THE WORLD WANTS MORE BOOKS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 455, 12 March 1948, Page 14

THE WORLD WANTS MORE BOOKS

Problems Facing British Publishers

VERYBODY in New Zealand who is interested in books has some knowledge of the abnormal state of the book world, especially in Britain, where most of our supplies come from. We know what it is not to be able to get books we want. To say that production troubles at one end, and Testrictions at this, account for the shortage, is a brief summary of a situation that has many aspects, economic and cultural. Hearing that G. Wren Howard, a director of the English publishing firm of Jonathan Cape, was visiting New Zealand, The Listener looked him up and asked him if he would throw some light on publishers’ problems, the demand for books, authors’ prospects, and the relation between book production and British influence abroad. More Reading Than Ever It was an encouraging story Mr. Wren Howard had to tell about the demand for books. There is more reading than ever before, not only in Britain, but all over the world. People are apt to think of ‘books solely or largely in terms of novels, but there is a greatly increased demand for other books, including technical works. The public is beginning to learn how to use books, to realise that the answer to everything, so far as is known, may be found in a book. The increasing attention given to education, including the raising of the school age, is a factor. Mention of the new Education Act in Britain drew from Mr. Howard the information that every school is to have a library. It is actually provided that the library shall be of certain dimensions, so many cubic feet per child. This will take time, but it will be done.

At present there is a shortage of school books, and of every other kind of book. This is caused by three things. Shortage of paper, shortage of labour, and import restrictions. "During the war," said Mr. Howard, "we were restricted. in paper to 37% per cent. of our paper consumption in 1939. Now we are up to 80 per cent. But we can’t get sufficient labour. In a printing and binding works the staff may be 50 per cent. men and 50 per cent. women. If there are not enough in one category it holds up the work of the other. Then there are restrictions on the import of books, and this is especially serious with respect to America. We usually get a lot of books from Sener — many technical ones, : "We are "asked to export all we can. Before the war, Britain sent abroad £3,000,000 worth of books; during the war this rose to £5,000,000; and last year, 1946-47, it was just on £8,000,000. We have been told to increase this to £12,000,000 as part of the national export drive. We are doing our best, but we have to contend with import restrictions in other countries, including New Zealand. British Books Abroad "British books abroad? Yes, there is a great demand for them. I have visited Scandinavia and Finland, and I was much impressed by the interest in English books and the English language. I had an audience of 600 people at a lecture in Oslo, just because I talked English. These countries want to learn about England. There and in the Low Countries, English is becoming the ‘second language’ of the people." Some of the publishers lost heavily in the blitzes. Large stocks of standard works were destroyed, and it has been (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) very difficult to replace them. Replacement affects the supply of new books. Owing to the need for re-printing, the total number of new books that can be published is only one-third of what it was. Paper is limited and has to be made to go round. "You can imagine what a headache all this is to the publisher. He’s only got so much paper,*so he has to sit down and think how best to allocate it-fiction and history and biography and travel and technical books, and so on, and so much for new books and so much for re-prints. And we have the Government urging us all the time to produce more for export. Bear in mind that part of the British publisher’s paper ration depends on his ability to maintain his exports. So we need all the support the readers and booksellers of New Zéaland can give us. : The New Author We asked Mr. Howard how the new author got on in these conditions. Was it more difficult. than it used to be for the new writer to break into the market? "If a man’s stuff is good it will get into print, generally speaking. In regard to subsequent editions, authors are apt to be touchy. One effect of altered conditions is that a publisher has to print more in a first edition to make the thing pay. If previously he "reckoned 2,000 copies sufficient, he now finds that he must make it 3,000. But the type of new writer who suffers definitely is the man on the border-line of quality. In the old days we might say of a first manuscript: it’s questionable if it’s good enough, but the writer shows promise, and if we publish two or three of his books he may improve and we'll get a winner. We can’t do that now.’ Books on the Air ‘How had radio affected reading habits? There was no evidence either way, he said. He supposed radio must have had some effect, but he thought generally not an adverse one. We also brought: up the serialisation and dramatization of books for radio, end mentioned that in New Zealand the

broadcasting of certain classics had greatly stimulated book sales. "Serialisations are very different from dramatized versions,’ said Mr. Howard. "I know one author who objects very strongly to the latter while approving of the former. It has been suggested to him more than once that he should allow one of his books to be turned into a 20-minute radio drama. He argues that the effect of that, while ruining his books | for listeners, must be to discourage them from becoming readers. And I agree with him. In any case, if such adaptations are made, the script should always be submitted to the author before being broadcast, for his. approval or rejection. There should always be ample, time for this. Full-length, or even slightly abridged, serial readings cannot harm a book and may even help ithe sale. Furthermore, the author can expect substantial fees." Mr. Howard was impressed with the standard of book production in New Zealand. He mentioned the Centennial Surveys series arranged by the Government in the centennial year. "And your bookshops, large and well-stocked, with airy attractive window displays, are a

treat."

Staff Reporter