Avi Shumer announced a shelf rearrangement, shaking up the book industry. Will competitors follow his lead?
This week, the CEO and co-owner of "Tzomet Sfarim" announced that the chain will filter the books it sells, including based on how they are funded. Criticism in the industry was swift, mainly regarding the status the chain is taking for itself and the potential harm to new authors. Shumer told Globes: "I actually received positive feedback from publishers. We understand that we are doing something positive here."
This week, the CEO of Tzomet Sfarim, Avi Shumer, surprised the Israeli book industry by announcing that the chain will reduce the number of titles on the shelves in its approximately 100 branches. "In recent years, we have witnessed a steep rise in the volume of 'funded literature' — a model where titles are published without a professional and mandatory editorial process," Shumer wrote in a letter sent to the publishers of the major publishing houses.
"This trend creates significant challenges in managing shelf space and harms our ability to present a high-quality mix to the public, while pushing titles with high literary and commercial potential to the margins," Shumer added. "Flooding the shelves with a large quantity of titles without prior screening constitutes a heavy and unnecessary economic burden on the entire supply chain," he emphasized.
Behind the matter-of-fact phrasing lies a long-standing debate: who decides which book is worthy of reaching the shelf, and to what extent the fact that the author funded its publication should influence this decision. Starting from the next quarter, Tzomet Sfarim intends to change its title intake policy and require publishers to submit every new book for review before its distribution. As part of the process, publishers will also be asked to indicate whether the book's publication was funded by the author or by another party.
Map of Interests
Unlike in the past, the Israeli book market is no longer built of two separate links — publishers and retailers. At Tzomet Sfarim, the publishers Kinneret Zmora-Bitan and Modan together hold about two-thirds of the chain, while Steimatzky has a holding of about 10% in the "Koraim" publishing house.
The result is that entities that have a direct interest in publishing are connected to the retail side that decides which books will receive the most sought-after display areas. Accordingly, the Competition Authority last year rejected a merger request between the Am Oved publishing house and Steimatzky, due to the dominance of Am Oved in classic titles.
The criticism of the move speaks of the fact that it might create a problematic identification between a book funded by its author and a book that is not of high quality, and that the new screening gives the chain greater power to determine which voices will reach the shelf, which might harm new authors.
"I actually received positive feedback from the publishers on this letter," says Shumer in a conversation with Globes. "They and I understand that we are doing something positive here. In the end, this is our livelihood and that of our 1,000 employees."
