At
the forum on the opening day of the Frankfurt Book Fair discussing the
Trade and Copyright Centre in ASEAN (an initiative mooted by the
National Book Council of Malaysia) one of the speakers sees it fit to
emphasise: Malaysia is a small country with only 27 million people.About fifty feet behind the Malaysian stand is the modest exhibition of Iceland, the Guest of Honour at this year’s Frankfurt Buchmesse, a country with a population 318,452 (1 January 2011 estimate) that publishes approximately 1500 new titles and sells 2.5 million books a year (8 books per capita), and Reykjavik has just become the fifth UNESCO City of Literature.
(“They might as well invite Bonn as the next Guest of Honour, it has a bigger population than Iceland,” says one German publisher, questioning the choice of this year guest, and adds, “To date, nothing big has ever happened to any of the previous Guests of Honour.”
Still, I had to visit their stand.
I meet Mr Kristjan B Jonasson, the president of the Icelandic Book Publishers Association, a fit, trim individual who looks like he cleans volcanoes on weekdays and does triathlons on weekends. He says that publishing in Iceland went professional in the late 19th century. Many in the industry have degrees in publishing, he says, although there still are many amateurs involved.
“In Britain, I never heard of anyone taking a degree in publishing, or even taking a course in it ... Despite the revolutionary advances in technology, British publishing remains the last outpost of the enlightened amateur -- but without the protection from predatory market forces that such amateurism is supposed to provide.” David Cornwell (aka John le Carre) in Publishing Perspectives.
He adds, “The German publishing, as I come to know it, is made of stronger stuff. It knows its worth and the worth of its readership ... Nobody knows better the value of free speech than those who have been deprived of it ...”
Interesting. I had to ask the Germans.
RK. Is it true that all publishers in Germany need to have professional degrees?
Sabine. Look around you; what do you think?
What I see around me is impressive, Sabine’s cynicism notwithstanding.
But Mr Cornwell's points did get me thinking. Let's start with worth: do Malaysian publishers know the worth of their products or their readership? Does Random House -- ironically owned by a German company, Bertelsmann, since 1998 -- know the worth of their products or their readership? Do any of the other major publishers?
When I set up shop in 1999 I used to buy my Penguins from STP Distributors. I decided to visit them once to see what else they had in their warehouse, and noticed a large stack of books neatly tied up in bundles in one corner. On inquiry, I was told that these were Penguins to be sent for pulping. Being new in the business, I was horrified. What are they going to do to my babies?! Can I buy them, I offered? Sorry. They had instructions to pulp them. Thinking about that incident now, I can only conclude that they new about 'worth' of their books, then. Nowadays, you find Penguins in remaindered bookshops in the city.
Jeff Bezos was once famously quoted (during the e-book wars) as saying that every book is a monopoly. Not only is every book a monopoly, every one of them is a designer product -- written by one author, designed and packaged by one publisher (whoever that may be). One doesn't find Gucci devaluing their products. Why do publishers and (more recently) authors?
I live far away from Mr Cornwell's world (although I am probably more acquainted with his, than he is of mine), but freedom is a chord that strikes us wherever we are and we amateurs do know a thing or two about it that professionals can scarcely begin to understand. We live with it everyday. Can we publish this? How far can we push it? Will people understand? Will people care?
How does one teach a people who have never known free speech understand its value it after it is no longer deprived? How would one teach an elephant brought up in captivity how to run when its shackles are removed? How will it feed itself? These are extreme examples, no doubt, but what is common -- and far more dangerous -- is the illusion of freedom: you can have any colour you want as long as it's black. Everyone professes freedom; as long as he controls the colour scheme. And, what is this thing about freedom in degrees: freaky.
Malaysian publishing models itself largely after the Anglo-American industry, and quite unthinkingly at that. The only professionals in sight here are accountants. It is an industry still generally propped up by the textbook largesse and political cronyism. For a long time, there was little room for the professional, and the enlightened amateur survived like a cockroach, by avoiding being crushed by a heavy foot. There have been some changes though, particularly in the last ten years. It looks encouraging, although still a little fragile, but one can only live in hope. Interesting work is emerging, even if a little wobbly at times. (I heard that Martrade now considers the Malaysian book industry to be mature, and thus requires no more assistance. Are they kidding?)
No, Mr Cornwell, Britain is not the last outpost of the amateur, gifted or otherwise. One understands your concerns of predatory business destroying entire industries, leaving behind nothing but piles of sucked oranges. Perhaps, the German professional (read unionised) approach could alleviate some bloodshed but, in most of the world, it is the idealistic amateur who keeps the flag flying against tyranny, oppression, harassment, (self or state) censorship, cronyism, political correctness, chronically uneven playing fields, apathy, ignorance and prejudice, often in the face of isolation, loss of freedom, friends and family, sanction, detention, arbitrary imprisonment and (in some extreme cases) death.
It is only the idealistic amateur who continues to slog, long after the accountants and MBAs have changed their horses.
