On today's antitrust day of action, Molly Bond, Advocacy & Public Policy Manager at the American Booksellers Association, spotlights some of the recent work the association has been doing in this space

The U.S. retail world stands on the precipice of something that only a few years ago seemed impossible – Amazon being sanctioned, and possibly broken up, for its abusive tactics. Antitrust is no longer solely a progressive issue – it is quickly becoming a bipartisan effort.

State of Play

The American Booksellers Association (ABA) began the fight against Amazon 23 years ago when the online giant refused to collect and remit sales tax for online orders, leaving customers to believe shopping on Amazon was “tax free”. While ABA was repeatedly told that sales tax fairness was a lost cause, ABA’s advocacy division, empowered by active and persistent bookseller involvement, successfully lobbied for sales tax fairness. We see the same pattern happening today with antitrust; there has been a sea change in just the past three years alone. 

Following a 16-month investigation by the House of Representatives Antitrust Subcommittee into the Big Tech companies’ abusive market dominance, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI-1) and Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO-4) introduced a package of bills aimed at addressing the key findings in June 2021. The bipartisan package includes the American Choice and Innovation Online Act, which would prohibit self-preferencing, and the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, which could break up Amazon. On the Senate side, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced their own version of the American Choice and Innovation Online Act. Thanks to booksellers who contacted their lawmakers, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees advanced the bills in late June 2021 and January 2022, respectively.

On the state level, the New York State legislature is considering the Twenty-First Century Antitrust Act to hold individual companies accountable for abusing their dominance. The legislation, if enacted, would be an aggressive attempt to sanction companies like Amazon for market dominance.  

In May 2021, the District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine filed a lawsuit against Amazon accusing Amazon of fixing prices on its online marketplace for third-party sellers and illegally tilting the playing field in its favor. Unfortunately, the Superior Court of D.C. threw out the lawsuit in March 2022. AG Racine is said to be contemplating an appeal. 

ABA’s Work 

Over the years, ABA’s advocacy efforts include:

• building coalitions
• communicating with key decision-makers
• penning position papers outlining Amazon’s abuse
• empowering booksellers to advocate

ABA currently belongs to three coalitions working to tackle concentrated market power and create a fair playing field for small businesses: Alliance for a Resilient Small Business Economy, Rein in Big Tech, and Small Business Rising. Through collective work with these coalitions, ABA has sent letters to lawmakers, crafted advocacy campaigns, and organized policy briefings for Congressional staff and education sessions for small businesses.

ABA, along with coalition partners, engages in ongoing discussions with federal and state lawmakers and agency heads. Whether it’s providing feedback on proposed legislation in the House or New York State Legislature, meeting with or writing to lawmakers and their staff to tell booksellers’ stories and demand action, or submitting comments to the Federal Trade Commission, ABA is in constant communication with key decision-makers.

To draw attention to Amazon’s wide scope of abuse, ABA has penned two position papers. In early 2019, ABA released a paper detailing why Amazon is a monopoly. In 2020, as a follow-up, ABA released a legally grounded argument making the case as to why Amazon is in violation of antitrust laws and should be broken up. ABA sent both papers to key legislators, the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, and Attorneys General in all 50 states and D.C. ABA met with State Attorneys General (AGs) earlier this year and presented the most recent paper to 80 attendees. ABA is now working on drafting a third position paper which will take a deep dive into the bookselling industry.

ABA’s work is rooted in grassroots bookseller support. That’s why ABA has provided booksellers with tools to advocate. These tools range from talking points when booksellers accompany ABA in lawmaker meetings to one-click advocacy campaigns for booksellers to contact their lawmakers.

In 2020 ABA also launched #BoxedOut, a consumer marketing campaign designed to bring attention to the costs and consequences of shopping with Amazon. The campaign went viral, bringing attention to both antitrust concerns and the value of shopping indie.

How Booksellers Can Get Involved

Booksellers were the driving force behind this movement 23 years ago and still are today. So how can you get more involved?

Participate in ABA’s advocacy campaigns: Your voice matters! Taking a few minutes to tweet, call, or send a pre-written email to your lawmakers is so simple and yet so impactful. Lawmakers want to hear stories from constituents like you. 

Be active on social media: If your bookstore has a social media presence, don’t be afraid to use it to draw attention to Amazon’s negative impact on your store and other small businesses. As the momentum shifts, Amazon has started to go on the offensive – pushing a false narrative that antitrust reform is bad for small businesses. Speak your truth!

