SCRIBO losses at $25.7 million

The closure of trade distributor, SCRIBO, on 30th June was a shock, and very sad for the 100 people who lost their jobs.

Now hidden in The Age business section ( August 19th ) is the info that SCRIBO lost PMP $25.7 million in 2010/2011.

They blame it on the shift from "bricks and mortar" retail to online book sales.

But in the same issue, Joel Becker - CEO of the Australian Booksellers Association - is arguing that ebook sales are just over 1% of book sales in Australia, or about $15 million if my maths are correct.

So to have caused that big a loss to SCRIBO, itself only a moderate part of the Australian print book supply chain, it means there must be a tidal wave of overseas online PRINT book sales direct to customers. Be very interesting to see some real data on this.

Tom Danby
www.intbooks.com.au