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| (Photo Credit: Jane Kennedy Sutton) |
A double-barreled assault threatens the survival of the conventional book value chain. Authors and publishers, who are already struggling for relevance in the face of a lukewarm reading culture, are being fleeced of their dues by piracy.
Book piracy, which involves the replication of copyrighted literature through scanning, photocopying, printing and electronic duplication of books, is now commonplace in the major cities.
A ravening horde of Sean Timbas is ripping off the publishing industry en-masse. City sidewalks are inundate with cheap quality editions significantly marked down from bookshop prices. Pirated copies usually cost less than half the original work, leveling a potential death-knell against the formal sector since most buyers are economy-oriented.
Meanwhile, measures against book piracy are entangled in red tape as police need a report from infringed parties before arraigning the offenders. While other crimes, petty or serious, are foiled at the slightest exposure, pirates operate in broad daylight, without any measure entered to combat the menace.
Most countries hedge intellectual property with severe civil and criminal penalties. In the United States, for example, criminal copyright infringement falls under the investigative jurisdiction of the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison in addition to a fine of US$ 250, 000.
I recently took a snap tour across Zimbabwe’s literary and academic community gleaned varying opinions with respect to the phenomenon.
“There is a downstream market which is benefiting from illegal sale of intellectual property at the expense of the rightful owners,” said Zimbabwe International Book Fair chairperson Musaemura Zimunya.
“The pirates are replicating copyrighted works in large volumes and peddling them in the streets. It is a crime that kills the incentive to create and muzzles prospective voices who withhold their efforts for out of fear of wasted labour and expenditure.
“These outlaw barons have got their ears to the ground. As soon as ZIMSEC literature set-texts are out, they rush to grab the original copies and duplicate them in stockpiles.
“Unlike the publishers, they do not invest anything in the work. They just plunder into the labour of authors and make a living out of it.
“The pirates contribute nothing to the public fiscus whereas authentic publishers commit a share of their profits to ZIMRA,” said Zimunya who belongs to the second generation of Zimbabwean writers.
National Arts Council of Zimbabwe director Elvas Mari said the development of the sector is being unduly stunted since authors and publishers are deprived of their economic and social benefit.
“The best way to combat piracy is embark on education of communities, artists, the law enforcement agencies and judiciary as well as sustained enforcement of the law by prosecution. Stiffer legislation is needed to discourage offenders.
“Issues of pricing and accessing of the arts products is also important to discourage people from buying less quality products. There are many strategies but the above are the important ones,” he said.
Programs manager at Write Africa Trust Lawrence Hoba said it is fair to acknowledge that there are two sides to be considered before suggesting a remedy for the vice.
“Book piracy is a two-edged sword, which may be one side sharper than the other. When you look at it from the author or publisher’s perspective, then it is clearly a loss of revenue.
“Given that few Zimbabwean authors really make a killing for their works, the effect might be worse for publishers who would have invested funds in getting the books published.
“However, if you look at it from the perspective of a person who promotes reading, then, it is one more book in another reader’s hands, which is not so bad after all.
“But then, we should explore what is causing the piracy. I have often raised the query with many book industry stakeholders whether our books not overpriced.
“I know, for example, that you can get a 50-page book printed in China and landed in Zimbabwe for less than $2 and yet you find the same book being sold for not less than $10. How is that justifiable?
“The pirate who runs copies unlawfully can produce that same and sell it for $4. It is expected of the economically rational buyer to buy the cheaper products as long as they deem that they we get the same function as the higher priced one.
“This must be a wake-up call for everyone involved to seriously consider how we can ensure that original books get to the final consumer at an affordable price.
“After all, most people would rather prefer the nicer looking product, over the pirated copies if their prices are within a comparable range,” said Hoba has “The Trek” and short stories scattered in various anthologies to his credit.
Performance poet Mbizo Chirasha and is of the view that the new ministries of responsible for art, education and culture must urgently craft stringent policies that guard against the vice.
“The people promoting piracy must be locked and there should be efforts to increase better methods of livelihood by the new government to combat the varied forms of moral decadence and law-breaking in the country,” said Chirasha the founding director of Girlchild Creativity.
Bulawayo-based media studies academic Blessing Jona noted that piracy is even worse for authors than it is for musicians.
“Musicians can gain revenue through live shows and royalties, but if a book is pirated through photocopying or by any other means, how does the author make up for the deficit?”
“Authors might end up resorting to electronic books, which are highly encrypted with powerful codes such that they are only accessed online by those who subscribe to the books,” said Jona, a Journalism and Media Studies lecturer with the National University of Science and Technology.
Award-winning UK-based Zimbabwean author Spiwe N. Mahachi-Harper said the negative potential of digital technology makes it difficult to contain piracy.
“We are in an age where it has become difficult to combat piracy. The Internet makes all things possible, and there is no policing of the replicating of electronic books.
“It could be even more imperative to retain the book in its traditional format but unfortunately it no longer reaches many people as much as the electronic books do. Stringent measures could be the way to go,” said Harper who was recently voted the Literary Arts Writer of the Year by the diasporan Zimbabwean Music and Arts Awards.
The online book hub which could mitigate piracy is yet to make headway locally since very few people use credit cards. Distributors must consider homegrown solutions for the challenge, including accepting payments via Ecocash.
On the whole, piracy must be sternly contested through still legislation and sustained law enforcement. All the relevant authorities must urgently buckle down and toughen up to save writers from these insolent parasites.
