Livres Ancients Livres Modernes

There used to be a category of retail for books at UK Companies House. There is however one for, newspapers, stationary, magazine and other, but no longer books. We also read that the UK’s Bookseller Association claim today that some 25% of independent bookshops have gone out of business in the last 5 years and we find ourselves reminded about the sign over the door of that old bookstore of Emile Raoust & Co. in Lillie that now sells mobiles.

Every action has a consequence and impact and the book market is no different. What would you think is the consequence of:

• Supermarkets being incentivised to shift volume and the likes of Asda selling shelves of books for a £1 each and cheaper than they sell greeting cards
• Chains demanding tiered incentives to merely place titles in windows and catalogues on sale or return terms
• The suicidal discounting of best sellers and new titles where consumer demand is a given
• The ‘safe’ and cosy sale or return safety net, were there is no or low risk buying and shelf space is effectively rented on consignment
• The spread of ‘white label’ and catalogue internet offers, where everyone has everything, only the brand label and template changes and the seller is actually someone else.
• The breakdown in the difference between bargain and full price titles, where all to often even the best sellers are skimmed or offered to other channels before the ink has dried.

When we first stepped into the book publishing marketplace, we found it crowed, overly complex and some would suggest very adversarial compared to other markets. There was not so much a blame culture, as much as a lack of communication and understanding of others. It was as if everyone thought the other’s job was simple and the book world revolved around them. Even today, some fail to realise that there are only two people that matter, the creator/author and the consumer, and that everyone else has to earn their place in between by adding real value.

Today we now have publishers becoming retailers, retailers becoming publishers, agents becoming publishers, authors doing it themselves, wholesalers and aggregators borrowing brands to sell through white label stores and libraries being scanned.

Bookselling is about what it says on the tin – selling books. Bookselling is not easy nor is it about being a super franchise shop for publishers of new books, it’s about selling books; new, old, used, remaindered, back list, specialist whatever. Despite what Companies House may think book retailing will survive but will be different and will continue to be heavily impacted by others and its own actions.

There is no divine right to bookselling and we must ask if today’s news is really surprising, or whether it’s only alarming in that it didn’t happened sooner. Perhaps Companies House spotted something before the trade.

The Great Book Bank Robbery - the Debate Starts

At last someone is starting to stand up to Google and not be seduced by a few pieces of silver. The UK Bookseller Association has fired an appropriate and well aimed shot across the bows of the giant over its recent US ‘Deal of the Century’.
When Google first started its hovering up of books, the programme was reported as helping capture and preserve information and works. Some openly questioned whether this would lead to them becoming a retailer and whether the scanned works would be shared or remain with Google. Some would suggest that Google appear never to have answered the retail question. Some would say that they have never answered it in public. As a result they have marched onward with relatively little opposition and entered by the back door. When Microsoft walked away from its Live Search programme then Google got a clear run. The problem with Live Search was that unlike Google, it didn’t know what it wanted to be when it grew up.

We have constituently argued that the settlement is bad for authors, publishers, booksellers and libraries and only seems to benefit consumers and of course Google. We have highlighted some of the many rights issues and most importantly the land grab of ‘in copyright but out of print’ works.

Google argue that they will not create a monopoly. So who else will have the search and discovery capability across this range of titles and the ability to reprint and sell all of them to both consumers and on subscriptions to libraries? We should not also forget Google’s Android and the extra dimension that this gives them to standardise the new features within it. Some would argue that the response of Google in the Bookseller clearly demonstrates either their arrogance or their naivety and that they have never been accused of the later.

The rights registry is badly needed, but surely not on an ‘opt out’ basis. Google must have thought they had scored the winning goal when they secured this aspect of the solution. They imply, that by being ‘non for profit’, it is for the benefit of all. Some would say that it doesn’t need to be for profit as they will make 37% elsewhere. How orphan monies will be retained and appropriately distributed?

It is unclear what the subscription rates will be to libraries and also the price to consumers for anything other than the free public domain. Given that the overriding premise is ‘opt out’ not ‘opt in’, one wonders how and even if Google will negotiate terms or state them.

The most amazing thing about this debacle is how little consultation appears to have taken place on such an important issue and how once ratified a US deal doesn’t become a global one. Where do the ABA, the libraries and copyright agencies UK PA, IFBA stand on the issue? We hope other industry bodies such as the BA will evaluate the potential impact and join the debate.

The industry shouldn’t merely roll over and in a few years time, wake up and ask how it was ever allowed to happen and Google got away with it?