Travel to Norway and one thing strikes you right away: The country is really small. At about 5 million, its population is the size of Alabama’s. It’s also the best country to live in if you’re a writer. That’s because if you publish a book in Norway, the government will buy 1,000 copies — 1,500 copies for children’s books — and distribute them to libraries throughout the country. The policy, known as “innkjøpsordningen” (“the purchasing scheme”) is a collaboration between the government and publishers’ and authors’ associations. It was implemented in 1965 to support the Norwegian literary language and promote reading by making a wide selection of books available to the public. This scheme also subsidizes writers as they build a career, because they make royalties on those 1,000 copies at a better royalty rate than the contractual standard. The books are also exempt from Norway’s value-added tax.
