Publisher and author trade associations in the UK are raising the alarm over the potential effects of Brexit on the book market due to “copyright exhaustion.” In a nutshell, now that the UK is no longer part of the EU, complications are arising over whether books can be lawfully sold in the UK (without publisher permission) after they’ve been sold in or imported from another country. The worry is that cheaper copies—from places as varied as the US, India, or the EU—could enter the UK market. The US has faced similar issues; in a 2013 US Supreme Court case over first-sale doctrine, US publishers lost their battle to stop resale of cheaper foreign editions in the US.
In a summary of the situation at Publishers Lunch, Katy Hershberger notes (subscription required) that authors’ export royalties are much lower than standard royalties, and it might be time for UK publishers, “now making healthy profits,” to bear the cost of doing export business, “particularly since it is a mainstay of the market for UK publishers.” Learn more in Publishing Perspectives.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
