is subsidising the whole scheme through inflated prices. The Productivity Commission report basically agrees.
In language that seems to borrow heavily from the Kevin Rudd phrasebook, the report notes: "Reform of the current arrangements is necessary, to place downward pressure on book prices, remove constraints on the commercial activities of booksellers and overcome the poor targeting of assistance to the cultural externalities".
Consider that last sentence again: "overcome the poor targeting of assistance to the cultural externalities".
Deciphered, this means that the Productivity Commission believes that local authors would be better and more efficiently supported by direct grants rather than the present system.
Having come under attack, some of the country's leading literary lights have deployed the most powerful weapon at their disposal: words.
The Tasmania-based author Richard Flanagan has been typically vivid: 'It is inconceivable that a national Labor Government would so casually destroy Australian culture in support of the free-trade zealotry that gave the world the global financial crisis.'
'Yet it is that which the Australian people must now conceive of as possible. If Kevin Rudd adopts this report he will go to his grave as the man who made a bonfire of Australian writing, and hailed the ash as reform.'
In a submission to the Productivity Commission, Tim Winton wrote: 'Copyright recognises and enshrines the value of original work. Copyright is the single most important industrial fact in a writer's life, the civilising influence of a culture upon a market.'
All this puts Kevin Rudd in an awkward position, as he weighs whether or not to accept the commission's findings. Since entering The Lodge, the Prime Minister has instituted two literary prizes - one for fiction, one for non-fiction - which are among the richest in the world. He has also written a number of lengthy essays for The Monthly, the Australian equivalent of the New Yorker.
Yet there are also times when he likes to parade his anti-intellectualism - critics would say his philistinism - with his strange use of language, and phrases like 'Fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate'.
As a self-proclaimed economic conservative, he may warm to the market-based economic arguments laid out by the Productivity Commission. But as an Australian nationalist and part-time public intellectual he may be persuaded by the need to protect some of the country's most premium cultural exports: its writers.
This is also an issue with worldwide resonance: how do small- to medium-sized countries protect their culture in this age of rampant globalisation?
PS. Ironically, It has been a very strong year for Aussie literature, what with Tim Winton's enchanting paean to the sea, Breath, and Steve Toltz's riotous Fraction of the Whole, which was short-listed for the Booker. I suppose you could also argue that Aravind Adiga's sharp-eyed take on modern-day Delhi, White Tiger, which won the Booker, had a faint 'Made in Australia' stamp, since he was educated here.
For weeks, I've been meaning to blog on the book of the moment, The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. Trouble is, I went to buy it at the airport before leaving the country, and it was sold out. So, I'm going to read it over the next month, and will blog on it four weeks from today. If you want to weigh in on a book that is supposed to offer an especially acute take on the Howard years, and haven't read it already, you have 28 days to do so.......
PPS Strangely, I'd written this before Whitlamite's tirade, but it got superseded by the Ashes. This irrational hatred of cricket? You are starting to sound like my wife.......
I'm 
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Nick, I could kiss you.
Yes, this is an extremely complex issue. It's not content that's under threat, it's local book production. If the same text book can be printed overseas more cheaply, then in line with the national commitment to the breakdown of international trade barriers and tariffs (which began decades ago under Hawke) we have to accept that. If the market dictates that 'Australian made' is preferable, then market forces will work their magic once again.
There's no argument about content though - authors will still get their royalties no matter where their books are manufactured, but the real issue is the percentage of royalties allocated. If a higher percentage of royalties can be negotiated over a longer period of time (not 30 days, but indefinitely) then authors will be serious winners. But at this stage I haven't seen such a proposal anywhere. Would be good though.
As for Rudd himself - Paul Kelly the political commentator for the age put it best when he said that 'Rudd talks like a policy wonk but is a populist at heart', and I think if an author motivated campaign gets up and running in the popular press (think: Di Morrisey, Tim Winton, and perhaps Bryce Courtenay) he'll sort out a better deal for them. It's that simple.
Rudd is like Keating - both of them love stars, and I don't think Rudd would like to be struck off the Blanchett's Christmas card list over this. I don't think we've seen the endgame at all yet.
P.S. In other major news - 1 in 10 residents of the predominantly indigenous community of Palm Island are said to have swine flu. The investigation into the Jakarta bombings continues, no further word on the validity of the claim that it was targeting a meeting of Australian businesspeople. Talks about Australia's nuclear future hit the news again as the opposition goes into meltdown over climate change.
P.P.S. It's not that I have an irrational hatred of Cricket, Nick, it's just that a lot has been happening lately, and much has been said about the ball-game in question on many occasions in the past. But I'm thrilled that the arts got a look-in this week. Just a shame some of my best material from the last few days was deleted. ;)
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I think Whitlamite's got this one pretty much right. I was personally truly shocked at the price of books over here - over-priced books can't be a good thing for a country can it?
A couple of points to add though:
There could be an argument that a knock-on effect of any loss in local book production might see a smaller number of Australian authors published because of the global centralisation of the industry. Presumably if we trust market forces (do we?) this would eventually lead to new Australian publishers opening up to serve a new demand.
Maybe Australian authors could be the instigators of a worldwide authors strike (the Film Writers did it), if they think their royalties become too small.
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While I feel for local authors, I do feel ripped off by the current system - as a consequence I order all my books online from the UK via a site that has free international shipping. I'd much rather be supporting local bookshops though, but not if it means paying twice or three times the price.
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Whitlamite is right, but there's another issue. I've yet to receive an explanation as to why Australia should forfeit its territorial protection when the two largest markets - US and UK, the main suppliers of books to Australia - remain protected. There's something strangely sacrificial about the idea.
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There you go Whitlamite, you see - all good things come to (s)he who waits.
As for the subject matter itself, I came to the same conclusion as Whitlamite (first time I think we've agreed!).
Why are overseas published books cheaper? What role to taxes and tarrifs play? We don't have the full story here. And I don't really get the significance of a 30 day period of legal profiteering. Does the price of a book drop after 30 days when the bookstores can buy from a cheaper source? - I've never noticed that. Do Australian publishers print up a 30 day supply in the knowledge that all the bookstores will source a cheaper UK/American version as soon as they can?
The 30 days of exclusive higher royalties to Aussie authors I guess is valuable to them, but surely if they renegotiated the percentage on their non-Australian published works (sales of which must surely outstrip Australian published sales) then they would be better off...
This seems to me to be another example of how the media/entertainment industry (I include books/movies/games software etc) struggles with globalisation (i.e. release dates, sale restrictions, region coding etc etc)
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I can't let this blog go past without saying something, Nick.
There are many issues involved in this move to abolish restrictions on Parallel Imports, but the one being pushed by Dymocks (the only bookstore to do so), Coles and Woolies (can't pretend they're bookstores)is the lure of 'cheaper books'. They don't care about the negative effects this move will have on the publication of Aussie books and their authors. Many Australians smell a rat - even the Productivity Commission admits cheaper book are not guaranteed. No-one has the power to force companies to pass their savings on.
Our vibrant, successful and world-class publishing industry risks becoming warehouses for foreign-published Australian books or popularists imports from their overseas parent companies - indeed, competing with their own Australian published editions. Smaller independent companies probably won't survive at all. New authors won't be taken on, developing authors won't be supported.
