Waterstone's May be Closing but Books Are Here To Stay, Says Publisher

By Martin Murphy

The closure this month of two Waterstone’s stores in Dublin with the loss of 46 jobs has come as “a major blow to Ireland’s book industry”, according to Publishing Ireland.

This latest news for the Irish book Industry follows the demise last year of booksellers Hughes & Hughes.


“The closure of two more of Dublin’s bookshops further compounds what are very difficult trading conditions for Irish book publishers,” said Jean Harrington, President of Publishing Ireland.


Data released from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) suggests that sales of books, stationery and magazines have fallen 9.3 per cent since December 2009.


I contacted Waterstone’s to ascertain what the reasons were behind the stores’ closure. A representative for Waterstone’s, Mr Howells, said “Waterstone's announced a review of the company's estate, which would result in some closures, on the 5th of January.”

“As a result of that review, we have closed 11 stores this past Sunday, including two stores in Dublin (Dawson St and Jervis Centre). Our Hodges Figgis branch is unaffected.”


Mr Howells concluded by saying he had no detailed information about why the stores were closing other than that “all closures were for commercial reasons.”


Mr John Mooney, Editorial Director at Maverick House publishers, explained his view on the closure.


Mr Mooney said that books are viewed today as a luxury product, which makes them non-essential.
When times get tough, they, along with other luxury items, are less likely to be purchased. It was Mr Mooney's view, however, that books are, in fact, essential items, because "people become educated by reading them."


"Certainly as a decreasing product, sales of any items deemed to be luxury goods are down. I think Waterstone's have been suffering as a result of that."


Mr Mooney said it should be borne in mind that, with respect to shop sales declines for Waterstone's in Dublin, their shop on Dawson Street was opposite to Hodges Figgis and just around the corner from Reads.


"I think it was really a situation that a very large shop in close proximity to two other large shops ... caused their reduction in sales, the inevitable loss of jobs and the closure of the store."

Mr Mooney said that book sales in Ireland today have returned to what they were before the economic boom. "I think publishers are all suffering from setbacks due to the recession, but I’m not so sure that it is an overall catastrophe."


The increase in reading of e-books has opened new opportunities for publishers. In relation to Maverick House, Mr Mooney says they are "exporting an increasing number of books ... for the Asian and UK markets."


Mr Mooney did note that his company many not be as seriously affected as others, because they do the majority of their publishing for international markets, while other Irish publishers tend to publish more for the domestic market.


Mr Mooney said that, in general, the publishing sector has looked at e-books with a sense of distrust. Maverick House are embracing the e-book, as they are now converting their back catalogue into e-book format.


In terms of the online book stores and their increased sales in recent times, Mr Mooney says that many publishers are earning a great deal more money now that it is easier to source books online.

The paperback
"I don't think a day will ever come when someone does not want a physical copy of a book: I certainly love reading a physical copy of a book.


"Books make a great Christmas present and I can't see that being replaced by e-books, because someone’s sending an e-mail saying ‘I just bought you an e-book’ has not got the same effect as something that has been left under the Christmas tree," said Mr Mooney.

Book festivals

Mr Mooney thinks that the days of the local book shop are by no means numbered. However, book shops must do more to leverage the popularity of book festivals. "I think people have a great love of books and, ironically, as a by-product of the recession people have more time to read now," said Mr Mooney.

"Publishing is a very big and complicated business and what we have seen is that there are great opportunities to be had right across the world in publishing."


The majority of Maverick's books are being exported to Asia and the UK, with Ireland only representing 10 per cent of their sales.

According to Mr Mooney, Maverick House still makes a point of showing their presence in Ireland, and they have a number of authors giving talks and readings at the Dublin Book Festival.


"One thing about book festivals at the moment is that they are giving a voice to authors that have not been heard before."

Mr Mooney believes that there is a “great independent movement in Ireland” with respect to publishing that he thinks is not being taken notice of by the media.


"People are writing books and getting them published, they are doing small print runs, and there is a great sense of camaraderie with writers groups and readers groups."


"I think that shops need to get in on that act and start holding author nights ... the days of just putting books out on the shelves and hoping they sell and if they don't, then return them to the publisher, [those days] are well and truly over."

Great expectations

Maverick receives submissions on a daily basis from across the world. “It takes a lot of discipline to sit down and write a book, and it also takes a lot of discipline to know how to get it published," explains Mr Mooney.

"The biggest problem we have is that we see a book, there is a market there for it, we believe the market is size x, and maybe the author, as soon as they have an offer on the table, will think that “Maybe I should be a millionaire!” and they don't go with the deal and the thing never gets published.


"I’m a great believer in water finding its own level, and if people are professional and they act in that way then they can get their work published. There's a market for every book, it's just discerning the size of that market and delivering to it.


"Publishing is radically changing all the time, it is becoming very technologically adept ... if anyone thinks that a paper printed book is going to vanish, I simply don’t believe that's the case ... you can't put 100 e-books on your book shelf," concluded Mr Mooney.

Making the General Election More Colourful

By Martin Murphy

This coming election campaign promises to be more colourful and creative than ever before, says Peter O'Brien from artistic group UpStart.ie.

In case you have not noticed, there are lot of election posters in the capital which do not contain the usual political rhetoric, and Mr O'Brien and UpStart are to be thanked for adding some much-needed colour to the 2011 general election.


The reason behind the initiative, he says, is that “it seemed like such a cool idea and also because you can do it ... we did it for creativity and to promote creativity."


Commenting on election campaigns in general, Mr O'Brien says they are “always such an eyesore … especially now, people just don't like the mug shots of politicians, in their face for three weeks.”


