Book prices must rise for businesses to survive – Industry Association

For some publishers, the printing costs have risen massively

Book prices in Wales will need to rise for businesses to survive rising publication costs, an industry body has warned.

The Books Council of Wales (BCW) said prices were “artificially low” to encourage customers to continue buying.

A Welsh publisher said the price of paper rose 40% last year, with ink and glue prices also rising.

Another company said it would print a smaller selection of books to cover the extra cost.

Many Welsh publishers rely on grants from BCW, based in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, to fund the publication of titles that are culturally significant but not necessarily commercially successful.

These include many Welsh language books, the market for which is small but well supported.

Mererid Boswell says prices haven’t changed to encourage book lovers to buy

BCW chief executive Mererid Boswell said book prices were “stagnant” because of concerns that customers would stop buying if prices rose.

“On the contrary, what we found was that if the quality of the cover and the reputation of the author is good, then people will buy that book, regardless of the price of the cover,” she said.

“I think we need to have a little more confidence in the quality of our books because we’re not doing ourselves justice by keeping the prices artificially low.”

Ms Boswell added that a low price “doesn’t help the writers, it doesn’t help the printers. But more importantly, it doesn’t help the bookstores either.”

Caerphilly-based publisher Rily, which produces original Welsh and English-language books, said economic conditions meant it had to scale back its plans.

“I think it’s a new reality and that’s worrying,” said co-founder Richard Tunnicliffe.

Rily Publications has decided to publish fewer titles in view of the additional editions

He runs Rily with his wife and the couple recently restructured the business to be more efficient, but Mr Tunnicliffe said he was concerned about the broader publishing industry in Wales.

“I’m not confident that if this is a prolonged recession, everyone will survive. If it’s a prolonged period of rising prices and lower sales, that will show its impact,” he said.

“I can’t see transportation costs going down. I can’t see paper costs going down. I can’t see them sinking.”

Without the support of BCW and the Welsh Government, many publishers “would not have survived,” he said.

Another Welsh publisher said its printing costs have risen largely due to a 40 per cent rise in paper prices over the past year and its energy bills have almost tripled as prices soared.

Ink and glue costs, which are essential to the printing industry, have also increased disproportionately.

Despite some publishers making cuts, BCW has called for a wider selection of new books from Welsh publishers which it hoped could reach new readers.

Hay-on-Wye in Powys is known as the town of books

This call is supported by the organizers of one of the world’s leading literary festivals, held each summer in the town of Hay-on-Wye in Powys.

“It’s clearly a really challenging time for writers and publishers,” said Julie Finch, executive director of the Hay Festival.

“There are these inherent costs of paper and energy. But there have been a prolific number of new writers entering the market post Covid.

“Especially this year we’ve seen a huge number of publishers wanting new people to be heard and seen at the Hay Festival, which is fantastic.”

Ms Finch added that many publishers are interested in increasing the diversity of authors they work with.

“Publishers are realizing that the diversity of the material they reach is important because it needs to reflect a much broader audience – and potentially a new audience – that they hadn’t necessarily thought of or targeted before,” she added .

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