To me, as a children's author, the most worrying aspect is the great risk to the many hundreds of brilliant, insightful, funny, sad, thoughtful picture books and novels written by Australians and published in this country about our life, people, culture, experiences and relationships that could not have been written by overseas authors.
Australian books re-published for the US market are changed to fit American tastes. Spelling is Americanised, making it even more difficult for children to learn to spell. Australian idioms are taken out, references to Australian places are replaced and humour is diluted because American children have difficulty understanding Australian humour. These foreign editions of Australian books will be imported to compete with the genuine Australian produced ones - how many people know to look behind the cover to see where a book is published?
Australia is a smaller publishing market so prices are a little higher than the UK and the US - but honestly, I can't understand people going on about paying $20/$30 dollars for a book yet they'll pay that much and more to go out to a restaurant for a meal. And the book will last a lot longer.
I'm not a wealthy author, far from it - I'm one of those who got 10% per RRP on a small section of a 7500 print run; most of the run was sold to schools at a discount price - meaning 6-8% if I'm lucky. Authors can't live on their writing alone (unless they're Tim Winton) and teach writing classes etc, which takes them away from writing.
Some people say we can negotiate for better royalty rates to compensate - but most authors have no power to do that. Besides, publishers would then put up the price of books.
It's particularly irksome for authors: we're lucky to get 6-10% royalty on RRP when booksellers like Dymocks can force publishers to sell to them at 50% of the books's base rate; Woolworths and Coles can demand up to 70%. Who's ripping off who here?
As Perrorist said, it comes back to a basic question. If the US and the UK prohibit Parallel Importation of books to protect their authors and their publishing houses, why allow it here in Australia?
I'm sorry this comment ended up so long, my apologies.
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Meant to say, if anyone wants more information about this issue - go to http://savingaussiebooks.wordpress.com/
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Aussieauthor: The complaints by authors are reminiscent of the warnings of the recording industry which complained too long about the dangers to their business of the digital revolution rather than forming an alliance.
Farmers are getting less for their milk, car prices tend to stay the same while the number of features formerly extras become standard, electronic gear is constantly dropping in price and the folk who worked for Bonds don't have jobs at all. Are there different rules for authors? Should the Olympic Games restrict foreign competition?
I sense the authors have become unwitting advocates for Australian publishers and their rights to the rewards of their intellectual property might even increase if they just lie back and enjoy it. Who knows the Australian authors who complain the most might even benefit: the market for their writings might increase. Roll on the Kindle.
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listoahn - maybe that's a bit simplistic? Surely it's going to come down to whether the Australian publishers survive the change? If they don't then it's going to be much more difficult for Aussie authors to get a look in.
Of course, if you believe in the Market and technology, the natural progession would be a demand from the Aussie public for locally written books, that could be met by new grass roots publishing, perhaps cutting out paper books altogether and going straight to E-books etc. That also cuts out Amazon and the postal companies who I suspect are doing rather well at the moment.
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In response to listohan: As a lover of truly Australian books and culture, I'm wondering who you expect aussie authors to form an alliance with?
As aussieauthor points out, Australian authors receive 10% of RRP, and I've read that the organisations pushing to get PIRs removed earn five times that amount (and they are NOT the publishers).
Also, do you think it's okay that farmers and consumers are being ripped off?
And now that you mention internationalism in the form of the Olympic Games, I'm just wondering why Australians should relenquish territorial copyright by getting rid of PIRs when both USA and the UK have them in place to ensure THEIR industries are protected. Why should Australians be the dumb bunnies (no offense intended to rabbits)yet again, and allow another thriving industry to be pillaged and torn apart by greed?
As the Victorian State Premier, Mr John Brumby pointed out only last week, removing parallel restrictions on books would put at risk the cultural and economic gains made in the book industry over the past two decades.
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Listohan - You bring up the Olympic games? Most people in Australia are proud of and support our elite sportspeople. They are a part of our culture, part of what brings us together, part of what makes us feel Australian. Our sportspeople are valued, and it has nothing to do with harsh economics. We value their contribution.
Our publishing industry also has its heroes. We have writers who take our stories overseas, and are highly regarded around the world. We can share our history and culture with our children, using books that are written and produced here.
Can we not value the contribution of our books, too?
Treating our books as commodities puts more than jobs at risk. It puts our culture at risk too.
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Listohan,
You may think the recording industries complaints were unjustified, but evidently Mark Seymour of Hunters and Collectors fame does not agree with you. http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-book-price-row-rings-too-sadly-familiar-20090709-deln.html
Its a bit like the Productivity Commission saying that the NZ publishing industry didnt suffer with the loss of parallel import restrictions yet the NZ Society of Authors made a submission to the Productivity Commission showing the exact opposite. Too, Hachette Australia outlined in their submission that distribution centres are being closed in NZ (and now operate from Australia!) because they are no longer viable after the loss of New Zealands parallel importation restrictions. They listed other publishers who have withdrawn distribution centers from NZ as Penguin, New Holland, Wiley, Hardie Grant, and Oxford University Press and they clearly attribute the move to the loss of PIRs in NZ. [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]
Just because other industries, like milk (and meat and fresh produce!) are suffering gross injustices at the hands of giant retailers doesnt make it right. Its about time that the public (and Listohan) woke up to the fact that giant retailers are squeezing the lifeblood out of Australian industries.
It is the retail giants who make up the Coalition for Cheaper Books who greedily snatch the greatest chunk of profits from books. Dymocks, Kmart, Coles, Target, Big W and Woolworths (of the said 'Coalition for Cheaper Books') earn a whopping 50% (plus) on the sale of books. When the Australian Government takes their 10% in GST there is only a minimum of 40% left to cover the cost of printing and marketing the book, and the publishers, authors and illustrators cost.
Stop pointing the finger at publishers. If you want cheaper books talk to the members of the Coalition for Cheaper Books and ask THEM why theyre ripping off an industry, AND the Australian reading public!
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Both the original article and some of the comments are misunderstanding the existing 30-day rule (and it also has 7-day and 90-day parts, but we won't go into those for the moment).
If a book is first published outside Australia, an Australian publisher has 30 days to establish their perpetual territorial copyright by bringing out a local edition and supplying it to the market.
The notion expressed above that there is a '30-day window for publishers to profit' on an Australian-authored book is wrong.
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I think Australian writers need all the support they can get. After moving from London to Sydney, I find that NOBODY reads books here. Aussies are always quoting me figures showing that Australia has the highest rate of book purchases per capita or something. Really? My own stickybeak experience on my morning train is that commuters here only read either religious tracts (Bible/Koran), computer/work process manuals, airport novels (Da Vinci Code etc) or self help books. I brought up the name of Peter Carey in an office conversation about favourite - authors and nobody had a clue who I was talking about.
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Listohan You may think the recording industries complaints were unjustified, but evidently Mark Seymour of Hunters and Collectors fame does not agree with you. http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-book-price-row-rings-too-sadly-familiar-20090709-deln.html
Its a bit like the Productivity Commission saying that the NZ publishing industry didnt suffer with the loss of parallel import restrictions yet the NZ Society of Authors made a submission to the Productivity Commission showing the exact opposite. Too, Hachette Australia outlined in their submission to the Productivity Commission (pg 5) that distribution centres are being closed in NZ (and now operate from Australia!) because they are no longer viable after the loss of New Zealands parallel importation restrictions. They listed other publishers who have withdrawn distribution centers from NZ as Penguin, New Holland, Wiley, Hardie Grant, and Oxford University Press and they clearly attribute the move to the loss of PIRs in NZ.