According to Mr O'Brien, one can put up a poster as long as it is related to the general election.

Therefore, he and his colleagues put up their own posters with themes that aim to promote creativity for the February 2011 election.

"Promising creativity in the 2011 election is written at the bottom of every poster - and the Upstart logo," he said.


"It was pretty simple, we can do this, anybody can poster during this three weeks, the lampposts are open for business, so we decided to do it."

Mr O'Brien said no special permission was required, "as long as you stay within the guidelines."


He emphasised that UpStarts manifesto has a lot of references to what they are trying to achieve in relation to bringing art and creativity into the publics' and the electorates' mindset.


"We are trying to put something into the minds of people about the country; you couldn't just put a product up there ... that would be considered litter then."


The idea itself is an "evolution of ideas," said Mr O’Brien, because a friend, Aaron Copeland, first suggested it to him when he saw it during the Lisbon treaty.

"It has evolved into this through a celebration of thought," he said, as the group includes many activists, event co-ordinators and artists who all came together to work on the project for free.


Artists, poets, writers and photographers were all asked to submit ideas to be considered for printing on election posters. The early election call caught the group on the hop, but regardless of this, over 1,000 submissions were received from 485 visual artists and 150 from writers.


"There has been a huge response, considering the amount of time that we had in the end ... everything had to be brought forward in the end; we are still printing posters and putting them up every other day."


"We weren't quite as prepared as the other parties because we did not know we were going to be doing this until a month ago."


Later this month, all the submissions will become available to view on the group’s website, UpStart.ie. The site was a submissions guideline site up until recently, and now it is in the process of being updated with all the art work received.


"We have been putting them out on our facebook page and twitter,” said Mr O’Brien. They have also posted animation, film and over 50 music submissions on YouTube. "We asked for submissions in all disciplines ... so Upstart.ie is where you can see and hear everything," he said.


The man behind UpStart.ie has an interesting background. Once a professional golfer, he managed the group Rodrigo y Gabriella and he has also helped open Dartmouth Square to the public. He now organises outdoor cinema events, in Dartmouth square, Fitzwilliam Square, and Dublin castle. "I am generally involved in many different projects; I’m involved in so many different things, all to do with cultural shifting and changing," claims Mr O'Brien.


The UpStart group are not 100 per cent sure what they will achieve with this project: their aim is to put art at the centre of the election, and then to watch the space to see what happens.


"Putting art at the centre of the election around the city centre, we don't really have an agenda beyond that ... I suppose to spark creative thinking in others or in a very large group of people."

Over 600 artists posted work and 120 volunteers have brought their works to life in the project to date.

Mr O'Brien thinks that this initiative shows the power of collaboration. All funds for the project were raised via fund-raisers. "Money was not in the middle of it in any way ... although money is part of society, it is not society."


He said that the standing of money is also reflected in the government, where he believes it is considered to be a demotion to be made Minister for the Arts, whereas Minister for Finance is a more sought-after position.

Climate change, The Incinerator And Me

By Martin Murphy

'Climate Change, The Incinerator And Me' was an event organised by Earth Talks Gavin Harte, and was designed to give the electorate of Dublin SouthEast the opportunity to listen to their candidates views on this issue, and took the form of an electoral debate between a group of Dublin South East candidates, hosted by Mr Harte at the Unitarian Church on Saint Stephen's Green last week.


Speaking prior to the debate, Mr Harte explained that “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”


Mr Harte noted that in the current debate on climate change, we have perhaps gotten stuck in the ideology of left and right, and he believes that there needs to be a new way in which challenges need to be perceived. Mr Harte suggests that people could be defined as those who believe in ecological limits, and those who don't.

“I think there is perhaps a challenge for all of us to come to terms with the global perspective and how we bring that into a local and national story, how do we make it relevant to our politics and the way we live our lives.”


Earth Talks, according to Mr Harte, is an attempt to have debate on these larger issues, such as climate change, and also to examine their relevance to our political representatives, the electorate and individuals in general.


The question that still needs to be answered, according to Mr Harte, is how we are to make sustainability fit within the boundaries of capacity. “Is the idea of infinite growth something that can be sustained, forever into the future?” asked Mr Harte.


“The purpose of Earth Talks is really to harness some of the views and opinions, particularly at a time like this, with an election and how this sits with our political system and our candidates,” he explained.

The subject up for discussion was 'Climate Change, The Incinerator And Me'. It was chosen because climate change represented a global issue, whereas the incinerator represented a local aspect to the issue.


“I think it has an issue of relevance, as it has many facets to it,” said Mr Harte.
The lunchtime event was subject to time constraints, so each candidates was given an initial 3 minutes to discuss the topic, and a further minute later on to elaborate or answer issues raised by other speakers.


With sustainability in mind, Mr Harte brought a bicycle bell with him to sound out the end of each speaker’s slot.

The discussions were heated at times, but were carried out in good spirits. The consensus was that the Poolbeg Incinerator is a bad idea, and all claimed that their respective parties didn't want it.


It seemed that Mr Gormley from the Green Party bore the brunt of the criticism. With Lucinda Creighton - Fine Gael, Mannix Flynn – Independent , Dylan Haskins – Independent, and Ruadhán Mac Aodháin - Sinn Féin all taking their turn to criticise him.


He seemed to cope well, but just as he was recovering, a late arrival, Annette Mooney from People Before Profit, re-ignited the debate.

An interesting concept overall and a well organised lunchtime event that highlighted some candidates' awareness, and others' lack of awareness, on the climate change front.


View the full debate at http://www.earthtalks.org/