Georgian Publishers and Booksellers Association urges Georgian government to support Georgian book market

The Georgian Publishers and Booksellers Association has sent a letter to the Georgian government with a nine-point plan to save the Georgian book market. 

The association says that in the last 1.5 months the loss of the market amounted to six million GEL ($1.88/€1.71), while the forecast shows that by the end of May losses will double and reach 12 million GEL ($3.76/€3.42).  

Georgia declared a state of emergency to prevent the spread of the coronavirus on May 21. 

As a part of the move, book stores were closed and from the beginning of April they were not allowed to sell books online.

Although online trading officially resumed in Georgia on April 26, the majority of publishers have not received permission to operate as the Ministry of Economy has not verified yet whether they have met the required safety standards or not,” reads the letter.

This severe situation could be devastating for the Georgian publishing industry if appropriate measures are not taken and financial support is not provided by the government,” says the association. 

The nine-point plan includes special financial benefits and projects which should be carried out in order to save Georgian publishing industry.

The plan is the following:

• Complete exemption from corporate and personal income tax of publishers and book distributors for the next six months
• Government assistance in order to obtain interest-free long-term loans businesses in the publishing industry
• Reduction of interest rates on current loans and long-term grace periods
• About 2,000 -5,000 GEL ($627.5-$1,566,3/€570.6-€1,426.6) grants for small publishing houses
• Increase of state funding for a book fund renewal project for the libraries
• Increase state funding for Tbilisi International Book Fair in order to reduce participation costs for participants
• Renewal of the translation grant by the Writer’s House of Georgia
• Supporting Georgian authors and providing education to specific focus groups
• Support for school textbook publishers

The association says that while creating the plan, the experience of about 30 countries was taken into account.