Just because other industries, like milk (and meat and fresh produce!) are suffering gross injustices at the hands of giant retailers doesnt make it right. Its about time that the public (and Listohan) woke up to the fact that giant retailers are squeezing the lifeblood out of Australian industries.
It is the retail giants who make up the Coalition for Cheaper Books who greedily snatch the greatest chunk of profits from books. Dymocks, Kmart, Coles, Target, Big W and Woolworths (of the said 'Coalition for Cheaper Books') earn a whopping 50% (plus) on the sale of books. When the Australian Government takes their 10% in GST there is only a minimum of 40% left to cover the cost of printing and marketing the book, and the publishers, authors and illustrators cost.
Stop pointing the finger at publishers. If you want cheaper books talk to the members of the Coalition for Cheaper Books and ask THEM why theyre ripping off an industry - AND the Australian reading public!
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Has anyone ever thought about the fact that non-Australian publishers can offer cheaper royalties to Australian authors simply because they can give the books an international exposure that Aussie publishers can't !!
Therefore, in the long run, the authors make more money, albeit, less per book sold !! If the authors are happy with it, why should the publishers complain ?? This is yet another example of a local protectionist rip-off that results in Australia not making it on to the world's economic stage !! And why many good, talented Australians are fleeing to more conducive climes !!
Please make up your mind as to whether you are an isolationist arse-end-of-the-world economy or a part of the greater global economy !! You can't have it both ways !!
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Ishkander, who says the authors are happy about it?!?!
Did YOU stop to consider that many Australian writers rely on Australian publishers to publish Australian stories, because international publishers aside from offering minimal royalties dont WANT to publish Australian stories and therefore dont! International publishers REWRITE Australian stories so they arent identifiably Australian to change content, background and spelling to make them their own stories. America is the greatest concern because the spelling IS such a confusion for Australian school children.
You say the authors are happy about it. I HEAR that many of them do it out of desperation - but I wouldn't say that many are happy about it.
Why should Australian writers sacrifice their stories (not to mention their goals, beliefs and integrity) at the hands of international publishers.
Australia HAS a thriving industry, with many world-class Australian writers telling AUSTRALIAN stories!
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Ishkandar - you have kind of missed a few major points here! Firstly, your big few words - "If authors are happy with this..."
They're not!
I'll tell you why!
Authors can get international exposure under current rules. Book rights can be sold overseas, and books are sold (for lower royalty). Not a problem. The problem comes when these foreign editions then get shipped BACK into Australia, which is not currently allowed. Foreign editions can push our local ones off the shelves. We end up with our changed spelling, grammar, placenames, characters, etc, being sold here - ie, our Aussie stories not so Aussie anymore. We lose higher royalty here for lower.
But the bigger problem still is that if local editions here are pushed off the shelves, why make them? WHY would publishers invest years and dollars, if they cannot profit from this investment? So, publishers cut back, and our Aussie market contracts. New authors haven't got a hope.
Publishers lose out another way. Why would Aust publishers buy the rights to publish, lets say, the new Harry Potter book, if it will just get shipped in from overseas anyway? Again, no point in their investment. And yet profits from overseas rights provide funding for publishers to invest more in Aussie authors and Aussie stories. Again, authors lose out.
And readers lose out too! They lose the range and diversity we currently have.
Our book industry makes a lot of money for Australia. You talk about making it on the world stage? Our authors compete very successfully with authors around the world - we win prizes and have our work made into movies. We earn huge export dollars. We will lose this. Because other countries like UK and US will continue to protect their industry the way we do now.
Authors currently do NOT flee to other climes. We have a great industry here. For now...
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The problem is that the grants authors receive make them beholden (officially or not) to write about 'the Australian Experience'.
This generally translates as books about the minutiae (sp?) of a housewife from Ballarat or a study of the lot of a sheep farmer in FNQ which are all critically acclaimed but of no interest to the 'common reader'
There is no international appeal and very limited local appeal.
Authors need to branch out and be more universal otherwise critics will be the only people reading them
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Llanelliboy - I don't get your argument here, and I wonder if you know much about Australian books. There is currently a huge range of Aussie stories in our bookshops. If you are not keen on the 'literary' novels of the likes of Winton (and remember, that's fine, but many of us are!), then look for others. Australia has great crime writers, romance writers, adventure writers, science-fiction and fantasy writers, children's writers, non-fiction writers - the works! AND our novels are highly read and regarded overseas.
The system at present - the one we are trying to keep - does NOT make authors beholden to grants. There are few grants to go around, and authors don't need them to get their stories out there.
The system that is being pushed DOES suggest that authors rely on grants - which would lead to exactly the issue you are talking about.
I don't know if you realise it, but you're actually arguing for the keeping of the current system of Parallel Import Restrictions!
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Llanelliboy , I don't think you have a clear understanding of the Australian book industry. 'the grants authors get' are very few and far between. Most Aussie authors do not receive grants and those very select few generally don't get them with a criteria to write about 'the Australian experience'. Whilst I've never received a grant, I have studied the criteria for those available, and there is rarely (if ever) a criteria about content of projects.
I must confess to never having come across a book which is about the minutiae of a housewife from Ballarat or a study of the lot of a sheep farmer in FNQ , so would love to hear the titles of he books to which you allude, since in the hundred or more Australian books I read every year (again, rarely resulting from grants, as there are only a handful of grants each year) I see books about all manner of subject. Whether fiction or nonfiction, just some of the books I have read this year have dealt with: Australias experience in the Vietnam War, and also in the first word war, , growing up as Lebanese Muslim in Australia, a murder mystery in a country town, and women on a road trip in a Winnebago. Obviously i have fairly eclectic tastes, ranging from the light hearted to the academic. On top of this, I have read many Australian books which are not what you might call Australia-centic but still show the depth of Australian talent: fantasy books, thrillers, regency romances, self help books, academic explorations of politics and so on.
In the end, though, I think your comment especially shows little understanding of the topic, since no one involved in either side of the PIR debate has suggested a change is necessary in order to increase the quality of Australian writing. This is about much deeper issues the removal of territorial copyright provisions, which will have a detrimental effect on the number of and quality of Australian books which will be produced and, if the Productivity Commissions recommendations are adopted, actually see a rise in the number of those grants to which you have such an objection.
Ive never received a grant, and, whilst I wouldnt object to receiving one, what I really want is the chance to compete on a level playing field. Removing PIRs will not give us a level playing field because the US and the UK (two of the biggest markets which stand to benefit) have no intention of removing their own restrictions.
Maybe Ill get back to my dusting. Might find something really fascinating to write about there.
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there has been a lot of talk focusing on an idealistic, utopic vision of an open market where all can prosper and free trade rules but there has been little thought given to the ethical and social impact of removing PIR's.
It's not an open market if the US and the UK both maintain their restriction on parallel imports, which, buy the way, are not just restrictions like Australia has with the 30/90 rule, but are in fact outright bans.