Talk to your customers and your community: When possible, engage with your customers and your community about Amazon’s negative impact at the local level and how Amazon’s monopoly power directly hurts your bookstore. Urge your retail neighbors and customers to get involved and shop local.

The French-German declaration of the 9th of September 2013 from Deutscher Kulturrat, Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V., Syndicat national de l’édition and Syndicat de la Librairie Française.

Below the text in German, French and English

Pour que vive l’exception culturelle française, pour que la diversité reste un droit, pour que chaque lecteur ait le choix de sa librairie numérique, les libraires défendent le principe de l’interopérabilité des systèmes liés au livre numérique.

L’ALIRE, le SDLC, et le SLF diffusent en français un résumé de l’étude de l’Université Gutenberg sur l’interopérabilité du livre numérique commanditée par l’EIBF (Fédération Européenne et Internationale des Libraires).

Les lourds investissements que nos entreprises de librairie font actuellement sur ce marché ne seront rentabilisés que le jour où le consommateur pourra librement choisir sa librairie numérique, comme il choisit aujourd’hui sa  librairie physique. Grâce au prix unique du livre numérique voté par les parlementaires français et à l’égalité de tous les acteurs du numérique face à l’impôt, que nous appelons de nos voeux, nous pourrons alors trouver les conditions d’une saine concurrence entre les différents acteurs français ou étrangers au bénéficie du développement du marché européen.

L’ALIRE, le SDLC et le SLF remercient Madame Neelie Kroes, Vice-présidente de la Commission européenne en charge de la stratégie numérique pour son soutien et l’EIBF et son président, John McNamee pour leur aide dans cette approche.

« De l’interopérabilité des formats du livre numérique : une étude de l’Université Gutenberg, commanditée par la Fédération européenne des libraires ».

►Résumé de l’étude en français : http://tinyurl.com/qhc8fmc

►L’étude intégrale en anglais : http://tinyurl.com/nucpk9p

François Milliet, Président de l’ALIRE

Jean-Luc Treutenaere, Président du SDLC

Matthieu de Montchalin, Président du SLF

L’ALIRE (Association des Librairies Informatisées et Utilisatrices de Réseaux Électroniques) est une association de libraires qui représente l’intérêt de tous les libraires en matière d’échanges de données informatisés concernant le livre papier et numérique. ►http://alire.asso.fr

Le SDLC (Syndicat des Distributeurs de Loisirs Culturels) regroupe les principales chaines de distributions de produits culturels en France : Cultura, Chapitre, Decitre, le Furet du Nord et les magasins affiliés au groupement Starter. Toutes ces enseignes ont développé une offre de vente à distance de livres physiques et numériques. Le SDLC est engagé dans la défense de la diversité culturelle et la prise en compte des attentes des consommateurs ► http://www.sdlc.fr/

Le SLF (Syndicat de la Librairie Française) est le syndicat représentatif du secteur de la librairie et regroupe plus de 600 libraires de toutes tailles. Son action s’appuie sur les valeurs d’indépendance et de promotion de la diversité culturelle ainsi que sur la valorisation du travail des libraires, conjuguant le service personnalisé au client, l’offre d’un assortiment varié de qualité et une animation sociale et culturelle liée à l’ancrage dans un territoire. ►http://www.syndicat-librairie.fr/

L’ALIRE, le SDLC et le SLF représentent la France au sein de l’EIBF (Fédération Européenne et Internationale des Libraires ►http://www.europeanbooksellers.eu

Pour plus d’informations : contact presse

Sophie Saint-Marc – 06 58 68 34 61 – sophie.stmarc@alire.asso.fr

EIBF co-President Jean-Luc Treutenaere and EIBF Board members Anne Martelle and Nina Stavisky explore the opportunities and challenges on the French bookselling market in 2021 

Last year has been a very good year for booksellers in France. After a very turbulent 2020, with businesses being impacted by lockdowns and various restrictions, many bookshop customers returned to stores. The market figures show an increase in sales of roughly 20%, which is probably the best ever! 

However, the results are not only a matter of chance or opportunity, but they highlight the hard work of the whole book chain. During this period, booksellers invested in scaling up their digital services – for example, in the past two years, we have seen a rise of 1500% in online sales for independent booksellers – , as well as setting up click and collect units and providing diverse operations to engage their customers. 

• Despite the pandemic, bookshops remain open

On the pandemic side, all bookshops remained open across the country, and freely accessible. Customers have to wear a mask, keep safe distances and use hand sanitiser during their visits. Booksellers strive to ensure an important level of protection for both their customers and their employees. On the other hand, a vaccine pass is compulsory to visit libraries, restaurants and movie theatres.

