The Bookseller.com

28th August 2008

Damian Horner was a founder of Mustoes advertising agency and is a freelance marketing consultant.

Green dream

12.05.08

Environmentalism is a societal trend that is sweeping through all consumer markets like a juggernaut. It is fascinating how laterally some brands have reacted to this new pressure.

Even a sector as dull as household goods has responded with fantastic new product development (Persil washing powder which saves energy on heating water), and brilliant product repositioning (Lenor concentrated fabric conditioner—smaller -bottles save on transport and packaging).

Unfortunately, the book industry hasn't responded with quite the same imagination or speed. This is shocking because soon publishers may be seen in the same light as oil refineries, and bookshops in the same light as petrol stations. We have to accept that the book trade is responsible for energy waste on a breathtaking scale.

More than 200,000 new books are registered every year in the UK and 195,000 of these sell fewer than 5,000 copies. Bookshops are full of books that no one wants to read. Tons are pulped every month. The next generation of consumers simply won't allow this senseless draining of resources to continue.

Bill Gates once described the ways in which the book industry harms our planet: we chop down trees, transport them to factories, mash them into pulp, move the pulp to another factory and press it into sheets, then we ship the sheets to another factory to put dirty marks on them, then cut the sheets, bind them and ship the thing halfway round the world to sell it. Six months later, we collect most of it back again and pulp it. "Do you really believe we'll be doing that in 50 years?" he asks.

I would argue that the time frame is shorter than that. Environmental issues are going to change our market quicker than most people think. Already, Book Marketing Ltd research shows that 45% of heavy book buyers believe downloading is more environmentally friendly than buying printed books. One of the biggest drivers for digital books is that they're seen as less harmful to the planet.

Print on demand will be another beneficiary of environmental pressures. Why print and stock 195,000 books that hardly anyone wants to read? This in turn will affect the size of book stores, but that needn't be a bad thing. Instead of being stuck in stockrooms, staff can spend more time with customers.

Environmental issues are going to touch every part of the trade. The argument about sustainable forestry will appease consumers for a while, but it won't be long before they see the bigger picture and demand wholesale changes. It would be wise to prepare for that now.

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