Do we want Australia to become the dumping ground for international publishers? US and UK publishers conduct massive print runs due to economies of scale. Stock that remains unsold or returned then becomes remainered stock. Once remaindered, the author is no longer entitled to royalties. remaindered stock is them auctioned off to the highest bidder to be sold at the buyers discretion. Because we have PIR's in place, remaindered stock cannot be sold in Australian bookshops if a current Australian version of that book exists. If PIR's are removed I beleive remaindered stock will not sit side by side on our bookshop shelves with the Australian version but will actually displace it, thereby robbing both the author and the Australia publisher.
Are books really overpriced in Australia? As a percentage of disposable income, books are actually cheaper in Australian that they are in both the US and the UK.
Will the removal of PIR's actually reduce the price of books in australia? Even the Productivity Commission agrees that there is no guarantee that prices will come down and there is no obligation on the retailer to pass any discounts on. In fact, evidence suggests that the reverse will happen if PIRs are abolished and that prices will eventually go up.
The main advocates for the removal of PIR's in Australia are the so called 'coalition for cheaper books'. This consortium is made up of the largest grocery and department stores in the country and the largest book retailer. Removing PIR's will only concentrate more power into the hands of these giants and will not result in cheaper books.
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Llanelliboy - I think you've got the wrong end of the stick (or possibly the pineapple ) when you say 'The problem is that the grants authors receive make them beholden (officially or not) to write about 'the Australian Experience'.
Usually a prerequisite for a literary grant is the author has to be Australian - and so it should be. Grants are based on the merit of the actual writing or the proposed story. What about novels written by Australians about characters living in a foreign country? Like Markus Zusak's wonderful novel, The Book Thief'? He got a grant through the Australia Council to write this book and Markus is Aussie and proud of it.
I received a writing grant for a work-in-progress ... a YA novel set in Australia in the Depression about a orphanage runaway and her Shakespearean-quoting cockatiel - yes, the landscape is the dusty backroads of NSW, and the characters are Australian, but it's sprinkled liberally with Shakespearean language and 'turn of phrases' - a bit like 'Shakespeare gone feral' in the Australian bush. Not totally the 'Australian experience'. And the plot - a universal one ... young girl and her faithful companion set out against dangerous odds on a quest to find her missing parents.
Re the PC's suggestion that authors be compensated with grants if they lose out under changed Parallel Import law - can you imagine it? Already it's an uphill battle to get a grant to write in a hugely competitive arena in Australia. And what if a future government gets in power who thinks grants to writers and artists is a waste of money?
Australians who read and enjoy books will also be the biggest losers in the end.
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I have followed this discussion with great interest. Being a Swedish born author living in New Zealand I have experience of two very different markets. Till now, NZ has been able to maintain ridiculously high book prices thanks to the Australian protected market. NZ does allow parallel import, but is still protected to some extent by the Australian restrictions. Presently, I think NZ book sales are as low as they are mostly because of the high book prices. Take my first novel as an example:
In NZ it has sold about 12,000 copies now, I think. This is phenomenal according to my publisher. I get a percentage royalty on each of those books calculated on the net-net price that books are sold to sellers at.
In Sweden, population 9.5 million, my book has sold 40,000 hardback and 300,000 paperback. My royalty is calculated at the same rate as in NZ, but on a lower price when it comes to the paperback. In Sweden the price of a p/b would be less than $10. But the numbers are so vast in comparison with NZ that they more than compensate.
The Swedish market is open, but there is a natural segregation since the local literature is written in the local language. In that sense, local literature will always have a separate shelf. But more and more Swedish readers read English language literature in the original language.
In New Zealand - and possibly it's similar in Australia - local literature is treated as if it were intended for the local market only. Not because of the local language, as in Sweden, but for some other reason that is difficult to understand. Somehow it's assumed that it needs support, and that it is in some way inferior, perhaps.
But keeping the books more expensive doesn't mean the local authors are better off. Quite the opposite, I think. It makes local publishers complacent and keeps the sales down. My first novel retails at about 28 NZ dollars here in New Zealnd. In Sweden the p/b is never more than 12 NZ dollars, less than half the price.
With restrictions, local books are always going to be more expensive. Not a great way to support local literature, I think. When Lloyd Jones' Mr Pip was published in New Zealand the US edition seeped into NZ at the same time. It was a couple of dollars cheaper. For the author it meant that he got a little less per book for each US one sold, but there were probably many more sold thanks to the price competition.
I think that the protected market in Australia protects publishers rather than authors. Local authors still end up on the pathetic shelves for those seemingly needing subsidises to survive, while the world literature flocks in the prime positions in stores. I can understand this in Sweden, where the local language presents a barrier. But in Australia and New Zealand?
I dont know what would really help the production and the sales of New Zealand books. But if books were less costly, then perhaps those who do read local authors would buy their own copy rather than borrow it.
This is a wonderfully exciting topic. It seems to me that whole industry is being sucked towards the drains at the moment. And something else will replace it, I am sure. I recently watched a documentary about the Bonnier family (owners of my Swedish publisher). I was interested to see that they set up their first small publishing company in the late 1800s. Since then till about now it has operated more or less in the same way. And it has always been on the terms of the publisher, never the author.
I do think that with new media and issues around copyright the whole industry will change. This will of course affect authors as well as publishers. And transisions are always painful. But trade barriers can not prevent this process.
Authors selling directly to their market - like some musicians are already doing - sounds interesting in theory. At least for already established authors. But what about first time authors? I have faith in the human ability to adapt, though. If there is literature worthy of being read, then it will find its way to readers. And a way to provide its creators with a decent compensation for their work.
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I've never heard of Australian books being changed to suit an international audience. It hasn't happened with the Australian books I have read (mainly by Tim Winton). Does that really happen?
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smartlondon - it happens mostly when somewhere overseas, eg, the US, purchase rights to print their own edition of an Aussie book. They may then change spelling, language, place - all sorts of things, so that it suits what they believe is 'their readership'. I'm not sure how much this happens with adult novels such as Tim Winton's - they may still change spelling, but assume that adult readers are sophisticated enough to cope with unfamiliar place names, etc.
In children's books, it happens ALL THE TIME. Have you ever heard that in the US, Harry Potter had a MOM, not a Mum? American's don't seem to believe their children capable of adapting to different cultural references as ours do, so they change all sorts of things, from character and place names, and even plot if they think our humour is unusual or won't be understood. Football becomes gridiron, tap is faucet, etc...
The reason you won't have seen it is that in Australia, we only sell Aussie editions, NOT the changed US editions.
If our PIR laws are removed, US and other foreign editions will be allowed in. That means that a book by a well known Aussie author may not be the book you were expecting - you might find the US version in the shops instead.
This is a BIG DEAL in our children's market, where we want our kids to hear our stories and our voices. And we want them to read our spelling and our names. Yes, we are happy for our kids to exposed to other cultures. But when they are our stories, we want them told in OUR words.
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Didn't know that morethanbooks. I live in the UK, and i've never noticed this, but it doesn't surprise me it happens in the north American market.
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Iindaolsson,
Thank you for sharing your interesting and reasoned insights. But surely, your assertion about the high price of books in New Zealand just goes to prove that some book industry experts are right in their assumptions that the price of books could even increase if PIRs are removed.
You say yourself that the fact that NZ is not protected is allowing the prices to be pushed up by other (protected) markets ie in the case you stated, Australia.
