Last night saw the birth of something remarkable. Brainchild of legendary Canongate publisher, Jamie Byng, the inaugural World Book Night saw a million books given away across the UK.
The scheme worked like this: 20,000 ‘givers’ each gave away 48 copies of a book chosen from a list of 25 titles, pre-selected by an editorial committee. The remaining books went out to places described as ‘difficult to reach, such as prisons and hospitals’.
It is strange how such a seemingly altruistic and celebratory notion could be controversial. But objections have been raised and, aside from a great deal of irritation with logistical problems, many people are concerned about the act of giving away books for free.
In a shaky industry, in which bookshops – chains as well as independents – are closing left, right and centre, and in which publishers’ advances to authors can be slim to say the least, perhaps these concerns are understandable. One blogger suggests that the problem isn’t so much that the giveaway will lead to an erosion of book sales, but that ‘it’s another way of eroding the public’s perception of the value – and cost – of books’.
Book prices are already a contentious issue. Before 1997, a publisher decided on the price of a book – and that was, rather simply, how much that book cost. Perhaps it sounds unfair, but when the Restrictive Practices Court examined this Net Book Agreement in 1962, it declared that it was in the public interest because it allowed publishers to subsidise works by potentially important authors.
But when the Net Book Agreement was done away with in 1997, supermarkets and chain retailers began to have much more clout with the publishers, demanding higher discounts and selling books for less and less. Supermarkets can drive prices so low they will actually make a loss on books in order to profit on secondary purchases.
While this may, at first, seem beneficial for the consumer, it has meant that independent bookshops – and now even the chain stores (witness Borders’ collapse) – are priced out of the market. Unable to compete with the Internet or supermarkets on price, more and more are forced to close down. Do consumers really want high streets without shops where they can receive independent advice from experienced booksellers? Do consumers want the future of book-shopping to be either going to a supermarket or clicking away online?
Bleak dystopian visions aside, one striking effect of the end of the Net Book Agreement is the general attitude to the price of a book. Whereas people used to see the price printed on the back of the book – £7.99, for instance – and understand that that was how much it cost, now people see that price and wonder how much it costs on Amazon, or on Abe, or in Sainsbury’s. The price of any book has become variable: the Recommended Retail Price is seen by many book-buyers as not really recommended at all.
And it’s hard not to equate price with value. If people become used to thinking of paperbacks as cheap as chips (some cost even less than chips when bought online), then it is hard to make them seem worth more than that.
This isn’t a new problem. In 1894, Ruskin voiced a similar concern:
‘If public libraries were half so costly as public dinners, or books cost the tenth part of what bracelets do, even foolish men and women might sometimes suspect there was good in reading, as well as in munching and sparkling: whereas the very cheapness of literature is making even wise people forget that if a book is worth reading, it is worth buying.’
What happens when 40,000 copies of 25 books – all well-respected book-clubby titles – are given away for free? Do people think, ‘This book is so good that it’s been chosen as part of a special World Book Night initiative’? Or do they think, ‘This book is free, so it’s not really worth anything’? Or, ‘If this book is free, why can’t books be free more often?’
Several blog-commenters have pointed out that the value of the WBN books depends on how they’re given away. They say that if the books are handed out as meaningful gifts, the recipient can’t help but feel like they’ve been given something special.
True enough: when someone gives me a book that they have absolutely loved, I feel very special indeed. I feel privileged to be granted a peek inside their head; to be shown what makes them tick; to read a book that really meant something to them.
But the WBN books had already been whittled down to a Top 25. This makes the choice much less personal. And when you know that you’re a mere 1 of 48 of your friend’s friends, and that the books are all free … Well, sorry to sound like a spoilsport, but that’s hardly all that special, is it?
This is why writer Nicola Morgan’s ‘complementary’ World Book Night idea is quite so brilliant. She suggests buying a book that you’ve loved and giving it away to someone. Inside the book you could write: ‘Given in the spirit of World Book Night, March 5th 2011 and bought from [insert name of shop] – please enjoy and tell people about it.’
Buying just one book won’t break the bank, even if it’s not bought online or from a supermarket. And you may feel that this single gift, chosen just by you, given to just one person, means rather a lot more than giving away 48 copies of a pre-selected hit. Bigger doesn’t have to be better.
World Book Night is a very exciting idea – in that it is a night when people are encouraged to think about books. I hope it proves a success, and I hope we have one again next year, and in the years to come. But why does it have to be a free book giveaway? In the future, let’s make it much, much more.
Emily Rhodes writes the book blog Emily Books.
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