Fighting for Ukrainian books

Much has been written of late about information threats that can potentially damage Ukraine’s national security, and this country’s electronic and printed media have been investigated to make sure they can meet challenges in the information sphere. However, book publishing, an important component of the information industry, is usually overlooked. A case in point is a recent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (RNBO) of Ukraine: it considered the issue of the country’s information security, but book publishing was not even mentioned.

True, this does not mean that no one takes an interest in this problem. On the contrary, our political leaders now and then declare the necessity of providing state support to book publishing in Ukraine. Despite its overall low productivity, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law prolonging tax concessions for book publishers until the year 2015.

Books are not only an important component of national culture and spirituality, but also a substantial factor affecting this nation’s information security, along with the Internet and printed and electronic media.

Statistically, 1.5 books are prin­ted per capita in Ukraine, compared to 5-8 books in the EU countries.

The tremendous quantities of imported books on the domestic market are a real pain in the neck for Ukrainian publishers: 90 percent of imports come from the Russian Federation and Belarus. What we are faced with is best described as cultural expansion on the part of neighboring countries. Experts estimate these imports at several million dollars in terms of retail prices. Also, business entities in the field are transferring considerable sums abroad, which causes serious damage to the central budget.

The book-publishing issue in Ukraine has a direct bearing on that of the language, specifically the use of Ukrainian in education, science and research, and industry, let alone daily usage. Here one has to acknowledge that Ukrainian has not become the official language in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, as well as in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. In these regions Uk­rai­nian-language books are virtually unavailable and the market is dominated by books imported from the Russian Federation. This by no means helps solve the language problem and expand the use of Ukrainian in education institutions, local legislative, executive, and judicial bodies, as well as healthcare, research, cultural, and social security institutions.

In one of her interviews, the popular Ukrainian writer Maria Matios said she is ready to wipe with the hair the feet of the person who will restore the full-fledged book distribution system in Ukraine.

Today, bookstores are mostly found in big cities and regional centers and do not meet the needs of both consumers and publishers. We have few if any wholesale and distribution companies that would offer a diversified assortment of books and secure timely deliveries and payments between the business entities in this sphere. Add to this the existing information vacuum, i.e., the ab­sen­ce of book advertisements on the In­ternet and in the printed media, and the inadequate stocking of libraries on all levels, and it becomes clear that one needs to search high and low to find any Ukrainian-language books in Ukraine. This situation looks especially sinister in the countryside. In virtually every oblast there are villages with no bookstores.

Various causes are being mentioned to explain this state of affairs. Those who believe that the reason is Ukrainian legislation, which is underdeveloped and subject to frequent changes, have a valid point. The 2003-04 veto on the Law “On State Support of the Book-Publishing Business in Ukraine” caused irreparable damages to the domestic publishers as they were struggling in a losing battle against publishing companies in the neighboring countries, primarily Russia. The main reason, however, is that for a number of years the Ukrainian cabinets have failed to regard book-publishing - especially Ukrainian publications - as an important factor in national cultural development and protection of Ukraine’s information sovereignty. Instead, they have regarded it as something material, a commodity. This primitive approach to the “book issue” has driven the book-publishing business into a dead-end alley. Is there a way out?

The answer is ‘yes’ provided that the government changes its attitude to this painful issue. The first step in this direction would be to introduce book import quotas. This will make it possible to stop book smuggling and secure reliable [book turnover] statistics, something we lack due to the absence of a mechanism to collect data on imported books. This will help make Ukrainian books more competitive and create preconditions for additional Ukrainian budget receipts from the sales of domestic printed matter. At present, our central budget is receiving peanuts from the sales of domestically published books: some 40 million hryvnias. By way of comparison, in the Russian Federation book publishing-along with the oil and gas industry — ranks among the top five most profitable businesses, which also contribute the largest amounts to the budget.

Now that the Russian Fe­de­ration is mounting information pressure on Ukraine and we are swept under the tidal wave of information meant to discredit our national culturual and spiritual values and compromise certain Ukrainian statesmen and political and cultural figures, it seems worthwhile to introduce a system of marking for imported books, so anti-Ukrainian publications are barred entry into Ukraine.

However, the book-publishing business in Ukraine cannot be re­vi­ved by quotas and markings. Appa­rently, what we need is a large-scale na­tional program that would be aimed at protecting Ukrainian books and would involve the following measures: attracting investments in this business, creating an effective nationwide book distribution network, library reforms, promoting books and public readings, a series of radio and television programs featuring the best contemporary Uk­rai­nian poetic and prose works, and a variety of literary competitions, festivals, book exhibits, and public readings.

The time has come to pay attention to the development of e-books, whose popularity and influence are on an upward curve. For example, the 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse) featured almost 400,000 items of which 30 percent were in electronic format recognizable by E-Reader.

It may appear that I am stressing the obvious, yet our realities are such that obvious things do not necessarily apply to Ukrainians. A graphic example of this is what happed to Matios and her book Moskalytsia. Recently a website carried a feature on the launch of her book, as part of the annual publishers’ forum in Lviv. The author of the article was outraged that this had been preceded by a powerful information campaign, including billboard advertisements, and called on the law enforcement agencies to investigate the matter and, specifically, find out who had paid for this promotional campaign. As a result, the literary agen­cy Piramida was for a long time und­er the pressure from the local Eco­nomic Crimes Department, whose officials found no incriminating evidence but succeeded in paralyzing the publishing company.

This case is far from unique. It would have probably passed unnoticed but for two principal aspects that have a direct bearing on the subject of this feature.

The fact that book titles appear on billboards and in radio and television commercials proves that the publishers and authors are making every effort to present Ukrainian books as both a fact of national culture and a factor of the Ukrainian book market. In other words, despite the fact that for many years our government has refused to recognize the importance of books in the cultural life of our nation, they are slowly but surely taking the right place in our social consciousness.

At the same time, this case was more evidence that shedding the national inferiority complex is not coming easy to Ukrainians, considering that they are throwing monkey wrenches into the projects of other Ukrainians instead of helping them.

It is believed that the book-publishing problem can be solved through the establishment of a central executive body responsible for this sector. In particular, this is what was proposed by the National Council for Cultural and Spiritual Affairs attached to the president of Ukraine. I am convinced that yet another bureaucratic body will not solve this problem. On the contrary, there will be an illusion that problems will be resolved automatically. In actuality, this battle for Ukrainian books can only be won if and when all governmental bodies-including those responsible for Ukraine’s information security, specifically the Cus­toms Service, Tax Ad­mi­ni­stra­tion, Border Guard, and State Se­cu­ri­ty Service of Ukraine-combine efforts and adopt a harmonized action plan. Also, we will need the support from publishing companies and NGOs in the publishing sector with their many years of experience in today’s complicated conditions.

The battle for Ukrainian books continues.