Annual General Meeting, March 2022

Report from the Chair, Melanie Laville-Moore

Just as 2020 did, the past year has presented the book sector of Aotearoa with equal challenge as it has opportunity. Covid has continued to influence the environment that individual Coalition members and organisations operate in and it has tested the resilience of most. There has been strong progress made on some fronts despite this. For example, the wonderful Kete platform remains an outstanding example of what can be achieved despite disruption, and there are many books that have received focus and attention that otherwise would have struggled. The number of readers increasingly engaging with Kete’s content is really pleasing and underlines what a strong decision its creation was in the early days of the pandemic.

Kete success aside, the overall sales during 2021 of New Zealand published books tell a different story with a slight decline in numbers reported, despite the book market overall showing growth. Readers have increasingly moved online to find their next book, and it’s an environment where seemingly, it’s significantly harder for New Zealand books and writers to stand out and be properly seen. During our second member hui series held in June of last year, this was something raised on several occasions. There is much work to be done in plugging the infrastructure and skills gap that is creating the inequity. Tackling it and supporting other organisations doing the same, remains firmly on the Coalition agenda for the year ahead.

The funding environment is undoubtedly where the Coalition feels the keenest challenge. We remain heavily reliant on Creative New Zealand and their Arts Grant funding. We’re grateful to have been well supported and successful in our applications to date, but we’re ever conscious too that those decisions made can be arbitrary ones and that we have no guarantee of success whenever the next application comes around. It makes even medium term planning difficult and it’s an experience that is all too familiar across our sector. In our meetings with the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, we strongly underlined this point and will continue to do so. We have too many organisations overly reliant on the goodwill of its boards and meagre resourcing. For our book sector to truly thrive and reach the incredible potential we all believe it has, this is not a sustainable approach.

Our meetings with the Ministry in the past year were the result of the outcry that followed the awarding of significant cash sums to two book related projects – Narrative Muse especially. There was such a strong disconnect with how previous under-funding has conditioned expectations, as well as consternation created by well-established organisations – already making a huge difference on very little – being so easily overlooked. Being able to establish a useful dialogue on behalf of the sector was down to two things. Our ‘Swiss’ type relationship and careful response during the days immediately after the funding announcement, but more importantly, the sheer breadth of organisations now signed up for Coalition membership. In the past year our numbers have swelled to there now being 47 members. It’s an outstanding collective that provides the sort of clout that Government bodies must take seriously.

It also provides us with the agency needed to pick up on early work started by PANZ in creating a ten-year plan for a resilient New Zealand book sector – one that will be designed to allow all of the book eco-system to truly flourish. Just as other creative sectors such as film and music have long enjoyed strong, cohesive plans, they have also seen outcomes, the funding especially, that equal this. Several board members have invested significant time in expanding the early PANZ work and have created a draft plan that will be a major work focus for the year ahead. The Coalition is increasingly finding itself tasked in the advocacy space and the completed plan will be the best supporting tool that we can all have to ensure that the collective voices of our book sector are heard.

Activity-wise, I’ll talk through the key points in a moment. But suffice to say the past year remained a busy one with several high-profile book campaigns spread across the calendar. With the financial support of publishers and Creative New Zealand, we’ve continued to create campaigns that blend print materials with an increased supporting digital presence. Our Christmas campaign was the obvious to repeat, but Matariki and winter reading were given equal emphasis in 2021. Our resources supporting Māori and Pasifika books were also updated with improved links for online discoverability. As per our kaupapa, campaigns increasingly amplified the work of member organisations, for example recognising the adjacency of the Children’s Book Awards and Te Wiki o te Reo Māori when selecting the books to feature in September’s digital and targeted campaign.

Promotional plans for the year ahead will continue to be refined. Finding new readers and supporting existing readers of New Zealand writing; and making books more visible to more people; will remain the key priorities. There will be more collaboration too – including a combined effort with the Booksellers Association’s summer reading at the end of the year. Instead of two disparate campaigns, there will be a singular focus that Booksellers and the Coalition hopes will generate significantly more impact and importantly further stretch out the available resources.

Last year’s commissioned report on best book promotion practice in overseas markets will this year be supplemented by qualitative research targeting the Australian book market especially. Australian writers enjoy considerably more home-grown and international success on all fronts, and we’re hoping to discover some of the reasons why. We’ll then look at ways in which the learnings can be built into Coalition promotional plans moving forward.

The views and experiences of our members remains a vital component for all planning and interactions that the Coalition has. Last year’s series of hui was invaluable and has helped inform every single campaign or piece of work that the Coalition has involved itself with. To that end we look forward to repeating with a third mid-year hui. We would encourage all of our members to participate where they can. Every voice and every piece of input matters.

I must note my gratitude to all members of the Coalition board for their prevailing good sense and collegial can-do over the past year. The improved relationships that we increasingly see between the Coalition’s member organisations, and the growing sector potential evident from an increasingly united front is a direct result of the challenging mahi that the board continues to undertake. Finding the common ground and uniting a book sector on the important issues is rarely a straightforward task. To elected board members Juliet Blyth; Catriona Ferguson; Dan Slevin; Jenny Nagle; Nicola Legat and Paula Morris, and co-opted writers Chris Tse and Iona Winter – thank you. What a difference you have all made.

It was with heavy hearts that we farewelled Jill Rawnsley from the role of Manager. After two years of bringing so many plans to fruition, she felt it was time to pass on the mantel to a new organisation lead. Many of you will have already heard me note Jill’s contribution on numerous occasions and I make no apology for repeating it again during this AGM. The difference that Jill made to a fledgling organisation, wrestling with a challenging agenda and always in the eye of the Covid storm, has been so significant. Its right that the board and our membership’s gratitude should be the same.

At the time of writing, our new Coalition manager, the formidable Kim Meredith, is into her second week. Its such early days, but already we can see the terrific difference that Kim will make as she sets about reviewing our activities with a whole different lens. There are timely changes to make and new opportunities to explore and Kim will be outstanding in helping us to navigate these. We warmly welcome Kim into the role.

Finally, I wish all our membership organisations a successful year ahead. Please rest assured that the Coalition for Books and its activities will be alongside, best supporting yours and the rest of the sector’s best endeavours.