Limor Livnat, Cancel the Book Law Now

Limor Livnat, Cancel the Book Law Now

by Amir Weitmann

translated by J. Michael Jaffe

Original Hebrew version inThe Marker, Opinion Section, 30.06.2014
Available at http://www.themarker.com/opinion/1.2363150

About a year ago, I urged against the passage of the Law for the Protection of Literature and Authors in Israel, ("the Book Law;" "Open skies for the book market as well," May 2, 2013, The Marker), which restricts bookstores from selling books at discounted prices and whose stated purpose is to make books more expensive.

The article was part of a long campaign of activism against the law by the Israel Freedom Movement. Already in 2010, data and projected harms were presented to the public and legislators in a position paper written by Boaz Arad, a founder of the movement, as part of a JIMS (Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies) research framework. Since then, we've warned that the law will damage Israeli culture. Unfortunately, our efforts were in vain - and the law was passed by the Knesset. It was enacted on February 6 this year – a date we declared "Remembrance Day for Israeli Literature."

We said all along that without the excessive interference of politicians in an otherwise free, thriving, and growing market, the inability of publishers and stores to freely set prices would lead to rising prices of books, which are also subject to the laws of supply and demand. We communicated our warning via every possible platform, including the Knesset, that the law would lead to a crisis in an area that has cultural, intellectual, and spiritual significance for the state and its citizens. International comparisons showed that European countries which imposed restrictions on book pricing annually published 0.8 to 1.7 titles per 1,000 citizens, while countries without such restrictions published 1.14 to 5.8 books per 1,000 citizens.

Initiators and supporters of the bill, led by Culture Minister Limor Livnat, rejected our claims and said the impact on sales would be insignificant, and that eventually authors would benefit. Livnat - with the support of powerful lobbyists, including Steimatzky, which has since become embroiled in its own operating crisis – succeeded politically. The question, of course, is whether this political success translates into success or failure for Israeli culture.

Five months after the law took effect, we can already draw preliminary conclusions: as expected, the law indeed harmed the industry. In 2012, before the law's enactment, 7,487 books were published, an historic record in Hebrew book publication and an increase of 11% compared to 2011. In 2013, immediately after the law was passed, there was a decline in new book publication.

Even more worrisome, young and new writers are the main victims of the law to benefit authors. Sales of new books and the publication of author debut books saw a significant decrease – of at least 20% - since the law took effect, due to the increased business risk associated with publishing a new book. New authors found that books of theirs readied for publication had been frozen.

We warned that the number of titles per capita would decrease and, indeed, since the law took effect, the publishers have published much fewer books, illustrating the following - long-term damage to Israeli literary creativity, both in quality and quantity. We warned of dangers to the industry's profitability and, indeed, the law's enactment was accompanied by a decline in average bookstore receipts in significant percentages compared to last year.

In addition, public libraries are withering, and finding that their limited budgets now buy fewer new books in the absence of discounts. The director of the Nahal Sorek Regional Library, for example, writes, "the Book Law raises deep concerns about the ability of libraries to continue to serve as an effective, available, timely and free agency in the matter of books, "a fact that hurts the underprivileged population, of course.

To the Minister of Culture: There is no shame in admitting a mistake. It is possible and necessary to repeal the law immediately, before it is too late.

The author is a founder of the Israeli Freedom Movement.