Albanian publishing industry to be drowning

It took just one declaration from the Albanian prime minister for things to move in the book industry. It’s to be said that book problems have not been the priority of this government or of the previous ones. The missing legislation, suffocating fiscal system, the limited number of public libraries and the delivery system on are some of the most complicated problems publishers not only in Albania but in the whole region are facing today. Fatmir To詠one of the publishers in Tirana says: “There are a lot of difficulties and obstacles for publishers and we’ve always made them public. But no one ever listened. So, in such a context every declaration regarding to the book industry is welcomed, but we don’t need only words. We need something to be done quickly and efficiently. During there three years taxes on publishing have been raised, the books became subject to VAT, there were little efforts to introduce Albanian books in the international public and all these things together had a negative impact on the book market”.
To詠also comments on the latest initiative of the Albanian Ministry of Education, which consists on bringing the best titles of the prestigious publishing houses near to the Albanian students. “This initiative of the Ministry of Education turned out to be both positive and negative. The positive impact is that finally artistic books are going to the students, which has been a problem for a long time. But on the other hand there is the risk of arbitrary selection of the books and publishing houses, the risk of not respecting the copyrights and so on” says To詮
Another problem according to To詠is that the National Book Committee does not work properly. There have only been two meetings of this committee. To詠believes that if the committee would work properly, this could definitely be a good thing for the book industry even though the committee does not have the right of decision-making. To詠appeals for some clear and concrete policies regarding to the book, in order to create a brighter future for it. But To詠remains optimistic regarding to the future of the publishing industry, even though there are still a lot of problems and much more needs to be done.