Estonia’s largest book sellers say that if Tallinn mayor Edgar Savisaar received about 200,000 euros in fees for writing a book, as claimed by his lawyer, it means that the book must have been sold more than 100,000 copies, which is unimaginable, writes ERR.
“This must be Estonia’s all-time royalty that has ever been paid out,” says Tauno Vahter, editor-in-chief of Tänapäev publishing house.
“If we take the information that has been published, a simple calculation shows that around 100,000 copies must have been sold. When we consider that an average book is printed in Estonia in 1,000 copies, this is 100 times more than normal,” said Vahter.
He adds that until now very few top-selling books have been printed in 30,000 or 40,000 copies. Karl Martin Sinikärv, chairman of the Estonian Writers’ Union, says that authors normally receive 2 euros per copy for a book that sold for 20 euros in the book store.
“VAT and markups account for about 40 percent of the sale price. The remaining costs are mostly printing costs. What is left will be divided between the publisher, editor, layout artist and the author,” said Sinijärv.
According to Sinijärv, normally a writer earns a month’s wages for a book, ie between 500 and 600. He says that he does not remember a royalty that had been higher than 3,000 euros.
Lawyer to the rescue
Savisaar’s lawyer Oliver Nääs rushed to explain that the fee includes another five books in addition to “Truth about Estonia” that Savisaar has promised to write. Nääs said that the books will be published in three languages and in three countries.
Paavo Pettai who owns publishing house Midfield that published Savisaar’s book claims that “Truth about Estonia” has sold more than 5,000 copies. This means that the income for the book to the publisher may be around 30,000 euros.
The whole issue is suspicious also because, according to Savisaar’s lawyer, the 173,000 euro royalty to Savisaar was paid not by Midfield, but by Arsai Investments which is a family-owned fund that was reportedly controlled by Savisaar himself.
Arsai Investments has now been liquidated, but in the spring Savisaar said that the fund was set up in 1997 by his friend and hotel businessman Alexander Kofkin and others with the objective of assisting publishing of Savisaar’s books and promoting Centre Party’s ideology.
Savisaar’s former wife Vilja Savisaar-Toomast, an Europarliament member who recently joined the Reform Party, claims that she had no access to the family fund.
Savisaar challenges claims that loans were forgiven
Through his lawyers, Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar challenged reports that he had benefited from a large loan being "forgiven," saying the 173,000 euros was essentially repaid and no gift was made.
It was reported Friday that Liechtenstein businessman Peter Keiser would not be collecting on a 173,000 euro loan granted to Savisaar. The media suggested that Savisaar had in effect received a large gift. It was also reported that a second, separate loan was also forgiven.
Toomas Hõbemägi
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