Australian Writing Culture and the Productivity Commission Draft Report on Intellectual Property

Further to my post on the future of writing culture and storytelling in Australia, which you can read here, I’ve written a summary of some of the key points relating to the Productivity Commission proposals with regard to Intellectual Property. It is important that Australia continues to support innovation and creativity in Australia, because at the end of the day we’re all about Great Storytelling.

The Productivity Commission would like to see book accessibility increase and the cost of books decrease.

While these objectives are worthy, the PC fails to acknowledge that they have already been happening over recent years without its intervention, through market forces and a highly motivated and responsive book publishing industry. The disparity highlighted by the Commission is based on research nearly 10 years old. As noted by the Australian Publishers Association, book prices in Australia are already globally competitive/comparable:

• Australian books are now similar in price to comparable markets.
• Over the past decade, Australian book prices have fallen by a third in real terms.
• The range of books sold to Australian consumers has grown by 15%.
• Speed to market of foreign books has reduced from 30 days to 14 or less (and is often 0).

With TV shows, it’s often frustrating when a new episode airs in the US and then Australian viewers have to wait weeks, if not months, for it to be legally available. However, with books, those kinds of delays are no longer the case. Our existing ‘speed to market’ rules require an Australian publisher, with Australian rights to a foreign book, to publish it within 14 days of its foreign release date, but often it’s simultaneous.

It should also be noted that, individually, consumers are already free to buy books from any market in the world.

The PC fails to consider the crushing cultural consequences its proposals would impose on this creative, innovative arts industry. It is important to acknowledge that: 

• The economics of the Australian book publishing industry are different to those of the manufacture of goods. 
• The creation and promotion of Australian stories is not the same as the manufacture of garments or cars.
• Equally, stories are not life-saving drugs. While stories often improve a life, people buy stories because they want to experience the joy or thrills inside a book’s cover, an experience someone has worked years to create and an industry has worked hard to bring to their attention.
• The nation’s cultural benefits from publishing Australian stories and Australian authors are crucial to who we are and who we want to be.

The PC suggests several ways to lower the price of books in Australia. One of these is to drastically cut the period of an author’s copyright to 15-25 years, rather than the current period of 70 years after the author’s death.

Sulari Gentill, Australian author of Pantera Press’ Rowland Sinclair Mysteries, points to the unfairness of this proposed change in copyright in her submission to the Productivity Commission. Sulari uses a fantastic analogy that compares book publishing to the housing market.

So while the PC proposal will impact price, at what cost? And what about the author’s time to create and time to earn? Authors often devote years before they see their first book written and published. If they are fortunate enough to develop a long tail of sales for their works, why would the PC deny authors that source of return for their efforts? For many, their ‘tail’ will be their only form of superannuation.

Does the PC propose that a small businessperson should not be entitled to reap the benefits of his or her milk bar after 15-25 years if customers wish to continue frequenting it?

Another PC suggestion is to repeal parallel importation restrictions (PIR); put simply, this means they want to get rid of current restrictions and allow the parallel importation of books in Australia. This proposal would create an imbalance that advantages foreign companies to the severe detriment of Australian publishers and authors, for reasons discussed below. But first; 

What is parallel importation?

Parallel importation is when a product is imported from one country to another without the permission of the intellectual property owner (in this case, the author). Currently Australia restricts parallel importation – essentially providing authors with territorial copyright protection.

Here’s an example of how PIR currently works in Australia: 

What are the Consequences of Repealing PIR?

A major issue with repealing PIR is the possibility of foreign publishers dumping cheap, excess stock into the Australian market. In theory that sounds like a great way to get cheaper books into the Australian market – but there are big costs.

Book Remainders 

If a publisher prints more books than they can sell, they will often ‘remainder’ the excess stock. Remaindered books are mostly sold off to specialist firms who buy them for a miniscule amount to re-sell them at pop-ups, fairs, markets, book clubs, etc. at very cheap prices. Authors receive no income or royalty from remainder sales.

 

As you can see, repealing PIR actively disincentivises Australian publishers from investing in Australian authors and from taking Australian stories to the world, where they lose control of the publishing process. It also disincentivises Australian authors from writing, or at least from trying to publish their work in Australia.

A few things to consider with regards to PIR include:

• Artists’ incomes in Australia are already, on average, incredibly low – under $13,000 per annum. Do we want them to be even lower?
• The decision of a foreign publishing house to buy the rights to a book is often based on how well it has been received in the domestic market. The initial investment in the author and their work by an Australian publisher – including curation, editorial work, marketing, publicity strategy and implementation – is crucial. The likelihood of a foreign publishing house investing in an Australian author with no track record in Australia is significantly slim.
• New Zealand repealed Parallel Importation restrictions some years ago and it did not lead to an increase in book accessibility nor a decrease in book prices.

• Fewer new Australian authors.
• Fewer new Australian books published.
• Jobs lost in Australian publishing, bookselling and printing.
• Decreased income for Australian authors.

Please join the conversation: #BooksCreate.