Letters, feedback, get it off your chest: 2 March 2011
Talk about print sales continues this week while Neale Gallagher has some kinds words to say about Andy McCourt’s piece on books, while also offering his own thoughts.
Re: It’s Ricoh - Heidelberg picks its digital partner
It's amazing how the local partnership being so successful, that the international parent (Heidelberg) went and picked Ricoh as their digital partner. Either Australia's experience doesn't rate at all or they just made another brave move.
Chester Painter
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Re: Philip Andersen set to retire
Congratulations Philip, during my term of office as National Secretary of the AMWU Printing Divsion we were able to at least sit down and have some constructive dialogue about the issues confronting the industry, while we may not always have agreed at least you recognised the role that trade unions have in society.
Best wishes for the future.
Steve Walsh
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Re: Geon gets extra $ headroom – denies change to equity
So instead of paying off my mortgage in 25 years, can I pay it off in 30 years?
I know I will be paying more interest in the longer term but I will be repaying less dollars per month now, which helps because I cannot afford to pay more per month now, because I am not earning enough. (Sounds like somebody who has been made redundant and is in financial strife.)
Chris Wallace
What a load of old rubbish. Still more headroom to help to destroy what is left of the NZ print industry: none of us in the real world would be allowed to trade like this. The banks will put still more pressure on the small guys and the big guys will get away with it (no house to hold a charge over) just the loss of other people’s money. We have come a long way since the GFC.
Cliff Dyer
This is an excellent article. And, I feel, spot on. The topic of book publishing and book “consumption” in Australia is complex and fascinating.
Some of the excuses cited by Red Group Retail are correct but the reality is that they mismanaged their portfolio.
Online sales have only contributed to a 3% shortfall for retailers but, more importantly, the online sales have encouraged the average sales price down, resulting in eroded margins.
The independent booksellers have long acknowledged that the Australian Publishing regulations are too restrictive. The average consumer can import a new title before it is available in Australia, at a lower price. But, why do we still have these antiquated publishing practices?
Let the independent booksellers purchase imported titles from the local publishers. These same publishers should given the right to import and distribute international titles. Hence, no need to republish and print locally. Do we have a large local industry to protect when so much is printed offshore?
Looking for opportunities
The point of difference for a local independent bookstore is personalised service, convenience, and often, a speciality (example...Glee Books). We also can’t forget their passion for books. All worth the extra price.
Striking a balance is required. There will always be a need for the printed book. Printers should not be alarmed, volumes may decrease but adding value to the book in some other form may be attractive to a new segment of the market – the same way CD’s on the front cover of magazines were ten years ago. This may even be attractive to the passionate fiction reader.
Not everyone will adopt the e-book, even with the additional content that is provided.
The market will continue to evolve (think iTunes). Consumers will have a greater choice of product and content – the choice of channel will need to change. Other outlets for products/content will emerge. As stated, the book stores also need to evolve to provide more services in the electronic space. The current Australian booksellers online space is nowhere near as slick as distributors such as the Book Depository or even Amazon.
Borders tried to diversify their offering with their music and video products. These too have been eroded by the convenience of iTunes and movie download facilities such as Apple TV, Telstra’s T-box and others.
Pros and Cons
The shift to convenience: If you know what you’re looking for, the ability to quickly locate a title online compared to walking around a bookshop can be measured in time and the added value provided in reader reviews, access to similar titles from the vast list of titles.
Perhaps old fashioned, but the ability to browse in a bookshop always provides the thrill of finding something new. Often unrelated. The experience of scanning a book can’t be compared to any online simulation.
The key, as Andy mentioned, is the integration of the two along with new outlets for this form of information.
The result. Less waste. The remainder book stores that pop up in vacant shops may have less stock to call on. Is that a great loss?
It is a difficult time for the book sellers, and the owners of Gloria Jeans franchisees within Borders that have invested heavily in their location and businesses. It seems that 2,500+ people will lose their jobs as a result of poor management, not the demise of book sales due to online purchases.
And finally ...
Happy to discuss further as this impacts future generations. I’m already seeing, first hand, a shift away from text books in schools. Students are now offered material in pdf format for their government supplied notebooks – typically, the materials are not printed by the younger generation. Where does that leave the manufacturers of desktop printing devices? Perhaps this is a topic for a future feature article.
Neale Gallagher
Re: Letters, feedback, get it off your chest: 23 February 2011
With reference to John Cricton’s letter he, as always, speaks with a level of wisdom and clarity often missing from many letter subscribers. He may have spent 45 years in this manic industry but it has not affected his vision – well perhaps sometimes, when the red wine flows.
Brett Johnson
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John,
Bad management will always destroy a good company (no matter what industry). John, mid-sixties, yes the world has changed. Not to bore you, but l have also been in the industry in many different capacities for over 41 years and also enjoyed all the challenges.
When you say "l prefer to solve their problems”, (and that's great) are you not also educating them? As far as the technical knowledge, l have about my clients' industries, all clients have different needs. That is why l make a point of finding out what their industry is about.
Maybe you should do the same?
Michael Arimatea
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Re: Dictionary opens next chapter in Australian publishing
Dear Kevin,
My dear late friend and mentor Dr Peter Kenny is revolving in his Macquarie Park cemetary plot mate. Remember how he (with Singo) helped you and Hamlyn make millions with Fishing in Australia and New Zealand, the first book to be promoted on TV? Print your Macquarie-series books in Australia mate, they are Australian-themed, contain Australian cultural content and are purchased by Australians. With the Fishing book, you agreed to a $2 increase in RRP to cover the advertising and it sold by the truckload. So what's wrong with a slightly higher price for an Australian-printed book proudly able to boast:
"Printed under almost impossible circumstances by struggling Australian printers who receive bugger all help from their governments, whose currency is not kept artificially low, whose wages tend to be a tad better than $5 a day, who have to pay more for their paper and ink, who pay more state and federal taxes, who constitute a workforce of around 100,000 honest citizens and who are getting kicked on the ground by publishers who say they are 'uncompetetive,' as if there is some magical mystery gold mine lurking under their cut-to-the-bone print quotes when there is not and who are valiantly keeping an entire industry and econo-system alive."
I was in a supermarket yesterday and saw a pile of books on Cooking with Cheese next to, guess what, the cheese. I thought 'Here goes, another printed offshore job' but on reading the colophon I was gobsmacked. 'Printed by Finsbury Green'. They are in South Australia and Melbourne. That's a good start and you can brag about the enviro-credentials too. Here's a few more names; BPA, Ligare, Griffin, McPherson's, SOS, Hyde Park, etc – they'll all give it a go if you give them a chance.
Go on Kev, you're a gun publisher. Print everything else you publish in Australia, case bound or not, and scream about it. Watch the sales skyrocket!
Andy McCourt