Spiralling print costs in China impact on UK publishing
Chinese print costs hit
publishers in the UK
Benedicte Page
Print costs in China have
reached “unprecedented” levels,
raising concerns that new
titles could be delayed or cancelled.
UK novelty, gift and
illustrated publishers are the hardest hit.
Publishers and retailers are facing possible
cuts, delays and r.r.p. increases as the
combination of paper and oil price rises,
new labour laws and fluctuations in the US
dollar and RMB—which has seen Chinese
printing costs surge by up to 40% since the
beginning of the year—hit home.
Kate Skipper, children’s buyer for ages
0–5 at Waterstone’s, said: “We are seeing
prices for novelty titles go up and we think
the next year will be significantly different
in terms of what is being published.
There have been some wonderful books
out there, and we hope publishers won’t
lose sight of that, but perhaps some of the
weaker areas will die back. One area for
concern is where the r.r.p. for customers
becomes prohibitive.”
But Christian Herrison, sales director
at Usborne, said: “We will have to look
at price increases because labour costs,
printing and materials have all gone up.
“We’re going to work through that—
Novels listed for ITV3 crime awards
Twelve novels have been shortlisted for
the three fiction prizes at ITV3’s inaugural
Crime Thriller Awards, with titles included
ranging from Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with
the Dragon Tattoo (Quercus) to newcomer
Michael Robotham’s Shatter (Sphere).
Waterstone’s, W H Smith, Borders and
Tesco have all committed to promoting
the initiative. “It is likely to be the most
successful campaign in terms of promoting
crime and thriller writing that there
has ever been,” said the organisers.
The winners will be announced at an
awards ceremony on 3rd October, which
will be broadcast on ITV3 on the 6th.
The 12 novels fall into three categories:
breakthrough author award, international
author of the year and author of the year.
Promotion includes a run-through of
each shortlist, plus cover shots, during
weekly Crime Thriller documentaries on
ITV3. The series focuses on each of the six
authors nominated for the ITV3 Writer’s
Award for Classic TV Drama, starting with
Ian Rankin on Monday (18th August).
The Sun newspaper will also publish
features on the fiction category short-
there is no way we will cut
our baby and pre-school
lists—but we will have to
work harder with our printers
and give ourselves longer
lead times to make sure
we meet our schedules.”
Yolanda Denny, production director at
Little Tiger Press, said: “The past three to
four months have been impossible. Normally,
printers keep prices steady for a
number of months, but even with reprints
I’d be getting new quotes in a couple of
weeks. It’s impossible for our sales teams
to sell a book because they don’t know
how much the cost will be going up.”
Susannah Moore, sales director for
packager Tony Potter Publishing, said the
diversity of price increases was on a scale
“unprecedented in recent years” and had
caused problems for coedition partners: “If
they took a book last year, they have expectations
of the price of a reprint and have set
a retail price.”
Hard-pressed production directors are
being forced to turn to other territories,
including Thailand, Indonesia and Korea
for their printing needs.
www.thebookseller.com/international
lists in the week before the awards. The
Express’ S magazine will run seven weekly
advertorial features until the awards ceremony,
focusing on each of the nominees
for the Writer’s Award, with a round-up
including a summary of the three fiction
category shortlists in the final week.
The nominees for the remaining categories
will be announced in September.
THE SHORTLISTS IN FULL
��Breakthrough author award
Heartsick Chelsea Cain (Pan)
Broken Skin Stuart MacBride (Harper)
Shatter Michael Robotham (Sphere)
The Messenger of Athens Anne Zouroudi
(Bloomsbury)
��International author of the year
The Sleeping Doll Jeffery Deaver (Hodder)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
(Quercus)
Skin Privilege Karin Slaughter (Arrow)
Snow Blind P J Tracy (Penguin)
��Author of the year
Bad Luck and Trouble Lee Child (Bantam)
The Ghost Robert Harris (Hutchinson)
Not Dead Enough Peter James (Pan)
Exit Music Ian Rankin (Orion)
www.thebookseller.com The Bookseller | 15 August 2008 3
NEWS
NEWS
5 NEWS Sainsbury’s plans book boost
6 NEWS RH grows sales and profits
7 NEWS History Press now back in the
black
8 CHILDREN’S NEWS Publishers embrace
online games
10 BOOK NEWS Encore for Lyttelton
11 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK
FESTIVAL
12 OFFICIAL TOP 50 The Bookseller 50
15 INTERNATIONAL NEWS Random House
US pulls Islam book
PROFILE, OPINION AND LETTERS
18 PROFILE Fashion
journalist Angela Buttolph
on her book about Kate
Moss
19 PROFILE Sage
Buttolph
CONTENTS
publishing director Ziyad
Marar discusses Deception
20 OPINION: ALAN GILES
Books for free?
20 OPINION: DUNCAN CLARK
Books are not music
21 LEADER The Richard & Judy brand
can grow
21 LETTERS Making libraries welcoming
FEATURES
22 FLAGSHIP FEATURE Will Richard
& Judy’s Book Clubs keep up the
momentum when the show switches
to digital television?
24 FEATURE How will the book trade cope
with the coming recession?
BOOKS, MEDIA AND CHARTS
29 CATEGORY PREVIEW: Biography
and memoirs
34 CHARTS Fiction
35 CHARTS Non-fiction; children’s
36 CHILDREN’S PREVIEWS November
37 CLASSIFIED
42 BENT’S NOTES
Will Richard &
Judy’s Book Clubs
survive their
move to digital
television?
Page 22
CHILDREN’S BOOKSELLER
Free with this week’s
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Bookseller, containing
in-depth features, chart
analysis and all the
key titles published
between August and
January 2009
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