• France introduces new shipping law

One of the major political highlights for independent booksellers in France in 2021, was the adoption of the law introducing a minimum shipping fee for selling books. So-called ‘Darcos Law’, deriving its name from the Senator Laure Darcos, will help even the playing field for all booksellers. The shipping costs are yet to be defined, but they are predicted to be in the range of two to five euros. This should be confirmed in early 2022, with the law expected to enter into practice at the end of this year. 

• Launch of the culture pass

In 2021, France also launched the culture pass for all 18 year olds, which allows them to spend up to 300 € on theatres, movies, music, and books! It was a big success, resulting in an important rise of sales of comics and mangas. The pass has now been extended to younger people, with a smaller sum.

• European focus

The Digital Markets Act remains at the forefront of discussions, especially around the interoperability of files and devices used to read digital books. Ongoing is also the debate on fees imposed by Google and Apple for in-store app purchases. 

• Future challenges

New year also bring new challenges, with many opportunities ahead for French booksellers, including: 

     •    The rise of digital and audio books, on which traditional booksellers have poor, or no, offer and market share
     •    The access to large libraries through subscription (Kobo, Amazon Unlimited, Youboox, Youscribe, etc)
     •    The purchase of Hachette (first French publisher and sixth on the planet) by Vivendi (Editis, second publisher in France). This could lead to a ‘mega publishing and distribution house’, weighting between 40 and 60% of some bookstores or chains’ revenues 
     •    The technical and accounting challenges of implementing dematerialised invoicing in all French companies, which will bring about profound changes in the way we manage our businesses

Still, we are very confident for the year ahead, ready to welcome our customers and help them discover the treasures in our inventories.

This article has been written by EIBF co-President Jean-Luc Treutenaere and EIBF Board members Anne Martelle, President of the Syndicat de la librairie française, and Nina Stavisky, Executive Director of ALIRE. 

The EU Commission will by no means discuss fixed book prices as part of negotiations relating to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), even if US negotiators bring up the matter themselves. Following the suggestion of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association), EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström has now clarified this position in a written reply. According to Malmström, national book price-fixing systems – such as Germany’s Buchpreisbindungsgesetz (Fixed Book Price Law), which applies to both printed and electronic books – will in no way be affected by the planned TTIP trade agreement. This means, for example, that even US-American eBook platforms will be legally obliged to adhere to retail prices determined by German publishers when selling German-language eBooks to customers based in Germany. It also means that any non-compliance with this obligation can be prohibited in an effective manner.

As Börsenverein Managing Director Alexander Skipis noted, “For German and European book markets, the official confirmation from the EU Commission that fixed book prices will form no part of TTIP negotiations is a tremendous step forward. It means that we were successful in enforcing our central concern with regard to the ongoing trade-agreement negotiations. Our thanks go out to EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström as well as to Germany’s Minister of Economics Sigmar Gabriel and Monika Grütters, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, all of whom supported the book industry on this point. The Börsenverein will continue to follow the further course of negotiations with great interest.”

Book price fixing in Germany has been regulated by law since 2002. This law acts as a guarantor of quality and diversity on the book market. Germany has the world’s second largest book market and – with its delicate book-trade structures and multifaceted publishing landscape – profits considerably from this law. Fixed book prices also result in the average price of books being clearly lower than in countries without such regulations.

Source: Börsenverein Press Office

After several months of contemplation, the Börsenverein has filed a formal complaint against audiobook retailer Audible at the Federal Cartel Office in Bonn in late August.

Audible which is a subsidiary of retailing giant Amazon is the sole provider of audio books for both Amazon and ITunes. As electronic audiobook sales in Germany are almost exclusively made through these two providers (90 % market share), the company holds a dominant position for the distribution of digital audio books.
Last year Audible started to terminate its contracts with several small scale audiobook publishers and presented them with new conditions. These entailed the acceptance of a new digital flat rate model, which results in a much lower profit margin. For many of these small scale enterprises, the acceptance of these conditions would mean the de facto surge of their activities as their work would become unsustainable.   Notwithstanding, Audible has decided to push through its proposed model and has pressured publishers into accepting the new conditions. Resisting parties were threatened with the delisting of their entire content from Audible’s database, which would in practice prevent them from selling their content on the German market.

