A new industry report has taken a look behind the counters at New Zealand’s independent bookshops, and it’s revealed the biggest threat to our booksellers isn’t a lack of interest in reading – it’s the supply chain to actually get the books.
The report gathered data from 49 bookstores and the people who run them, with one saying international publishers who choose to publish Kiwi books are “self-sabotaging their own market by keeping their books offshore”.
Renee Rowland is the Association Manager for Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand, and a bookshop owner in Geraldine. She chats to Jesse about the issue.
EXTRACT
J: What is the issue here exactly?
R: By virtue of being a small couple of islands in the middle of the south pacific, it’s pretty hard to get books here and that has a flow on effect to bookshops
J: Has it always been thus?
R: Yes, it has. But before COVID things were air-freighted and then COVID really put a spanner in the works for, not just bookshops, for a lot of other businesses, and we’ve never really recovered and we’re still trying to find a new normal going forward.
J: How does that play out for somebody who’s interested in a particular book? How might they notice that effecting things in a bookstore?
R: Well, so a customer might hear a great review on the radio, or read a review in a magazine, and they might go to their bookstore thinking that they can go and pick it up and it’s just not there, it’s not even in the country.
J: Because it’s sold out and it takes a long time for new stock to arrive, is that the problem?
R: Sometimes we don’t even get books by publication date. So for example Heated Rivalry, the hockey romance at the start of the year, we got those about a month after publication date. And it also applies to, like a lot of New Zealand authors are published by international publishing companies, which is amazing for us, but they are all held in off-shore warehouses, so for example when Maurice Gee passed away, all his books were in Australia.
FURTHER QUOTES
“It’s complicated running any retail business but any business that has a volatile supply chain, has an element of volatility on their books and that’s hard to anyone to survive and manage in this very volatile world.”
“Over 60% of booksellers see it as a vocation, they are living their dream, but that financial stress can erode creativity and all sorts. I don’t know any small business owner who doesn’t do more than what they are paid.”
“A lot of owners go above and beyond, and so do the staff, everyone’s working hard because they just believe in books so much.”