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In light of rental obligations with no income realities, all SABA members are facing at the moment, SABA sent a letter to the Chair of the South African Real Estate Investment Trust (SA REIT) Association.

SA REIT presented the retailers with a proposal suggesting they defer April and May’s rent and amortise it over the next 6 months. That means a rental increase of 33% for the next 6 months. SABA responded to SA REIT on behalf of all its members. [Read more]

Dear Readers,

Booksellers are the curators of our local community’s primary knowledge resources. This is more of a calling than a job. It is not for the faint-hearted nor those averse to risk. In fact, as with our compatriots on the front-lines of the war against Covid-19 in medical care casualty wards, few in this profession would be practising for the sake of self-enrichment. It is a higher desire than profit to educate our young, inspire our adults and exercise the minds of our aged.

Our doctors depend on books, so too every facet of our lives is influenced by readership. If it were not so, every post-apocalyptic scenario would not depict freedom of speech and information as being essential to be attacked, manipulated or controlled. In Fahrenheit 451, in Animal Farm, in the very hieroglyphs at Giza we see the power of communicating thoughts. In early evidence of human activity, whether recording life on a cave wall, stone tablet or paper, this was indeed the expression of people relaying thought to others coming after them. Posterity is written into our genetic code. Whereas authorship is contestable, the result is evident. Books are essential to who we are as a species. The discourse is often occluded by the message. However, since medium and methodology are interdependent, it is only natural that communication as our proof of humanity’s existence is similarly alleged to be interdependent.

In the absurd calculus of a pandemic, we see this more than ever before. Some underestimate the necessity of books and by Lockdown extension, the necessity of Booksellers. Of course these nay-sayers are woefully undereducated. Articles in this newsletter introduce some current remedial interventions. (Letter from SABA: Books as essential services; Letter from PASA: Lockdown and education)

Humanity faces crisis events at notable times in recorded history. Each time, books were banned, burned or bastardised because such is the power of the written word. As the SA Booksellers Association, we have worked continually throughout this period to safeguard our Booksellers members’ interests and in so doing the continuity of this noble community’s curatorship role. We have engaged with various role-players throughout the bookselling value chain in order to ensure the public continues to have a secure book ecosystem for all readers in South Africa both online and offline.

Books are essential. They will continue to be, even beyond the current Covid-19 containment restrictions. Booksellers are encouraged to continue in their vocation for the literacy of all our people. Reading is an overwhelmingly accessible and efficient transmission of concepts. It is therefore a prerequisite for health, civic and community activism, active citizenry, national development, law and order, intergenerational wealth, socialisation, safety and security. Let us not shrink from our responsibility, this is a time to show our commitment as agents of positive change.

Last year at London Book Fair, I was fortunate to have met Trevor Goul-Wheeker, Chair of Blackwell’s. In the discussion and subsequent visits to their bookstores, it was clear that the business of books is irrepressible. Booksellers will adapt and survive accordingly. The challenges Booksellers face regarding declining sales trends have been well articulated in the past however there are some tips relating to Covid-19 available in this newsletter.

I urge Booksellers and others in the value-chain to consider implementing enhanced measures for public safety. Gearing up now will pay off in the future as more viruses pop up and our customers become more circumspect and select brands that are actively involved in protecting humanity’s health. Some revolutionary measures taken by Blackwell’s well before this pandemic were simply good business decisions to future-proof the business and have paid strategic dividends in hindsight where Corona was not the primary concern. Spacing of fixtures on retail floor was maximised, one copy per title on a shelf to limit Customer handling, clear signage regarding minimal staff assistance on the sales floor but monitored and serviced by a bigger back office with more employee ownership and exposure to operations. Efficient use of entry and exits, sanitizer standards, limiting people in stores and marketing at-home delivery of books. All these put Blackwell’s in a better position to cope with health emergencies, well in advance.

In short, a good business can survive the test of time by thinking ahead in fulfilling essential needs. It is these businesses that are ultimately successful in the long run. If you don’t believe me, then best believe this is in fact the investment strategy of the Oracle of Omaha – Warren Buffet – and he has done quite well at that. Books are essential and they fulfil an essential need. Let us stand, socially-distant but united in our endeavours to fulfil the essential role our communities have entrusted in us.

See you in a bookshop soon!