As you also acknowledge, the Australian market does differ from the Swedish one. Countries like Sweden and Japan can afford to have open markets because nobody is going to be able to produce books in Swedish or Japanese for a comparable cost. Australia on the other hand is forced to compete with other English speaking nations like USA and UK, both of whom have protected markets. And as you yourself said, the price of books in NZ is being force up by competitor markets that exercise parallel import protection for books.
One of the main arguments put forward by Australians opposing the removal of PIRs on books is that it wont necessarily force the price down. From what you have said about the New Zealand experience of competing with protected, English speaking markets, this seems to be the case.
Unfortunately, I dont have your faith that new authors will somehow find their way to readers. And is it worth the risk? If we allow this move, our future generations of readers could well be denied some exciting new voices and exposure to our unique culture.
Thats why we need to tell our politicians NOW that removing Parallel Import Restrictions on books is NOT the way to make them cheaper is not the way to meet the needs of Australian book lovers like me.
You have mentioned the complacency of publishers, and the facts that the industry operates on their terms, but I wonder if you are aware that the members of the Coalition for Cheaper books (Dymocks, Woolworths, Coles and some of their associated businesses) demand 50-70% discounts from the publishers earning them at least five times as much as the authors they are accusing of self interest and responsibility for pushing up book prices.
I agree that things are changing in the industry and it needs to find a way to move forward, but I dont believe that removing Parallel Import Restrictions on books and putting our book industry at the mercy of protected overseas markets is the answer.
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I am a regular reader of Nick's blog and was surprised by the length and erudition of the comments on this one. I have noticed that a number of people are apparently commenting for the first time, at some length, in a very similar style to each other, to defend the status quo. Interesting. In any case, I'll openly say I have just created my membership so I can post this ... waterloosydney, which UK website does free international shipping?
I've moved to Sydney recently from the UK and find that book prices, particularly paperbacks, are very high. I read quickly and voraciously but can't afford to buy a new book or two each week so instead I'm borrowing more from the library and sharing books around a group of friends. I'm sure the authors would be happier if I bought my own copies, wherever I get them from.
Re the argument about US English rather than Australian English - get the ones published in the UK then. If any changes had been made to Peter Carey for the UK market I didn't notice them.
Does anyone know if this system is the reason why Amazon doesn't have an Australian operation?? The websites which do operate here (booktopia etc) are slower than printing the darn thing yourself.
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Coming from a small country with a native langauge not being an english-variant I can see there is a difference between the danish authors and publishers situation and the australian same. And yet there are some of the same problems and some of the same discussion, high prices on books,rules to provide a greater likelihood that a danish author will be published instead of people reading translation (which are cheaper) from foreign languages (yes - american english being the foremost).
I don't know if it would benefit this discussion to look into what is going on in other countries regarding deregulating the book markets?
It sounds like the experiences from NZ could also be used to expand and enhance the knowledge that would act as the foundation for making a decision.
Insofar that the US has a protection against parallel imports, I think this should be applied in the reverse. Isn't is a basic rule of diplomacy that we always act on equal terms? I.e. leveling the field before play?
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More_Sauce-Please, re your statement about 'the argument about US English rather than Australian English - get the ones published in the UK then.'
You're right, in that circumstance at least the English would be 'real' English. Although it is very difficult for a Australian author (except for Winton, Courtney, Gleitzman and a few others) to be taken on by British publishers. Are they still a bit parochial perhaps?
The guts of the problem if the Parallel Imports are lifted is that a flood of slightly cheaper imports will force Australian publishers to cut back on their support of authors - only those who make a mint for them will be kept on.
This is what has happened in NZ - after 10 years of PIs - their numbers of home-grown authors haven't grown, and newer authors are not being taken on. That is a sad future for the young readers of NZ and this is what is ahead for Australian children.
And this is why so many authors have succumbed to writing to blogs like this one. We care about our futures (even though we only get 10% of the RRP of a book so have to do other things as well) but we care more of what Australian children will be reading in the future.
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As someone who loves to read, I've come back to read this blog and the accompanying comments several times in an effort to understand the issue and what is at stake. What does keep resonating with me is that regardless of whether we drop PIRs or not the UK and US have no plans to do the same, so won't that make our market even more vulnerable? (As seems to have happened in NZ judging from the comments posted).
I certainly want to read and want my children to read books printed in Australian, or even British English, in preference to Americanised spellings. This simply because as my child's reading develops so too should their ability to recognise words and spell them.
Furthermore, I despair the 'big two' in Australia ie. Woolworths and Coles getting too much of a hold on our book selling market. They are already greedily snapping up much in the retail industry including liquor and petrol, and having a good go at getting pharmaceuticals. Once you get outside a main city such as Sydney or Melbourne this is becoming an increasing problem as they get a stranglehold on retail in smaller towns and cities.
On a side-note: The comment regarding Kevin Rudd is a deliciously subtle critique.
"Yet there are also times when he likes to parade his anti-intellectualism - critics would say his philistinism - with his strange use of language, and phrases ..."
I believe his language contortions are an attempt to be populist - all things, to all people, all the time. Will the real Kevin Rudd, our PM, please stand up!
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The core of the issue remains the same; books sold in Australia are too expensive. The authors and publishers that seem to be against the reforms haven't (to my knowledge) put forward an alternative solution. In the real world, the smartest lobbyist win.
From my experience, when a party flatly opposes something and wants to stay with the status quo, there is very often self interest and a complete lack of desire to adapt attached. i.e. dinosaurs.
So, could aussieauthor / aussiebooklover / AussieReadnWrite / morethanbooks / ballarathousewife / Aussiebookshop (any one of your aliases will do) please tell us how to get prices to a reasonable level (I imported books last week to save money), and maintain Australian publishing which you say will threatened.
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More_Sauce_Please, the reason Amazon is based in America and not Australia is to do with market size. America has a population of over 300 million. Australia has less than 22 million. It is in Amazons best interest to set up in America.
Those same market figures are why American publishers dont publish authentic Australian material (without first rewriting it so extensively so that it is no longer recognisable Australian) because the Australian market doesnt figure in their equation except as a dumping ground for unsold copies of mass-produced Americanised literature.
Yetanotherecho, I dont get your scepticism. It might surprise you to realise that there is more than one concerned author in Australia. I for one am AussieReadnWrite ONLY! And I am only ONE concerned voice.
A solution you ask? I would suggest that the Coalition for Cheaper Books hold the answer to that. Because they get BY FAR the greatest chunk of money out of any book sold in Australia. They get a completed book, (that may have been five years in the making, in the case of picture books) have it on their shelf for a couple of weeks and demand 50 to 70% of RRP. (Are you hearing this?)
The remaining portion (30 to 50%) needs to cover the:
1) cost of production (printing, binding, packaging, distribution),
2) the people in the process (author, illustrator, agent, editor, publisher, publicist, sales & marketing)
3) the 10% GST
That 30-50% is a very little bit of money going a very long way! It hardly seems fair that the large retailers of Dymocks, Big W, Kmart, Coles, Woolworths and Target get to keep 50-70% for themselves!
And yet, yetanotherecho, you STILL have the hide to point the finger at authors and publishers?
You mentioned dinosaurs but reading your post, Im reminded of an ostrich! Appropriate I guess - coming as it does from America...
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I'm kind of confused about this issue. The coalition of the cheap books want to pay less for books, and they want to be able to sell at prices that are competitive with online prices.