The Börsenverein sees in this behaviour a clear abuse of the company’s dominant position in the German market for the distribution of digital audio books.  Alexander Skipis, the Chief Executive of the Börsenverein was quoted in the weekly magazine Der Spiegel with saying that “The business model proposed by Audible and Amazons aims at destroying established bookselling structures and as such poses a threat to cultural plurality in Germany”

Der Spiegel has moreover reported that the Börsenverein is not alone in its endeavour and that many more organisations have already filed formal complaints against the behaviour of Audible.

Apart from the German Cartel Office, the Börsenverein has also filed a complaint at the European Commission in Brussels. The institution has already two complaints against Amazon pending, one coming from Germany and one from the United Kingdom.

More Information (only available in German)

http://www.buchreport.de/nachrichten/verlage/verlage_nachricht/datum/2015/09/20/auf-konfrontationskurs-mit-amazon.htm

http://boersenblatt.net/artikel-boersenverein_reicht_gegen_amazon-tochter_audible_beschwerde_beim_bundeskartellamt_und_bei_eu-kommission_ein.1028387.html

https://magazin.spiegel.de/digital/index_SP.html#SP/2015/39/138749236

Download the PDF Version of the Press Release

EIBF Co-Presidents Fabian Paagman and Jean-Luc Treutenaere are delighted to congratulate their colleague Co-President Kyra Dreher and all German winners of this year’s German Booksellers Prize, announced yesterday at the Awards Ceremony in Frankfurt.

The Prize was created in 2015 by the German Ministry of Culture and Media in an attempt to strengthen locally owned bookshops and to raise awareness about the important role that they play in promoting cultural diversity within Germany.

Out of 614 applications, there are 108 winners grouped in three categories. Three bookstores won the Prize for Best Bookstore, carrying a prize of 25.000 €. There are five winners in the category of Most Valuable Bookstore, each awarded with 14 000 €. Finally 100 bookshops received 7000 € in prize money for winning the category Outstanding Bookstore. The three winners in the top category are:  Artes liberals – Buchladen from Heidelberg, Literatur Moths from Munich and Rote Zora from Merzig. All three were especially lauded for their cultural commitment and their innovative business models.

A special mention goes to Wist – Der Literaturladen, which is prominently featured in the upcoming documentary Books under Pressure: A Controversy by Siegfried Ressel. It won first Prize in the Most Valuable Bookshop category.

The European and International Booksellers Federation warmly welcomes the German Government’s acknowledgement of the paramount  role that bookshops play in highlighting the diversity of the cultural sector and Europe’s rich literary heritage. EIBF has repeatedly stressed that the existence of a varied and diverse range of bookstores is vital for local communities all over Europe and the world. Bookshops play a crucial role in fostering literacy and education in society and in promoting both aspiring and established authors in their communities.

Taking to heart the words of American Author James Patterson “A literate citizenry is a better citizenry” (https://vimeo.com/139473737) the bookselling community encourages any initiative that aims at strengthening the visibility of bookshops. EIBF Co-Presidents wish to express their warmest congratulations to the German Government for creating such a valuable Prize and hope that other Governments may follow its example.

More Information (in German)

http://www.deutscher-buchhandlungspreis.de/preistraeger2015/

http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/deutscher-buchhandlungspreis-verliehen-lob-auf-den.1013.de.html?dram:article_id=331356

http://boersenblatt.net and http://boersenblatt.net/1027657/template/bb_t_bildergalerien/#artikel-deutscher_buchhandlungspreis

http://www.buchreport.de/nachrichten/handel/handel_nachricht/datum/2015/09/17/850000-euro-fuer-die-buchlandschaftspflege.htm

EIBF  STRONGLY SUPPORTS THE GERMAN COMPLAINT AGAINST AMAZON

The European and International Booksellers Federation  today announced its strong support for the decision by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels) to file  an official complaint against Amazon with the German Federal Antitrust Authority.

While acknowledging the existence of different laws regarding competition in the Member States of the European Union and internationally, the European and International Booksellers Federation has always strongly supported the position that consumers must have wide access to a rich and varied network of retailers. 

EIBF SOUTIENT PLEINEMENT LA PLAINTE DÉPOSÉE PAR LES LIBRAIRES ALLEMANDS CONTRE AMAZON

La fédération européenne et internationale des libraires – EIBF – soutient pleinement la décision de l’association allemande des libraires et des éditeurs (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels) d’introduire  une plainte officielle contre Amazon auprès des autorités allemandes de la concurrence.

Quel que soit le cadre législatif concerné, qu’il soit  national ou international, EIBF a toujours affirmé haut et fort  qu’il y va de de l’intérêt des consommateurs  de bénéficier du plus  large accès possible à un réseau de détaillants riche et diversifié.

