Publishers in a bind over cheap books

By Fitri Wulandari

JAKARTA (JP): People don't read enough books because they are expensive. Publishers don't produce enough books because demand is low.

While this may be oversimplifying the problem, Indonesia's book publishing business has been caught in this kind of vicious cycle that has forced dozens of publishers to close shop in recent years.

The quest for making books affordable to the masses, critical if Indonesia as a nation hopes to stay afloat in the increasingly competitive global world, remains illusive to this day.

While many book entrepreneurs have simply given up, the few publishers that have remained admit that they are caught in a bind between the need to produce books that are affordable to most people, and the need to survive as business concerns.

"Book publishing is not a lucrative business. Unless you have some idealism about public education, you won't survive," says Petrus Damianus Subagya, marketing manager of book publishing company PT Grasindo.

A country with a population of more than 210 million people should be a mouthwatering prospect for any industry, including book publishing.

Yet, statistics provided by Alfons Taryadi, chairman of the advisory council of the Indonesian Book Publishers Association (IKAPI), in his book Buku dalam Indonesia Baru, sums up the appalling situation. Indonesia publishes a mere 4,000 new titles, mostly reference and general books, every year. On average, each title sells only about 3,000 copies.

That is hardly enough for a nation as large as Indonesia.

The economic crisis, dating back to 1997, has made the condition worse. Some 200 publishers have closed shop in the last four years. Now, there are only 400.

Subagya says those that survive are mostly publishers with strong capital, or are efficiently managed, or have other businesses to fall back on during the lean times.

In the quest for making books more affordable, the initiative remains with the publishers, and probably the government, to get Indonesia out of this chicken-and-egg situation, rather than with the people.

People's low spending on books and poor reading habits in general are variables beyond the publishers' control, as are volatile paper prices.

But Subagya says heavy taxation and an inefficient distribution system for books -- two factors that contribute to the high cost of making them -- are variables that can be controlled.

Subagya believes that book prices could still be reduced, if there were a strong will, particularly from the government.

But don't expect much from publishers, who are already operating on very thin margins. "We don't really make money in this business," Subagya says.

Book prices could be reduced if the government eliminated or cut the tax components and applied special prices for paper procured by publishers, and postal rates for shipping books, he argues.

Currently all books -- except for school textbooks, holy books and religious books -- are subject to a 10 percent value-added tax (VAT). This is on top of the various taxes already levied on materials, such as paper and printing materials.

Imported books are also subject to a 10 percent tariff, on top of the regular VAT.

"We could cut our prices by 10 percent immediately if the government waived at least the VAT. It's not much, but at least it could entice the public," Subagya said.

IKAPI chairman Arselan Harapan concurs that the government holds the key in the quest for making books affordable,

The government should establish a clear-cut policy that covers all aspects of book publishing from taxes, export-import issues, publishers, distribution, libraries, to writers and editors, Arselan says.

Murti Bunanta, from the School of Librarianship at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, believes that the problem, and hence the solution, is far more complex.

"It involves many aspects: book publishers, writers, bookstores, government policy, social and cultural conditions, etc," Murti says.

If books are to be made less expensive, then it should not be at the expense of writers, she said. "They too have to live."

Eriyanto, a media analyst and writer from the Information Study Institute (ISAI), says there is very little economic incentive for aspiring writers because the rewards hardly match the time and effort expended.

Although writers are supposed to receive 10 percent of the royalties for each copy sold, they rarely get their fair share for various reasons, including being cheated by publishers, he said.

Writers too are in a dilemma because they know that their publishers are hard-pressed for money, he says.

Arselan of IKAPI says that while the government and book publishers are grappling for ways of making books affordable, the community must not simply stand idle.

Making inexpensive books is not solely the responsibility of publishers or the government, he says.

"Why can't companies set up libraries for their employees, or real estate developers build a library in each housing complex?" Arselan asks.

(This one should be made in a graphic illustration)

Where the money goes for a book that retails for Rp 20,000: Cost (paper and printing), 30 percent, Rp 6,000; Commission to bookstores, 35 percent, Rp 7,000; Value added tax, 10 percent, Rp 2,000; Writer's royalty, 10 percent, Rp 2,000; Overhead costs, 10 percent, Rp 2,000; Profit, 5 percent, Rp 1,000

Source: Petrus Damianus Subagya of PT Grasindo