So, why are books made by Australian publishers so expensive? Is it just simply economy of scale? Completely ignoring the amount of royalites paid by different publishing houses, that seems to be the issue??
So isn't the real question, why Australian publishing houses aren't competitive with imports? If it has to be shipped/flown over instead of being printed in Australia, especially with smaller print runs, surely they should be able to sell the books for cheaper?
Sorry if I've misunderstood the arguments (I did read it all).
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AussieReadnWrite, I asked for a workable alternative solution, and you just repeated the same numbers as before, then attacked me. It's not making you a credible spokesperson for your position.
I wasn't pointing fingers at writers and publishers. I'm pointing out that that those that don't adapt die, as in any other industry. If you are familiar with the industry, you must have given some thought about the direction it could move in.
Please take a look Linda Olsson's message. She's a published writer. She points out that it's not the royalty percentages that matter; they stay the same despite territory, but the number of units sold. Her example of $NZ28 to $NZ12 is a hefty difference.
$12 is (in my mind) more of an impulse buy. I feel that high prices punish/take advantage of those that are really keen to read. More casual shoppers looking for entertainment might not be able to justify the cost and decide to give it a miss. And we have a less literate population to show for it.
Would lower prices encourage people to shop at an Australian retailer, where Australian titles get more prominence - rather than order abroad or buy a $12 DVD?
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Yetanotherechoecho: Let me assure you I'm not any one else but AussieAuthor - my real name is Sheryl Gwyther and I am an Australian published children's author (there, I've come out, will you?)
I'm bemused by the fact there are people who would quibble over a few dollars saved on a book and then go out to a restaurant and spend much more - for what? Certainly not some tangible thing they can take home and treasure, or pass on to others to read.
No, I don't think the difference between $12 and $28 would make a difference to someone who really wanted to buy and read a book - if lack of money actually was a problem, everyone has access to a public library. There are no barriers to reading in this country for any literate person when free books are available. And as a former primary teacher and an adult literacy teacher, I'm glad my students didn't have to contend with a mish-mash of spelling in the books they tackled - like if Americanised versions were allowed into the country.
Shesaidthat is right to focus on what really matters, that Australian children's books of the future will be damaged forever if Parallel IMports are allowed; and that the duo-opolies of Coles and Woolworths (and Dymocks rushing behind in their short-pants trying to catch up) have only one focus on their executives collected minds: the pursuit of higher profits and takeovers.
And I'm not convinced of the argument about getting cheaper books if PI goes ahead. The US and the UK have a massively bigger market so they sell more books. and I;ve yet to be convinced that collectively, books are cheaper in those countries compared to Aust - there are some that are and some that aren't.
At least I know Australian published books are better quality. I recently purchased a paperback copy of the children's classic, 'The Secret Garden' by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was an overseas import and within two weeks it had fallen apart. Not one of the Australian children's books I've purchased here, published in Aust, printed in Australia by companies like Griffin Press, have met with the same fate.
And thank goodness for people like Graham Perrett, Federal MP and author who spoke at the ALP National Conference yesterday : "The Productivity Commission's role is important but some things transcend what a first-year economic student could have written," he said.
"If it ain't broke don't try to fix it. I'm proud of my literary culture and we should not sacrifice it on the altar of dry economics."
Nothing else can be added to that argument, nor argued against.
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aussieauthor, you've done a great job of highlighting the current problems from an Australian author's point of view, but a couple of points in your last post do you a disservice.
$12 - $28 is a huge difference to pay, even in NZD. It really would make a difference for most people. To compare this with the amount that people pay for food seems largely pointless: it's easy to see where the relative costs of different restaurants come from and there's not a big difference (relative to cost of living) between countries (as there most definitely is with books). Just because to you, $28 may be as reasonable amount to spend on a book as a meal, that doesn't mean everyone has the same values.
I'd also suggest that until you've done some exhaustive research on the (build) quality of books from different countries, your findings to date can hardly be valid.
Finally, the argument against 'If it ain't broke don't try to fix it' that you missed is that from a consumer's point of view it IS broken. We're shopping abroad via the internet, if that doesn't prove there's a problem somewhere, I don't know what does.
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Paul, did you see the examples in the Sydney Morning Herald about some booksellers undermining the campaign for 'cheaper books' by charging above the RRP on some titles.
Angus & Robertson (who are not part of the 'coalition for cheaper books') regularly put up their prices on books beyond what the publishers set. How fair is that? And who's ripping off whom here? I suggest consumers start demanding certain booksellers stick by the rules.
If you don't feel inclined to support a valuable, home-grown publishing industry that provides jobs for thousands of people in the publishing, printing, packaging, design, distribution and bookselling industries, then continue to shop via the internet.
I guess it comes down to what one thinks is the ethical thing to do.
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AussieReadnWrite: Sorry I didn't make my question re Amazon clear. I understand the massive difference in market size but also know that Amazon has a UK site at amazon.co.uk, so my question was why they have not set up amazon.com.au or whatever that would be. There is a shortage of books available at good prices here in Australia. While I am likely to impulse-buy a new-to-me author for 6 pounds to see if I like them, I am much less likely to spring $30-35 for the same experience. I feel some of the arguments here are to do with us becoming an offshoot of the cheap US market and agree with the poor quality of some of the books produced - I have many experiences of buying an "airport" book in the US and not getting it all the way home in one piece! So I repeat, get the books from the UK then.
It feels like many of these arguments avoid what as a consumer is the biggest problem - if books were cheaper, I would probably spend more money and would definitely buy more books. Like others here I shop via the internet for a cheaper alternative. I don't see why I should take some kind of "ethical" stand, aussieauthor, if it means I risk more money on a book I might not enjoy.
If printing books here makes them more expensive then I don't see why we should subsidise those jobs with our own dollars.
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more_sauce_please asks why haven't Amazon set up a base in Australia, as they have one in the UK. So lets look at some basic facts. You set up a shop in the biggest market, to get to more customers. Amazon has accordingly set up shop in the US pop: 307,033,000 Canada pop: 33,731,000; UK pop: 61,634,599; Japan pop: 127,580,000; France pop: 65,073,482; and China pop: 1,332,120,000.
Surely the question is not why haven't they set up a base in Australia pop: 21,863,000; but why haven't they set up a base in India pop: 1,167,020,000; or Russia pop: 141,868,000; or any other of the 52 countries with a larger market base than Australia? Surely it can't just be Australian book prices?
However I can think of a simple solution that could lower Australian book prices by approximately 30%, without removing our parallel import restrictions. I did make a tentative suggestion for this to the Productivity Commission. It was one of those swept aside as irrelvant. What would I suggest to the Australian public now?
Reject the Productivity Commission report as it stands, and demand a more exhaustive consultation, with the entire Australian writing, illustrating, publishing, printing, and bookselling industries, as well as educators. Surely in this day of video link ups this is acheivable?
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Aussieauthor, the Angus and Robertson story raises a few issues.
1) This is a bad thing - it makes books even more expensive, and from what youve told us previously the extra money is going to those who take the biggest cut already
2) A&R obviously think they can still get people to buy at this higher price - presumably because the public is used to high prices, there's little competition or competitors are also overpricing?
3) This has happened under the current system
Of course there's a place for ethics in shopping, just as you choose to buy free-range eggs or fair trade coffee it's not unreasonable to purchase the product that gives true value to those who produced it.
