Is there such a thing as too many books?
A book lover’s dream is usually comprised of owning an expansive library. The books will align neatly on their shelves, their beautiful spines calling out to all who pass by. The shelves will almost burst, yet there will always be that mysterious nook that can house another book. The central theme here is such: one can never have too many books. Or can you?
In terms of book supply, it seems like Iceland will never have a shortage. A recent article on Grapvine.is details the phenomena in Iceland known as the Christmas Book Flood. During Christmastime each year, publishing houses in the country release a slew of new books and pack bookstores with new titles just in time for the gift giving season.
Jóhann Páll Valdimarsson, director of Forlagiõ publishing house, tells why the tradition started. “During World War II, there were strict restrictions on imports in Iceland and we didn’t have the currency to import foreign products,” he stated. Due to the inability to import products for Christmas gifts, the tradition of giving local books began. Now, however, the printing of books continues to go up in volume. It is usually cheaper to print books in mass quantities, but as a local bookstore owner stated, this is also a waste of paper.
One year, over a hundred new cookbooks were released in one season. The mass printing shows how each publisher wants to keep in stride with the next. The mass amount of books is almost becoming reckless in nature. Frustration builds between publishers and sellers, as books are consistently returned to the publishers when they are not sold. These books turn around and get sold at markets for extremely discounted rates.
The avalanche of books being published also does not bode well for budding authors. New releases often get buried under the numerous other books getting published, especially when the other books are written by more established authors. Another issue is that books were originally only marketed during Christmas. Therefore many of the books being printed have decorative hard covers, and this encourages them to be sold as gifts.
A common solution is that the number of book vendors need to be cut. There are about 150 book vendors in Iceland, and that leads to about 1,500 copies of each book being printed to cover all the stores. Even if there are only a few copies left at each store, the publishers end up buying back the books. Space is limited in the publishing storage facilities. This leads many of the books to simply be destroyed as there is physically not enough space for all the books.
Solutions to this problem pose issues of their own. Cutting down the number of books that are published is always suggested; however, that requires a more limited selection of what books will be published and which ones will not. Nonetheless, many remain optimistic. Many say the book flood puts a big spotlight on the literature and culture of Iceland, even if only during Christmastime.
Distribution and marketing for book publishers is being reconsidered in Iceland to meet the demand for books without printing an excess amount. Nonetheless, the Christmas Book Flood displays the zeal the country has for reading. In due time the country will find a balance in production, and until that time the flood will continue to exist. It will be even more interesting to see if all the excess books can be used for a purpose, such as being delivered to a country lacking in literature. You can always have too much of a good thing, but in the world of books, the excess goodness can be spread to all.
