EDITORIAL: Ukraine's book market (02/24/02)

EDITORIAL

Ukraine's book market

National Deputy Les Taniuk, a long-time national democratic leader, explains in this issue of The Weekly that the situation in Ukrainian publishing has improved in the last two years after suffering a severe slump in the last part of the 1990s, and that hope exists for the future. He says a law passed by Ukraine's Parliament in September 2000 has helped to improve the status of the book industry in Ukraine, but that, by itself, the measure is not enough to make Ukrainian book publishing prosper.

Ivan Malkovych, founder and owner of A-Ba-Ba-Ha-La-Ma-Ha, the esteemed Ukrainian publishing house of children's books, said as much last month when he told The Weekly that he would be forced to publish the Ukrainian version of J. K. Rowlings beloved Harry Potter series of books in Russia. Mr. Malkovych explained that is necessitated by the fact that he could save nearly 30 percent of his overhead costs in doing so and that, from a business perspective, he has no other choice.

One of the issues that publishers like Mr. Malkovych have had to confront is the higher cost of paper and printing in Ukraine. Ukrainian publishers cannot compete with their Russian counterparts, especially given that Russia charges no export tariff for books going to Ukraine. What would even the playing field would be if Kyiv would make a special exemption for Ukrainian book publishers on the 20 percent value-added tax it slaps on each book sold. Thus far, the Verkhovna Rada has refused to do so, leaving Russian exporters with a decided price advantage.

Meanwhile, the Russian government, in an overt and successful political move to support the continued development of the Russian language - with the accent on Ukraine, has subsidized the Russian book publishing industry since 1995 via a 100 percent tax exemption on printing equipment, machinery, paper and, most importantly, the export of Russian books. The no-tax policy on its book exports has led to a large increase in all sorts of books on the Ukrainian market, most of it trash, from romance novels and detective stories to self-improvement guides and horoscope books.

The Rada finally came around on tax exemptions on the import of printing equipment and paper in 2000, which has led to an increase in the number of titles and the overall production of books in the country. But, Kyiv still needs to give Ukrainian publishers other advantages to even the playing field with the Russian competition.

The first step is for the Verkhovna Rada to review the law on taxation of the publishing industry and remove the VAT on sales. That's the only way the country's publishing industry can begin to prosper. All major countries protect certain products from foreign competition when an economic threat is perceived. But tax incentives alone will not take care of the problem completely, because it runs deeper. If no one reads Ukrainian books, then all the government support in the world will not help. Ukrainians have become so used to reading in the Russian language that Ukrainian books are not their first choice. Today a print run for a Ukrainian book is no more than 5,000-10,000 copies - a small number that makes each copy of a book more costly.

Though many believe policies introduced by the Yuschenko government in 2000 regarding the teaching of the Ukrainian language in schools should help develop a new generation of Ukrainian readers, Mr. Taniuk said it is time for passive Ukrainian intellectuals to stop complaining about the difficult task ahead and to get to work. Cultural leaders must spur interest in the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian books. In addition, Ukraine must support young intellectuals who will develop its literary culture. Likewise, national deputies need to put more emphasis on stimulating more extensive use of the Ukrainian language within society by effectively using the powerful legislative tool at their disposal. Mr. Taniuk said that a third item that is absolutely essential is a leader who cares and has the authority to coordinate the needed changes.

What is most important is to have the will to effect change. If that will is found, then we have no doubt that Mr. Malkovych will not publish across the border, but in Ukraine. And he will do so because it will be a sound business decision made to satisfy the demands of the Ukrainian marketplace.

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