But, the question I think most people are asking is why books cant be sold for a lower price in Australia. It seems possible in the UK and no one appears to be saying that authors are worse off there than here.
So it looks like we either come down to an inefficiency in publishing/production (the potential Aus market isn't tiny though) or a system that is producing a greater variety of books that sell in consequently lower numbers, thus reducing profits and increasing prices across the board (what are the effects on the level of reading in the public at large?).
If it's the first of those options, and the production of books overseas would result in lower prices, then maybe market forces should be allowed to set in. If it's the second option, then I was always under the impression that if you wanted a niche book with a low print run you payed more anyway.
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Sorry, another thing, Aussiereadnwrite: You specifically criticise the retailers for demanding a 50-70% profit margin on the books they sell. You imply that all of this goes straight into the pockets of the bosses ... however that money too has to work hard, to pay wages and property costs, among other expenses. Gross profit margins of 50 - 70% are in fact pretty standard in product areas such as fashion clothing (as I know from my own experience). Retailers take risks with product - they could well be stuck with a stack of your books if no-one decided to buy them.
Brisbaneben, I'm with you ... it kind of feels like we should be shamed into subsidising a local business because it is local, although it is more expensive for the consumer?
And Aussieauthor: if literary culture is at risk because harsh, cold economics make it too expensive ... maybe local publishers should seek some kind of federal grant to keep them solvent and bring their prices down for the average consumer. If it's that important we should ALL pay for it with our taxes ... not just those of us who happen to like reading books.
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more_sauce_please your last suggestion would (apparently) breach the fair trade agreements. Could I suggest you google Comparison Australian and New Zealand grocery prices, and look for the recent Today Tonight segment. It would seem Australian consumers who happen to like eating food seem to be paying to support those wages, property costs and other expenses of which you speak.
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yetanother echo, your accusation that anyone who posts in support of PIR MUST be just one person under different aliases is downright insulting. Believe it or not, there are many people who oppose the proposed changes and, because we need to be heard, you are likely to hear from us regularly as we campaign to get out messages. I will come clean and admit I'm not REALLY a Ballarat housewife, just as you are not really an echo. Using a pseudonym on a message board is quite acceptable. A put down claiming such things is barely worth responding to, yet here I've wasted a whole paragraph on it - because I'm a writer and I do love words. In the end, the moderator could very easily see if it were one person using different aliases by looking at our email addresses or pinging us.
However, what I really wanted to say here is regarding the repeated question above as to WHY books are more expensive in Australia. Firstly, whilst I know there ARE instances of books being expensive, and I've seen all the examples given in numerous publications in the past few weeks, I have done the comparisons too, and on the whole prices in Australia are not terribly higher. Most of the comparisons seem to be comparing the most expensive shelf price in Australia with the cheapest online price overseas. Secondly, under the current system, there is nothing to stop consumers sourcing books from the cheapest source worldwide so Im not sure why so many people are complaining that they can get books cheaper overseas because there is nothing stopping you from doing that. So do it, if cheapest option is important. But dont be fooled into believing that, if PIRs are scrapped, Dymocks et al will match Amazons price. It isnt going to happen brick and mortar stores in the US dont match Amazons price, so why would brick and mortar stores in Australia be any different.
Now, onto how prices can be lowered in Australia. There seems to be a repeated cry for publishers and authors to change things yet the majority of posters above who have said this have ignored the repeated explanation that it is bookstores which push prices up. Yes, morthansauce, I know that the retailers have to make money too and I dont expect them to work for free (even though they expect me to, if PIRs are scrapped), however, they are not stuck with stacks of books if they dont sell they insist on sale or return which means if the books dont sell, they send them back to the publisher and get a refund. This doesnt happen in too many other industries to my knowledge only in publishing. So the retailers are taking very little risk.
But, if a reduced price will result in increased sales, as the coalition is claiming, then reducing their margin per unit would certainly both lower prices (making consumers happier) and increase profits (making retailers happy). Lowering their margin to, say, 30%, would make a marked difference.
The second way prices could be lowered is by removing the GST on books, especially childrens and educational books. One of the reasons books are cheaper in the UK is that there is no VAT (their equivalent of GST) on books. So, drop the prices 10% and again, everyone benefits. Except, of course the government which would lose some revenue BUT would then have less need to subsidise the industry in other ways.
I do think a comprehensive analysis of the cost difference and the reasons for this cost difference is called for. At present, those who are anti PIR are relying on price comparisons which are not reliable (because they dont directly compare the same store type, for one, and dont account for difference in tax systems etc) and those who are pro-PIR (like myself) are being accused of being greedy because we want to defend our measly royalties. I, for one, am not asking for people to pay more for books so that I can earn more (BTW, the amount I earn from writing does not feed me OR my family) What I am asking for is a balanced examination of a) whether the proposed changes will honestly reduce book prices rather than lining big business bank accounts and b) whether this will destroy the publishing industry and c) whether cheaper book prices are possible through some other means.
In the end, those people who accuse writers and publishers of not offering a solution are obviously not informed on the issue here. Because the Productivity Commission did not set out to find out how books could be cheaper. They have not come up with any suggestions to make books cheaper. They have simply explored whether changing PIRs is possible. That is the only issue on the table at present. If you believe this is a debate about cheaper books, then you have been hoodwinked by Dymocks et al and their fancy name.
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The problem has been identified, rightly or wrongly, as expensive books in Australia. The Productivity Commission, with its free market bias, did not look for a creative solution to the problem. As Ballarat Housewife stated, it simply looked into the effects of opening the market. And it weighted these effects with its bias in clear view! Economic arguments FOR the abolition of PIRs were given much consideration, cultural arguments were discussed ... and then dismissed.
I cannot for the life of me work out why we would adopt changes that simply exchange one problem for another. Or perhaps ADD one problem to another, seeing as there is by no means a guarantee of cheaper books.
Why should we be choosing between cheap books OR a thriving publishing industry?
Our starting place at this point in time is a vibrant, competitive and creative publishing industry. Lets move forward from there, not backwards.
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I did mean to add in my comment above that, I KNOW it is posisble for booksellers to survive on less than the margins they are currently getting because in fact not all booksellers get 50%-70%. It is DYmocks and the big chains stores who demand these margins. Smaller chains and independent booksellers actualy have lower margins, because they are unable to get the bulk discounts that the big chains do. I don't have figures, but know that I did read somewhere in the last few weeks that for an independent the margin is more like 20 to 30%. So why do the bigger chains demand a bigger reduction but, in the case of Dymocks especially, not pass on any of that saving, if cheaper books are so important to them? Because, quite simply, they are NOT interested in books being cheaper for the consumer. They are interested in books being cheaper for them so they can big bigger profits by keeping the savings for themselves. this si why i support independent booksellers and will go out of my way to find an independent bookseller.
Again, I am not asking for businesses to make no profit. Just to be honest about just how much profit they get compared to both publishers and authors.
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How far does this, as long as its cheaper argument go?
Doctors in India perform surgery much cheaper than in Australia - so we all fly to India for surgery?
Chernobyl exports cheap beef and milk - but heh, if it saves money, buy them! Never mind that the Australian Blood Bank wont accept blood from people who lived in the UK after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, because nuclear waste drifted over and tainted their ground and water. Milk and beef at the epicentre of the disaster will be okay - because it's CHEAP!
