Books for every pocket

Many book fairs and related events are held across Romania every year.

Christine Leșcu, 12.11.2014, 13:35

After the fall of the communist dictatorship in Romania in 1989, people became avid for literature that had been censored that far, and this resulted in a multiplication of book fairs and events all over the country. The biggest are Bookfest, held in June, and Gaudeamus, held in November. The latter, which was created by Radio Romania, also travels to other cities and towns all over the country all year round.

At Gaudeamus, book lovers can purchase the latest releases, attend book launches and press conferences, meet the writers and get books at great prices. The Romanian market, though rich in publications, does not have great book sales, with many Romanians finding the prices too steep at 5 to 16 euros for a book, while the average wage is around 380 euros.

In order to help people buy their favourite titles for better prices, for the last ten years, Bucharest has been hosting Kilipirim, a discount book fair. We asked Oana Boca-Stanescu, a PR officer for the Kilipirim Fair, how the fair came about:

“We have other book fairs as well that have discounts, like Bookfest and Gaudeamus, but Kilipirim deals more in older titles, which people get to buy at a discount you won’t see at other book fairs. In any given year, about 24,000 titles are published in Romania, but any given reader isn’t interested in more than 100. Even so, a person cannot afford all of them. Kilipirim was set up just for that: you go to the fair and find that book that you would have liked to buy half a year or a couple of years before. You had no money then, but now you can get it for a pittance.”

Apart from providing affordable books for people, book fairs also help publishers, addressing one of their biggest problems: distribution:

“Generally, we need book fairs for a fairly sad reason. There are few distribution chains in this country, and they cannot cope with the immense domestic output. The number of titles being published is far greater than the number of readers. Which means that a lot of book shop chains have shut down and others have simply vanished. If we go to a smaller town, you can see that there aren’t that many book shop around, or, where they still exist, they have been turned into stationery shops, with a book here and there.”

Even though this year Kilipirim was held in a different place than usual, regular visitors found their way there, like this reader who spoke to us:

“I’ve been coming to Kilipirim for years now. It is a way to enrich my book collection, and at the same time I can catch up with the latest titles on the market. This fair is a great idea because books, even though their prices have dropped, are still inaccessible for a certain category of people. At the same time, if you have several publishers gathered in one place, variety improves, and the opportunity to find better titles is greater.”

One other reader was also attracted by the good prices and good variety:

“For years now I’ve been following Kilipirim, Gaudeamus, and the summer book fair. These are welcome, especially in times like this. The discounts are welcome, no matter how small. There are now on-line bookstores, and before coming here I look titles up, see what I’ve missed. There are also the thematic fairs, where you have all the books in a given category together in one place. In a bookstore you have to look for the section that interests you, here everything is in one place.”

As for prices, she admitted they are still rather high, especially for certain people. That is why she sometimes buys books she already owns, but not for herself:

“I give them as gifts. It’s something I enjoy, helping a friend who cannot afford to buy books. In my circle of friends, we tell each other what’s new and look things up on the Internet. I have older retired friends who don’t have Internet, and I keep them up to date with the what’s out here.”

On the other side of the counter, publishers have their own justifications for the high prices. Here is Oana Boca-Stanescu:

“I worked for nine years in a publishing house, and I know why books cost what they do in Romania. Issues are small, and we are chasing our own tail in a small circle, because people can’t afford them, or don’t know they exist, since so much gets printed. And issues are small because people don’t buy them. The books have the exact price they are supposed to have. Publishing houses are businesses, whether we like it or not, and when they publish a certain book, they have to think of a profit. The final price includes the cost of paper, translators’ and editors’ fees, the promotion… all these put together lead to prices we see today.”

Held twice a year, in spring and autumn, the discount book fair is good for both readers and publishers, who can thus sell more books and gain more customers.