Piracy of Books

I was discouraged this week and I'd like to tell you about it.

Piracy of books has been perhaps the biggest challenge that booksellers in Nigeria have faced in the last couple of years. Best selling books and bibles which form the core inventory of many bookstores have been taken by pirates who have flooded the market with illegally produced copies. In  the past, it was quite easy to recognise pirated works. The quality of the work and the paper used was very poor. With the advancement in technology, the quality of the pirated works is quite close to the original editions.

On the one hand, members of the public, largely ignorant, happily buy the pirated works, supposing that they are getting fantastic price bargains. They even accuse bookstore owners and booksellers who sell original works of being selfish people who are out to make excessive profit. On the other hand, bookstore owners have unsold inventory because their customers are now buying pirated books They have a hard time having enough funds to pay their suppliers and have to lay off staff. Furthermore, because they cash strapped, they are unable to bring new titles to the customers who are faithful and consistent in their patronage. Some bookstores have had to close down.

Many bookstore owners, yours truly included, have chosen not to deal in pirated works. It has been tough but we have stayed true to our choice.

"My Vision: Challenges in the Race for Excellence" by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai was introduced to the local book market in January 2014. As with other bookstores, we at Hidden Treasures Bookstore, received enquiries about this inspiring book. In a bid to satisfy our customers, we ordered the book. To our chagrin, the pirated version of the book has flooded the market. And it is selling at one-tenth the price of the original work.

How does a honest bookstore owner deal with this? Customers' accusations, unsold inventory resulting in cash flow issues...

the truth is that the only way a customer can identify pirated works is to believe in the integrity of the bookstore from which he buys books regularly. if a bookstore's customer believes that the bookstore operates with integrity, he will be suspicious once he is offered books at ridiculously low prices. In recent times, customers who have patronised us for years at Hidden Treasures Bookstore have accused us of charging exorbitant prices. We have been horrified. Seeing that book prices have remained stable for quite some time, their accusations infer that we have not acted with integrity. Coming from long-standing customers, that was dreadful. That is what has discouraged me in the last couple of days.

Talking about it to you, my friends makes me feel better. May I ask that you be my partner in fighting piracy? Bookstore owners need you to tell others about what piracy really is and its impact. We may have apparently cheap books today, courtesy of the pirates. Those books are cheap because the authors are being denied the royalty that is due to the on the pirated copies. Pirating means that you are lowering the chance of the authors getting any royalties in the first place, and increasing the time it will take for them to earn those royalties> But will the pirates bring us all the different books that we want to see in our bookstores on a consistent basis? It is doubtful that they will. Let's join hands to work for a future in which we will have a steady inflow of good books to our community.