Not enough readers. You hear this a lot in the book business. The phenomenon can be overshadowed by the fact that book events in Budapest constantly break attendance records, and we have repeatedly experienced that people not only go out to look, but also reach quite deep into their pockets – which is no small thing with the ever-increasing book prices.
The last alarm bell was rung by Püski Publishing when they announced that their Budapest bookstore would be closed permanently in June 2024. István Püski, head of the publishing house, told Index: the publishing house will not cease to exist as long as he is alive, certainly not until then.
The Index because of the case, he contacted several small publishers, we tried to find the answer to who uses what survival strategy.
There will be no positive change
“You may not find us open next time you come.” Ten years ago, this is how the head of Kairosz Kiadó bids farewell to his regular customers in their Budapest bookstore. Katalin Szalai told our paper that the danger of the publisher and the business going out of business is constantly hanging over their heads.
This is a trend in which I don’t think there will be any positive change. The main problem is that the number of readers is constantly decreasing, including those who buy books.
According to Szalai, this is partly due to the fact that going to the library is fashionable again. So those who like to read do not necessarily buy the book either.
Kristóf Zsiga, managing director of Magyar Napló Kiadó, also spoke on the topic Indexwho said that their publisher mainly publishes contemporary fiction, as well as historical, ethnographic and essay volumes and albums. A book is published for the first time in 500-1000 copies, sometimes more, which quantity is usually sold out within a foreseeable time. He added: their range is wide, but there is a large selection within genres.
According to Zsiga, a specific group is interested in the books they publish, and demand has stagnated in recent years. The publishing house also takes care of the Magyar Napló fiction magazine and the Literary Magazine, which is 10 years old this year, and according to its formulation, publishing books and magazines is a good combination, they strengthen each other.
“It is difficult for small shops to survive.
It’s understandable if someone is looking for a book, but doesn’t know exactly what, then they go to a larger bookstore, for example a shopping mall, where they can choose from a large number of books,” he said.
Lack of resources and few buyers
The managing director of Kairosz Kiadó put it this way: their situation is similar to that of Püski Kiadó in that they also have a shop and an online store, and in these they only sell their self-published books, but they also distribute their publications through wholesalers. But even so, they are constantly struggling with a lack of funds, because there are few customers.
It wouldn’t be a problem if we could sell the books. On the one hand, our audience, the older, still-reading age group, is slowly dwindling, and on the other hand, our offer is primarily informative, not necessarily “trendy” youth literature. So the main problem is still no readers, everything else is a consequence of that
said Katalin Szalai.
But the offer of the Budapest publishing house is wide, genres include lifestyle, biographies, psychology, art and fiction. Katalin Szalai noted: this was born out of necessity, and they only work with 300-500 copies, which she thinks is difficult to stay afloat.
Simple math, you can’t make a profit out of so many copies.
He added: they can get funding through various tenders, but according to his wording, it is not possible to make a living from it either.
We have contacted other publishers on the subject, and we will let you know as soon as we receive their reply.
The bill is not practical
The publishers’ managers also expressed their opinion on the new fixed-price bill, according to which only a ten percent discount can be given on some recent publications. But this does not only affect the broader customer base. According to the proposal, publishers could also give their own employees only thirty days to take advantage of the discounted purchase.
Kristóf Zsiga said that, on the one hand, this means an administrative burden for small publishers, since they have fewer employees who perform several tasks at the same time. On the other hand, at Magyar Napló Kiadó, it often happens that the authors go to many events and book launches on their own, to which they are invited, and they bring books with them. In such cases, the volumes are sold to their authors at a greater discount. But according to the proposal, they can do this only in the first month after publication.
I don’t consider this practical, because neither the author nor the publisher can see a year in advance what events will take place. When it was possible to comment on the draft law, we suggested that the ten percent discount limit should not apply to the authors and staff working on the book, and that they should not be given a larger discount for only one month. We hope that our proposals will be heard.
Katalin Szalai was not frightened by the bill, because she currently considers it a more serious problem that wholesalers – such as Libri or Líra – take 53 percent of the price of the books taken over to the commission, than that her new volumes are only sold with a 10 percent discount instead of 20 can give
By the way, they give a 20 percent publisher’s discount on all books,
this is how they try to stay competitive and attract customers.
But if only a 10 percent discount is possible for new books, it will rather increase the income, but at the same time it will not particularly affect the business efficiency.
Earlier, Katalin Gál, the president of the Association of Hungarian Book Publishers and Book Publishers (MKKE) also spoke on the matter For indexthen asked the Ministry of Culture and Innovation to make proposals in consultation with the member organizations of their association, which includes 140 companies.
Krisztián Nyáry, the creative director of Líra Kft., believed that the problem in this case is that it does not matter what percentage discount the retailer or publisher can give on a new book. And Ádám Galambos, the president of the Hungarian Book Publishers’ Interest Protection Association, said: the proposal could make it completely impossible for small publishers, who could lose their only source of income as a result.
Ákos Starcz, a board member of the media group that publishes Index, is also a board member of Libri-Bookline Zrt., which operates independently of Index.hu Zrt. and the Indamedia group.
Tags: Index Culture clock ticking publishing house cease exist
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