The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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Aussies demand rights

14.04.08

Australian publishers have called for an end to British publishers' insistence on Commonwealth rights, saying the current system is outmoded, neo-colonialist and harmful to Australia's indigenous book trade. The dispute was kicked off by Henry Rosenblooom, m.d. of Australian independent Scribe Publishing, who said that Australian publishers were being "blackmailed" by their UK counterparts who insisted on the "and Commonwealth" distinction when buying English language rights. This stymies the Australian rights buying culture, Rosenbloom argued, because US publishers are afraid of losing out on the far larger UK market.

Rosenbloom concluded: "UK publishers are not entitled to Australia as a territory. It is our country, our market, and our industry. They should either pay for it on the same terms and conditions that we do--and then make professional use of the publishing rights they acquire--or else bugger off and let us get on with it."

The buoyant Australian market is crucial to UK publishing; the region is Britain's third largest export market after Europe and East and South East Asia. According to the Publishers Association's upcoming Statistics Yearbook 2007, sales of UK books into Australasia hit £127m last year, a nearly 16% jump over 2006.

Michael Heyward, m.d. of Melbourne-based Text Publishing, said that combining UK and Commonwealth rights "was as old-fashioned as gaslight and top hats". He argued that having British editions sold into Australian bookshops leaves the books without champions and lessens sales. He called for Australian publishers to look for new solutions, such as Text's agreement to sub-license with UK independent Canongate's list to sell into Australia. He added: "Text and Canongate are now jointly bidding for books and making the case that it is better for the author to be properly published in two countries, rather than published in one and distributed in the other."

Though Australia has a thriving independent publishing sector, the market is dominated by global players, including market leaders Penguin, Random House, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster.

Peter Murray, owner of Adelaide's Murray Books, said: "Its true that many major publishers are buying Commonwealth Rights and this does affect the Australian market. However, as long as the mainstream publishers continue to own their Australian subsidiaries, we are unable to complain. I do not believe that anything will change as long as ownership of the major publishers in Australia is held by overseas interests."

London Book Fair - Day One

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