If one thing was learned from the scrap over Parallel Import Restrictions over the past year, it’s that you can’t judge book import legislation by its cover. Depending who you talk to, the local approach to rights have been painted as anything from the saviour of Australian culture to some kind of justification for daylight robbery at the bookshop counter. On 11 November, the government opted to retain the PIRs. The rights debate may be all over for now, but the sector’s pressures remain – online retailers such as Amazon, the growth of e-books, pressure from the internet, low-cost production in developing nations.
Now that the sector has had time to breathe following the win over PIRs, what has the outcome of the bitter dispute meant for our book printing sector?
When the Productivity Commission recommended PIRs be abolished, the issue became a media hurricane: left-wing protectionism going head to head with the capitalist free market. On one side, the Coalition for Cheaper Books, spearheaded by Dymocks chief executive Don Grover, who talked of the “millions of Australian consumers who will benefit from the removal of these outdated protectionist measures”. On the other side, the local book printing industry, led by firms such as McPherson’s Printing Group and Griffin Press. Their champion was Steve Gibbons, Labour MP for Bendigo, home of McPherson’s Maryborough plant.
Gibbons tells ProPrint: “At no stage did the evidence to remove PIRs stack up. The chant of cheaper books by the Coalition for Cheaper Books failed to produce clear evidence that books would be cheaper.”
On the price argument, the print industry perspective is clear: in its Productivity Commission submission, Griffin Press said: “The domestic printing of books, as a consequence of parallel import copyright restrictions, has not translated into higher books.”
Greg Brown, national sales manager for McPherson’s, agrees. “New Zealand has open borders The removal of the copyright legislation there has not lead to cheaper books.” He says the price argument was confused. “The argument about the cost of books in Australia has been bundled into copyright legislation when in fact there are a large number of books that don’t come into this matter.” The high cost of textbooks, explains Brown, have often been cited as proof of Australian copyright law driving up prices. “Some of the feedback from the general public is that textbooks are too dear,” says Brown. But textbooks aren’t covered by the 30-day rule.
Consider this from the Coalition for Cheaper Books. In June 2009, it explained how Tim Winton’s Breath could be bought online from the UK for the equivalent of $14.70. The recommended retail price of the book in Australia is $25.
But Breath isn’t covered by the 30-day rule. The Coalition for Cheaper Books’ position? “Current laws restricting parallel importation of books result in higher Australian book prices and place booksellers in Australia at a huge competitive disadvantage.”
Brown disagrees. He says that opening up the market would have meant a drop in volumes for local book printers. Any downward pressure on volume would have put upward pressure on price. He points to two of the biggest-selling books in Australia last year: cookery title 4 Ingredients and TV tie-in Underbelly. “Neither were impacted upon by copyright legislation,” says Brown.
The internet means the market is, in fact, already open. Anyone can jump onto Amazon right now and order whatever they want. A search on Amazon US yields more than 26 million results – even accounting for the masses of duplicate titles, that’s a lot of choice. And it doesn’t take into account the 300,000 Kindle e-books also available for instantaneous download. This is why the government decided that the Australian book printing industry was already under strong competitive pressure. Its conclusion was: “The government has formed the view that this pressure is likely to intensify.”
So considering this, shouldn’t the argument be over? Not at all. A few days after the decision, former NSW premier Bob Carr wrote in The Australian that: “Federal cabinet quailed at opening the Australian book market… because of a single printing plant in the marginal federal electorate of Bendigo.”
Bittersweet win
This kind of statement just shows how the government’s decision, which Brown saw as a victory for commonsense, has been tarnished by political wrangling. “It was disappointing to have the decision broadcast as the Australian public having to pay more. That’s a complete mis-representation in our view,” he says.
So did book printers win the battle but lose a PR war? Headlines such as The Australian’s ‘300 reasons for higher books prices’ (300 being the number of workers at McPherson’s Maryborough plant) certainly point to a bittersweet win.
There’s no doubt this was a win for book printing jobs, even if that wasn’t a deciding factor. In other countries’ printing industries, open trade and the influence of low-cost manufacturing in the developing world has helped kill off domestic book production.
National pride
In the UK, for instance, historic book printer Butler & Tanner came inches from death before being saved by UK magazine publisher Felix Dennis. The rebranded Butler, Tanner & Dennis used its uniquely local production model as a badge of honour. It launched a ‘Great British Book Marque’ stamp to tap into market fondness for home-grown product. Considering the huge success here of the ‘Australian Made’ logo, could a similar initiative take hold down under?
The Australian book industry is under immense pressure as it is. Technology such Amazon’s Kindle, along with other e-book devices, is only going to make further inroads. But technology
also offers opportunities.
McPherson’s has got behind the fledgling digitally printed book-on-demand sector. Thanks to evolution of digital printing equipment, the cost per unit for one-off books is steadily falling to competitive prices, which will serve to awaken the market to on-demand.
Traditional print technology is already creating efficiencies that will help drive down price, says Bill Sutton, from JL Lennard, distributor of Timson presses, which are used by both McPherson’s and Griffin. He points to the Timson ZMR, which stands for ‘zero makeready’. The four-colour press uses a tower config-uration instead of inline, so it can produce two-colour runs and allow production to swap to the other tower while operators make ready the dormant unit.
High speed is key, he adds. “The standard used to be 11,000 foot per hour. That’s now up around 15,000 foot per hour with the presses installed in Australia, and it’s moving toward 18,000 foot per hour.” All this speed and automation reduces overheads, making the sector more efficient and driving down on price, says Sutton.
Answers are welcome in the books sector because threats are never far away. Brown says: “The pressures we face as a printer haven’t changed. Printing offshore – the elephant in the corner that is the Asian print market – hasn’t changed.
“The government’s decision doesn’t change the fact there’s competition outside Australia,” adds Brown.
But despite the woes of the past year, he says the copyright debate has had its upside. “If there’s a silver lining other than the outcome, it’s that this has crystallised our arguments. It’s galvanised our industry.” And with the continued challenges on the horizon for books, a clear strategy will make essential reading.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter