Article in The NZ Listener “By The Book” by Tony Reid, discusses the health of the New Zealand book industry, particularly on the publishing side. Despite the success of the bone people by Keri Hulme, which has allowed some opportunity and more visibility for New Zealand books, it’s still quite grim. GST, the floating dollar and rising costs are some of the challenges raised in the article.
Gerard Reid, director of the New Zealand Publishers Association says that the industry can only be resilient because of the dedication and “low expectations” of those who work within it: “If we had to pay wages at comparable levels to other industries or to match their performance… we just couldn’t do it”. Barbara Larsen of McIndoe is more upbeat, but pragmatic, saying they would still publish, but publish less and promote more.
