Welsh publishers ‘facing existential crisis’

Chris Haines – ICNN Senedd reporter

Welsh publishers face an existential crisis following a decade of cuts, a Senedd committee heard.

Helgard Krause, chief executive of the Books Council of Wales, said cuts in the past year have made it difficult to operate after years of standstill funding.

She also pointed to production pressures with the cost of printed books rising significantly as she gave evidence to a Senedd culture committee inquiry on October 17.

Ms Krause raised concerns about a fall in the number of Welsh-medium books from 185 to 122 in the past decade, particularly in light of the target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

Giving evidence remotely from the Frankfurt book fair, she told the committee: “It feels counterintuitive that the thing to help with language skills, namely books, is being cut.”

‘Existential’

Asked what would happen if similar cuts were repeated in the 2025/26 budget, Ms Krause stressed that the Books Council passes most of its funding onto the publishing industry.

“For some, the impact is fewer books – for others, it’s an existential crisis,” she said.

Ms Krause warned: “We’re at risk of losing publishers completely.”

She said the Books Council – which has annual revenue of about £3m, half of which comes from the Welsh Government – has sought to absorb cuts over the years by reducing staff.

“When I started seven years ago, there were 50 people working in the organisation,” she explained. “Now, we’re down to 36. This isn’t a proud record but that was the only way of how we’ve been able to cope with standstill funding.”

Ms Krause told the committee that unlike some other culture bodies, the Books Council has not received any extra in-year money from the Welsh Government.

‘Scarce’

Warning of uncertainty and people becoming more risk averse, she pointed out that not one project sponsored by the Books Council receives 100% of the funding it requires.

She raised concerns about new voices and opportunities for young people being lost.

Ms Krause said: “We are at risk of turning to the old regime where publishing was a little bit a gentleman’s occupation, namely those people who can afford to work in the area.”

She told the committee the profile of people working in the sector remains middle class.

She warned: “We have made some inroads but, when money is scarce and salaries are stagnant, that’s the pernicious impact and we will see this problem in ten years’ time.”

Calling for a ten-year strategic intervention to make Wales a reading nation, Ms Krause urged the Welsh Government to adopt international examples of best practices.

‘Austerity’

Ms Krause said she supported the principle of the Arts Council’s calls for culture and the arts to become a statutory responsibility.

But she pointed out that libraries are already a statutory duty, yet “we’re losing, across Britain, or have done, thousands of libraries in the last decade”.

She cautioned that the Libraries Act is phrased loosely enough for councils to absolve themselves from responsibilities of providing a library service.

Ms Krause sympathised with the need to protect core services like health and education but she said culture can make a significant contribution to both.

She said: “It is cuts on top of a decade of austerity that makes this such an existential issue.”

‘Catastrophic’

Ashley Drake, acting chair of Publishing Wales, which represents publishers, said grant funding fell by about 8% in 2023/24 then a further 10% in 2024/25.

In a letter to the committee, he wrote: “Our understanding is another significant cut is being discussed for 2025/26. Three consecutive cuts on the back of a decade or more of standstill budgets will be catastrophic…. It would signal nothing less than an existential crisis.”

Seren, the independent Bridgend-based publisher, warned the industry faces a real threat.

Bronwen Price, chief executive, and Duncan Campbell, chair, wrote: “As it stands, we are rapidly heading towards a tough decision: either we slash costs and therefore strip out everything that makes Seren Books what it is or face the prospect of closing for good.

“Were that to happen, Wales would lose its last standing significant English language publisher.. It would lose the major societal, economic, cultural, environmental and wellbeing contribution Seren Books makes and will make for future generations.”

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