Thanks,

Melvin Kaabwe

SABA President

Good ideas are few and far between in the shackles of lockdown, but the creative team at LAPA publishers put their heads together to come up with the wonderful idea of Tippie-branded masks. The much-loved character, the creation of illustrator Zinelda McDonald, features in the Learn To Read series, and will now help to make ‘masking up’ just a tad less scary for young readers.

Sylvia de Wet, CEO of LAPA, gave some insights as to how it all came about: ‘We made the masks by combining a lot of creative people in the process and we all did our magic from home. Our production team was in contact with an enthusiastic entrepreneur with a vinyl printer at home, and she immediately responded to our plight for printing on the right material. She also proved to be very skilful on a sewing machine. And the Tippie masks were born!’

According to De wet, the uncertainty of the times is unlocking hidden potential in businesses, forcing businesses to find new ways of communicating with customers. ‘Agility, grit and adaptability is key, these will be the portals to survival,’ she says. ‘The combination of an innovative mindset supportive of an evolving collaboration with stakeholders, will prove to be the way forward.’ The masks are currently for sale to all customers of LAPA. Contact  bestellings@lapa.co.za

The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted the education of children and students globally. More than 120 countries including South Africa, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, have shut their schools. 

This means that more than half the world’s student population – 1,2 billion children – are forced to stay away from school and universities because of a virus.

However, schools remain open for younger children in Sweden. Singapore has halved class sizes, instituted strict hygiene measures, and staggered break periods to reduce playground contact. 

During the 2014 Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone the government provided educational radio programmes to listeners five days a week while schools were closed, maintaining a link to the curriculum for the duration. 

The Goodthingsguy published weblinks which Jean Parnell suggested learners can use to stay abreast with learning. However, not all learners have the means to access online learning.

Vodacom’s e-School platform is already used by almost 900 000 learners. E-School is free for all Vodacom subscribers and carries content in all 11 official languages from Grade R to 12. Content includes assignments, quizzes and learning videos that are fully aligned with the CAPS curriculum.

Unesco reminds us that back in 2015, Bill Gates warned in a prescient Ted talk that the greatest risk of a global catastrophe would be a highly infectious virus which we were not ready to fight.With restricted online access, the question is what can South African citizens, publishers and booksellers do to assist?

When this year’s edition of Kwazulu-Natal’s most popular literary festival (originally scheduled to run 16 – 21 March) had to be cancelled due to coronavirus fears, the organisers had to think outside the box. Participants had already been paid, and readers were looking forward to interacting with their heroes. According to Marlyn Ntsele, the conversion from a physical festival to one hosted across social media platforms, turned on a dime: ‘We did not give ourselves much time, because we did not want to lose the momentum. Luckily the festival was already active on most social media channels. We needed a day to brainstorm and make choices between all the options and applications we could use.’

The program consisted of a series of Q&A’s on Twitter, live interviews on Instagram, Skype interviews, live readings on Facebook, Facebook book launches and a number of workshop videos writers recorded from their homes. Participating authors included Remy Ngamije, Lebohang Masango, Shafinaaz Hassim, Refiloe Moahloli, Fred Khumalo, Siphiwo Mahala and many more. The audience varied greatly, depending on time, medium and writer. Some of the interviews had over 800 views, some much less. 

Ntsele does not  however think the format would work if customers are charged for entry: ‘I think the advantage of using a virtual medium is that you do not only reach book lovers, but also many people in passing – who may have never bought a ticket to the event – their interest in literature may have been triggered by us. Once we make events like these ticketed, we will miss out on this advantage. It would therefore only be sustainable if there is funding.’Another good thing about virtual events is the gradual collecting of an archive of interviews, perpetually available for re-use and for upload to one’s YouTube channel. Ntsele, however, believes the online version of the festival is too exclusionary to become the norm: ‘Time of the Writer prides themselves in organising many panel discussions and “meet the writer” events at community centres and libraries. Due to lack of internet access, these communities were now left behind. We certainly feel that festivals like this may miss many opportunities by not digitising themselves more, but, at the end of the day, that personal face-to-face contact with writers is way too important to make it the only way. Also the writers are normally so happy to, for a change, leave their spaces and meet the readers in person. To conclude with the words of Zakes Mda on Twitter recently: “If virtual Time of the Writers works successfully this year, please do not make it permanent after Time of the Coronavirus. We still need to hug our writers.”’