China is a population of billions, many living on a diet of rice, without power and infrastructure (below the poverty line!) but theyre cheap labour and can produce all manner of goods at mega-cheap rates Who really cares that they get paid a pittance so that Australian consumers and retailers can line their pockets Its cheaper - so buy it!
Which raises the issue of exploitation. Are we happier to pay less and buy from China and the likes, because theyre not getting paid a fair wage? At what cost to the person who made it?
The mentality to buy whatevers cheapest no matter the human cost is feeding this system of exploitation. And Im not talking books here, Im talking fashion clothing (as mentioned by More_Sauce_Please), electonics goods, toys, food
As long as we (consumers) are paying pittance for a product, underpaid undervalued humans are EARNING pittance. We cant compete with the economics, because it is an unjust system - and nor should we even want to compete! Much better to try and fix it.
Wouldnt we in fact be better to pay MORE (and retailers make less profits) so that world wealth is more evenly distributed? What gives us the right to an excess of luxuries, while others are born into starvation?
Because if you keep pushing the buy whatevers cheaper argument it seems to me youre saying. Australian workers are overvalued and overindulged and therefore need massive wage cuts ACROSS THE BOARD to enable them to compete with exploited third-world workers.
Its not just authors and publishers were talking about, anymore. Are YOU prepared to accept wages that are well below the poverty line so that Australia can compete with the third-world nations were currently exploiting (rightly or wrongly) so that production of goods, (clothes, electronic goods, books) and the delivery of services, in Australia is cheaper?
Im intrigued.
Cheaper - but at what cost?
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(Hmmmmm. The loss of lots of punctuation in my posts makes for tricky reading. I DO know about apostrophes, dashes and ellipses - just for some reason whenever I post them, they are lost. Think I have solved the dash issue - but the others are still lost in cyberspace. Apologies.)
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A couple of points.
How many people above who have said we shouldn't open out markets up whilst the UK and USA haven't would say that nothing should be done about greenhouse gases because China/India haven't?
I'm an avid reader, I probably purchase a book at least once a month, but I don't think I've ever purchased a book by an Australian author, I think I still have awful memories of being forced to read Tim Winton at school. Almost all of my purchases tend to fall into the category of History of classic literature. I don't really have any interest in Australian history and the classics tend to be at least one hundred years old, hence my lack of Australian reading.
As an engineer a lot of the work I do can, and is, sub-contracted out overseas and the same applies to other professions. Why are Australian authors a protected species? Surely there is always going to be a market for quality work, no matter the nationality of the writer.
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KeirAndo - I can appreciate that you do not feel this is important, since you do not think it applies to you. Alas it DOES apply to every Australian school child, because children (all children) start with what they know and build their knowledge of the world around that. Australian children know Australian experiences. And Australia as a nation, though similar in some ways, is still very different to America, UK and Canada. (Take our seasons and time of year for one thing. We don’t really have Autumn – let alone FALL.) The Australian experiences are therefore very different. This is apparent in the cities – but it is glaringly obvious in the smaller country towns.
Sooooo many parents I have talked to about this (yes, I am a teacher) are frustrated by the surfeit of Americanised stories we are immersing our kids in. They are angry that removing PIRs will jeopardise the growing market that we have.
Publishers traditionally publish to their home market. That is why there are so many American stories available – because the American market is by far the largest. Publishers tailor the stories to their own countries’ experiences. And as stated numerous times in earlier posts on this topic/site, publishers in other countries are reluctant to publish the Australian-ness of Australian stories. They recognise the quality of the writing (even publish work by those same authors without Australian content) but they want to write-out every scrap of Australian-ness in the stories.
If Australia does not have a viable publishing market, there will be no-one tailoring stories to Australian readers. Does not worry you – you have already said that… But what about each and every Australian child trying to find their place in the world? That’s not even touching on the literacy aspect… Or the fact that lots of Australians DO value Australian stories and DO want to be able to read them.
Lying our small market vulnerable to mass dumping from over-protected overseas markets (who have much greater restrictions than any Australia has ever had - and a larger market that allows for lower pricing) is an act of economic stupidity. It is WAY different to having an environmental conscience about greenhouse emissions - something that for sure, we ALL need to develop.
YES to sustainability and an environmental conscience - YES to Australian stories!
Even the Australian Greens Party agree. Google ‘Greens protect Australian readers’ to view their rationale.
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If only we lived in an ideal world where nations were allowed to keep and propogate their literary culture and to share it with others, KeirAndo, then your last comment would be possible. But of course, it's not. (Except if you live in the United States.)
You say you're an avid reader but you don't read modern Australian fiction. Are you reading novels written by overseas authors? I know lots of men (sorry, not being sexist here, really, and I don't know if you are a man) who don't read fiction either - maybe lost it during those early years in high school and never found it again - my husband is one too. Just a thought - I know several engineers and they never read fiction either. Mmmm.
I keep trying to get my husband to read fiction too, but hold out no hope for him. He likes when I read a short-story aloud to him from the brilliant Australian writer, Cate Kennedy's book 'Dark Roots', and he's was pretty impressed with some of the Murray Bail novel, 'Eucalyptus' I made him listen to.
My point being, don't judge what Australia has to offer in her literary offerings in terms of what you prefer to read. There are many, many award-winning Australian authors of both fiction and non-fiction who are sought out all over the world, and the stories they are writing are Australian stories or have Australian content.
No more is this evident than in the world of children's books - both picture books and novels for all ages. And this is the area that will be most affected, negatively, if Parallel Imports are allowed, as Australian publishers are forced financially to cut back on new authors, because bookshops are flooded with foreign versions of Australian books that give neither the Australian publisher nor the author fair recompense for their, usually, a 2-3 years partnership to bring that first Aussie version to fruit.
For example, the brilliant 'Running Man', a novel for Young Adults, but suitable reading for ages up to eye-failing stage. Written by an Australian, Michael Gerard Bauer, it's a Children's Book Council Award Winner, as well as winning many Australian literary awards, this book won the Children's Peace Literature Award(2007), Catholic Children's and Young People's Book Award - German edition (2008), Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis Award: Shortlisted (2008). http://alea.edu.au/html/reading-day/100/the-running-man
If Parallel Imports had been in Australia when 'Running Man' (with it's first-time author, its unusual and heart-felt story, and its literary rather than commercial content) was first submitted to publishers, do you think it would've seen the light of day? Not if the thought of making money on it had been the crucial factor. But thank goodness, the restrictions were still in place and the publisher was able to go with her gut feelings about this fine manuscript.
And by the way,I certainly don't think we should do nothing about greenhouse gases while China/India haven't. (And I believe China is trying to do more than any other first-world nation presently, because they do have a huge problem).
One other thing, think about all the greenhouse gases stopped and the Carbon Footprints reduced if all future Australian produced books are sold here, rather than bringing in foreign versions of those same books under a Parallel Import law.
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good heavens, KeirAndo, you consign all Australian authors as not worth reading because you disliked one as a teenager? I can see that would limit your choice severely.
However, I am really interested, so please excuse any rudeness, but why are Australian engineering jobs subcontracted overseas? Is there a problem with the quality of Australian educated engineers? Does it come down to how much Australian engineers are paid?
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