Following last year’s digital Fair, EIBF’s team was excited to join the in-person events at FBF 2021

The 73rd Frankfurt Book Fair took place between 20 and 24 October. While scaled down in size, the five-day event still attracted a large crowd of book enthusiasts. The event attracted over 25,000 visitors with events on the grounds, while remote attendees could access a large online programming. This year’s guest of honour was Canada, reprising the position after the COVID-19 pandemic derailed the 2020 plans. Under the theme of ‘Singular Plurality’, Canada staged various talks, events, and exhibitions spotlighting the diversity in the country. 

EIBF team attended the professional fair days, taking the opportunity to meet with colleagues, members, and wider industry professionals to support network and development activities in the upcoming months. Read more on what we have been up to in the past week. 

Tuesday, 20 October 
 
EIBF Director Julie Belgrado joined the Frankfurt Book Fair Opening Ceremony, an event which celebrated book sector’s resilience and creativity. The opening ceremony featured prominent political and literary guests, with serious speeches full of cheerful moments. Margaret Atwood joined the event virtually to celebrate Canada as Guest of Honour, highlighting all of the things that “would” have been if last year’s fair took place in person, including the maple syrup fountains. 

Wednesday, 21 October

On Wednesday, we joined the official opening of the Bulgarian Book Association stand, which was opened by Bulgaria’s Vice-President Iliana Iotova. In her speech, the Vice-President highlighted the importance of books for the development of a society. According to Iotova, more needs to be done to support the development of the book sector in the country: “Reducing VAT to 9% is timely, but it cannot be a measure only in times of crisis. We have to motivate the Bulgarian authors.”

We also participated at the ‘Sustainability Summit: How can the book sector address climate change?’, a dedicated event which brought together book chain representatives to discuss how the sector players can work together to support the climate change action. As Badour Al Quasimi, President of the International Publishers Association said: “As world leaders gather at COP26, the publishing industry must not underestimate its role in combating climate change. The IPA is in a unique position to ensure our voices are heard & that we can play a significant role in tackling this pressing global issue.”

EIBF’s Director Julie Belgrado shared the various initiatives booksellers around the world are implementing to help spotlight climate change, highlighting the unique position booksellers have in reaching and interacting with customers – thus helping them make informed decisions on sustainability. 

Thursday, 22 October 

On Thursday, we attended the Intergraf’s conference on ‘Shaping the future with books’. The one-day event spotlighted very interesting topics, such as the book market and the digital shift challenges for the future, how the reading habits of youth have changed, the climate change challenges and the impact of e-books on the market. 

In addition, we joined the annual FEP’s rendez-vous, which focused on analysing the book market trends and highlighting the resilience and recovery of the European publishing sector, despite weaknesses persisting in some countries. The event also called for fair solutions in ensuring access to books, including in libraries, and introduced the 'Fair Lesen' initiative, led by a coalition of German authors and publishers.

Member meetings 

Over the three days at the Fair, we met several of EIBF’s members who joined the Fair, including Jessica Sänger and Robert Duchstein from the Börsenverein (German Publishers and Booksellers Association), Dessislava Alexieva from the Bulgarian Book Association, Tanja Messerli from the Swiss Bookseller and Publishers Association and Inara Belinkaja from the Latvian Booksellers Association. 

We were also very happy to catch up with our associate members Stephanie Krawehl from the Lesesaal Buchhandlung in Hamburg, Germany, and Giovanni Hoepli from Hoepli International Bookstore in Milano, Italy. 

It was delightful to be able to meet so many of our members in person again. We are looking forward to the next time. 

After a complaint filed by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association (Börsenverein) and by the Booksellers Association of the UK & Ireland, Amazon has finally decided to stop putting so-called “parity clauses” (aka. MFN clauses) in its contracts, which obliged publishers to inform Amazon if they were to offer retailers better terms than to the American giant, and subsequently to offer the same improved terms to them. Such clauses posed a direct threat to healthy competition in the e-book sector and subsequently to the quality and quantity of books on offer in bookshops. Amazon’s decision is therefore a huge victory for the book sector and for the European culture at large.

The European Commission is now asking members of the e-book sector to provide feedback on whether Amazon’s commitments are sufficient enough to restore healthy competition to the market.

The news came only days after a subsidiary of Amazon, Audible – following yet another complaint by the Börsenverein – has given up on its problematic exclusivity deals with Apple concerning audio-books.

The Commission’s Press Release      

The Börsenverein’s Press Release