The rotten stink in the South African publishing industry

This blog is written by the most important person in the South African book publishing industry – me – the consumer.

And so it was one Sunday morning, I found myself on the way to Kalk Bay Bookshop to buy Lauren Beukes’ debut novel “Moxyland,” but unfortunately the book’s sticker price of R170 (or about £15) meant that I left the store empty handed and disappointed. I’m simply not prepared to pay R170 for a paperback novel that should be selling for half that price.

So it was no surprise when I read an article in the Mail & Guardian about the challenging times the local book publishing industry is facing.

In a country where half the population lives on the breadline, the last thing most people can do is buy a book, never mind one that sells for twice the price you pay anywhere else. Given how important reading is to the nation’s education, coupled with the low levels of literacy in South Africa, this is truly a tragic situation.

What perturbed me most about the article was the following comment by an industry insider:

“Book prices are generally high in South Africa, compared with other countries, and the prices of e-books are going to be fairly high too.”

Can you believe that? There is absolutely no reason why this needs to be the case and furthermore it reflects an ignorance of even the most basic economics. If book prices were halved, volumes would pick-up and more money would be made. It’s that simple. On top of that, e-books can be distributed for a fraction of the cost of the physical product, which means that the only reason for high prices is pure greed.

When I used to live in London, it would be nothing for me to walk into a bookstore and leave with 6 books. An average paperback book in London costs between R60 to R100 (£7 to £9). If you didn’t buy books even cheaper on Amazon, most bookstores would offer a “3 for the price of 2” deal which means you could often buy 3 books for R120 to R200 (£14 to £18). Given that incomes are much higher in England than South Africa, the relative value of book prices means that not only are books cheaper in England, but also take-up a smaller portion of your disposable income. That’s a double bonus.

It was suggested to me that the Government charges a 40% import duty on the price of books, including VAT, which is something the UK government doesn’t do. Curious about this situation I decided to visit the SARS website to see what they had to say (this is not something you want to do). After spending hours navigating a multitude of dead links and redundant information I finally managed to locate a document that said there were no import duties (there is VAT) on imported books.

Something is horribly wrong.

I imagine that the unit cost of printed books is similar the world over give or take national variances on the costs of production. If anything, the costs of production should be cheaper in South Africa than Europe. I would also find it hard to believe that Moxyland is printed in Europe and shipped to South Africa. The logistics and economics don’t make sense. So why the price of R170?

I’m no expert, but I don’t see many bookshop owners driving around in Ferraris or living in Clifton. Book printers probably don’t make much money either – it’s a commodity type transaction, which doesn’t have much pricing power. So that means either the publisher or distributor must be making a massive margin, pushing up the final price to consumers. You don’t need to be a genius to know this is not how you increase sales.

My guess is that a small number of dominant publishers and distributors are in bed together and have a stranglehold on the market (Competition Commission, please investigate). This kind of oligopoly is all too common in South Africa.

America has seen an explosion in e-book sales and the capitalist death-match that plays out in their marketplace means that most consumers get a pretty sweet deal. Not so here. But I’m hopeful. We live in an inter-connected world and pretty soon I won’t have to buy any of my reading material from a local distributor or bookshop unless the price makes sense.

Long live the Internet and learn to love your library, where I was able to borrow Moxyland for free. There is no reason I should pay more than R100 for a book and neither should you.

The Skin Map

So Stephen Lawhead has released his 24th book The Skin Map; A BRIGHT EMPIRES novel. Not only is Stephen Lawhead a great writer, but he's also a damn fine human being and for this reason alone it’s okay to steal money from street kids to buy this book.

I first met Stephen Lawhead and his lovely wife, and slightly less lovely sons, when I was working as a volunteer for Schloss Mittersill, a castle high on the hills in the snow-capped mountains of Austria. Unfortunately, I was not the king but the kitchen help and used to spend the most part of my waking days washing dishes. One night during the Christmas party, faced with a trillion dishes to wash, Stephen Lawhead came into the kitchen and helped me wash the dishes so that I could join the party.

Can you believe that? Either you have to be really, really crazy or really, really kind and Stephen Lawhead definitely isn’t crazy.

The writer Stephen Lawhead & I