The publishing industry, after several years of fearing that the Chancellor would impose VAT on books and newspapers, had something new to worry about last year; the longstanding Net Book Agreement was finally abandoned. Customers used to shopping around for the best price on carrots and turnips could now do the same with Tolstoy and Delia Smith.
Some said it was the best development in publishing for a very long time, and welcomed the increased competition. Others pointed out that publishing isn't the same as groceries. You don't stock good-looking carrots for the sheer prestige of it or because you think the farmer is worth encouraging, without reference to how many carrots you actually sell. But a surprising number of books are published for reasons that have nothing to do with profitability. 'Exactly', says the anti-NBA lobby. 'Try telling that to the struggling first-time novelist', respond the pro lobby.
When the Agreement (which began in 1899 as a terms-of-sale agreement between publishers and booksellers, aimed at preventing price wars and under-selling) crumbled, some were optimistic. It would lead to a Christmas bonanza, they said, but after Christmas when the accounts were drawn up, sanity and common sense would prevail. Unfortunately, though that has certainly to an extent happened (many bookshops will be sending large numbers of unsold titles back to publishers during early 1996), the loss of the NBA has had other consequences. Many top discounted titles have become seven-day wonders, for example. And like the retail market generally, book-buyers have become very bargain-conscious; according to one Christian bookseller, Christmas buying began very late last year, but the business done in the January sales was very brisk.
In one sense that's understandable; money is tight for everyone these days, and there's no point in spending more than you have to. But the experience of one small independent bookseller as reported in the current Bookseller should give anyone who cares for a healthy book industry pause for thought. His sales for November and December were down by £10,000 against 1994, because he had lost his best-seller market. Anyone wanting the current block-busters could get them much more cheaply at Woolworths or any large discounting store (Woolworths sold 40,000 of the block-busting Delia Smith's Winter Collection in the Christmas run-up). The small bookseller doubted whether he could continue in business for much longer.
It was booksellers like him who fought for the Net Book Agreement in 1899, when large discounters fought against it. A discounting store carrying just 20 best-selling titles has none of the problems of an independent bookshop, which is already struggling with such factors as the book-clubs that regularly undercut the price of some of his choicest items of stock. A discounter does not have to know about books, does not have to advise customers about the book best suited to their needs, does not have to maintain a balanced stock, and does not have to acquire a knowledge of the complex and often perplexing book trade. And minimum orders, which are often a major headache to a small bookseller, are no problem to the big chains.
Bargain-hunting?
Though Dillons and Wesley Owen are unlikely to find themselves in a price war over the latest John Stott, the bargain-hunting mentality can affect Christian book-buying too. And Christians aren't immune to the curious thinking that regards a restaurant meal costing £12 as legitimate, or a theatre ticket at anything from £7.50 up, to be quite acceptable - but a book? For £5.99? Better wait for the January sales . . .
But a book is a unique investment and a companion for life. Buy a good Bible dictionary when you are 20, and you'll quite likely be using it half a century later. The bookseller from whom you buy it will be trained and experienced in a specialist and minority field. In most cases, neither he nor the author will make much money from the expertise that has produced it.
So here's four belated New Year resolutions. Support your Christian bookshop. Buy rather than borrow unless you're sure you'll only read a book once. Take advantage of special sales by all means (maybe buy extra copies to give away!), but consider the retail price of a book to be a price well-worth paying if the book is well worth reading.
And do all you can to encourage a society that is reading less and less to value the printed word more and more. Not all the booksellers' statistics are grim ones, but books still need all the help they can get.
