Once upon a time, there was a Book Festival that needed money

Director Nick Barley has personally written to thousands of people on the event’s database urging them to stump up a donation. They are being asked to pay up to £100 a time to help meet the costs of bringing authors to the festival’s home in Charlotte Square.

The Appeal of Books campaign, which has been launched on the festival’s Facebook and Twitter pages, is over and above its established “festival friends” scheme. The latter initiative, which costs £60 for a single membership or £100 for a pair, guarantees early booking when tickets go on sale.

However, the new appeal, which the festival has refused to reveal a target figure for, is simply seeking cash donations.

Mr Barley said around £800,000 had to be raised every year by his staff to ensure a “first-class festival”.

It emerged in November that the festival had suffered a 10,000 drop in attendances during last year’s event, which was dogged by bad weather, while ticket sales slumped by almost 3 per cent.

The book festival, which was first held in 1983 and has been an annual fixture since 1997, is also believed to have suffered from the temporary closure of the Assembly Rooms venue, on nearby George Street last year, as fewer festival goers were in the area. However, its lengthy revamp is due to be completed in time for this year’s event.

However, Mr Barley insisted the launching of the appeal was not a direct consequence of the drop in attendees, revealing that he had taken steps to cut costs when it became clear that numbers were going to be down.

He said the festival was using a “basket” of fund-raising ventures to ensure that the festival “remained at the top” and could continue to afford to innovate. The letter to the book festival’s supporters states: “Please help us to bring as many authors and events to the book festival this August by making a donation to The Appeal of Books.

“We know our audiences take immense pride in the book festival and the contribution it makes to life in Edinburgh and Scotland.

“No donation is too small or too large: the combined generosity of our supporters makes a significant difference to our work, not only for this year but for the future stability of the festival for generations to come.”

It goes on: “£10 could help fund a sign language interpreter to make the festival accessible to all. £20 could help us fund the free drop-in activities for children and young people. £100 could help us bring international authors from all around the world to debate and discuss in the heart of Charlotte Square.”

The book festival’s annual report reveals that box office sales make up around a third of the festival’s income, which comes to around £2 million.

It emerged last week that the Edinburgh International Festival was turning over £10m for the first time, but its public subsidy is thought to be more than £6m.

Mr Barley said he was “very proud” that the book festival’s public funding – of around £300,000 – was less than 20 per cent of its overall income.

He added: “We do rely heavily on the money we can raise through sponsorship and our supporters, which is our biggest source of income. We’re not publicising any appeal target or giving any details of how many supporters we have contacted, but this is just another element to the basket of fundraising that we do. This is all about ensuring the festival remains a world-leading literary event and that our programme of events is as innovative as possible.”

It emerged earlier this month that this year’s festival would feature a global writers’ conference, aimed at replicating an influential gathering in Edinburgh in 1962. The full book festival line-up will be unveiled in June.