The spirit of popular revolt, perhaps inspired by the fuel protesters, has hit the book business. Small publishers across the country are starting to fight back against what they see as a threat to their livelihoods from Waterstone's, the nation's largest dedicated bookseller. The latest spat between the big W and its suppliers came in response to a letter sent out by Waterstone's to smaller publishers stating that, from this week, it would be buying in their titles at a new standard discount of 50% - an increase in some cases from 35%. Waterstone's said the new terms would be used regardless of whether publishers replied to its letter or not.
Smaller publishers, many of whom already feel ill-disposed to the ailing retail chain, reacted as small publishers are wont to do when such demands are issued in this way: they threatened to withhold their books. Tiverton-based local publisher Halsgrove went a step further and issued a press release stating its reasons for suspending dealings with the bookseller and calling on its customers to support its stance. Accusing Waterstone's of the "worst case of commercial arrogance" it had come across, the publisher argued that the bookseller was "attempting to dig themselves out of trouble" by imposing the new terms and thereby making "regional publishing unviable". It is not the first time that Waterstone's has raised the ire of publishers and risked the loss of their titles and no doubt it will not be the last.
Waterstone's defended itself in the trade press by arguing that it was losing money on these books and needed to "professionalise" its relationships with smaller publishers. Quite how Waterstone's interprets the word "professionalise" is anyone's guess but more puzzling still, given the level of accounting sophistication it would take to calculate the real cost of selling individual books, was the assertion that the bookseller was actually losing money on these titles. Still, if Waterstone's believes it can arrest the decline in the performance of its business by offering fewer books to its customers and going to war with its suppliers, who in the trade can argue?
Birthday buy-out for John Smith
Better news from across the border where bookseller John Smith & Son celebrated its 249th year of independence by announcing that its present managing director, Willie Anderson, was to buy the business from its current chairman, Robert Clow and his family.
The deal is something of a personal triumph for Anderson, one-time president of the Booksellers Association and a vociferous supporter of all things independent. Mr Anderson, who has been managing director of the chain since 1994, has overseen the business during a period of much needed retrenchment thanks to the expansion of the US chain Borders and Waterstone's into its territories.
The fact that John Smith has survived in what Mr Anderson calls a "volatile and uncertain" market speaks volumes about the loyalty of its customers and the flexibility of its staff. The management buy-out will also be welcomed by those publishers who fear more power being placed in the hands of the large bookselling chains.
Bertelsmann's not caught napping
Meanwhile, in a galaxy far away, Bertelsmann has struck up a deal with Napster, the online peer-to-peer music-sharing renegade. Under the terms of the deal Bertelsmann will fund Napster's development into a legal (ie profitable) model and suspend its legal assault on Napster's file-sharing operation.
Why should this be of interest to the book business? Bertelsmann owns Random House, the largest book publishing company in the UK and US. It also owns the UK's largest book club operator, Book Club Associates, and the (second largest) online bookseller, Bol.com.
Not only did the deal see Thomas Middelhoff, chairman of Bertelsmann, admit that "file-sharing technology will be used in the future, no matter what the outcome of the lawsuit against Napster may be", he added that the technology would open up "in the medium term, an additional distribution channel... for our other content businesses".
The fact that Middelhoff has, so far, declined to comment further on what he meant by this statement should not be taken as an indication that he does not yet know how the technology will be used by Bertelsmann's book publishing companies.
Booker-bashing continues apace
And, finally, what of the Booker? This year's award, won by Margaret Atwood, has drawn the usual criticism for failing to inspire book buyers. While Booker-bashing has become a favourite pastime of literary journalists in need of a safe story, there is some truth to the latest round of carping.
According to BookTrack, which records book sales in 4,600 outlets, only two titles - Atwood's The Blind Assassin and Azzopardi's The Hiding Place - have sold more than 1,000 copies since the shortlist was announced. Atwood has sold more than 6,000 and Azzopardi 1,007. Furthermore, despite the swathes of publicity devoted to the Booker shortlist, only one book is selling appreciably more copies now than it was in the week of the shortlist's announcement: Brian O'Doherty's The Desposition of Father McGreevy sold 363 copies last week, compared to 67 in the first week. Some in the book trade suggest that concentrating on sales figures is missing the point of the Booker, which is supposed to award merit not saleability. Undoubtedly true, but if the nation's most talked about literary prize fails to inspire book readers to actually read the books in question then, it might seem reasonable to ask, what is the point?
The fall-out from this year's slow sales could be interesting. Booksellers have complained of difficulties in getting hold of some of the titles on the list, while publishers have been disappointed by the promotion the shortlisted titles have received in some shops, not least from WH Smith which loudly announced earlier in the year that it was getting behind the Booker like never before. It seems too obvious to suggest that a lack of books will lead to a dearth in sales, but in a week in which entente cordiale between publishers and booksellers has been stretched to its limit, perhaps the trade should just enjoy the party and let others worry about the business of selling books.
