In March 2008, what was originally seen as a “minor bureaucratic change” to downgrade the import status of books from “essential goods” to requiring government certification of how many copies could be brought in has, according to Publishing Perspectives, begun “gradually choking off the flow of imported books, which make up 80% of the market in Venezuela” and created a “catastrophic” shortage of books. With bestselling titles, even if demand is great, only a select number of copies may be approved at one time and by the time a publisher is allowed to reapply for permission to import additional copies […]
