Book publishing job openings up 16% in H1

The number of vacancies in the field of book publishing in the first half of the year increased by 16%, calculated in HeadHunter. The industry needs professional proofreaders, translators, editors, as well as marketing specialists, market participants specify, and there is still a shortage of personnel in the printing industry. The trend is connected both with the launch of new imprints and with the desire to optimize staff, experts believe.

Kommersant got acquainted with HeadHunter’s data on vacancies in book publishing: according to the results of the first half of the year, their number increased by 16%. Sales consultants, store directors, copywriters, packers and pickers were in the top 10 most demanded specialties. The publishing houses also talk about the lack of proofreaders, artists and translators.

The industry “strongly needs” editors who are able to independently manage publishing projects from an idea to a finished book, and there is still a demand for key specialists directly involved in the publishing process, Elizaveta Bovdui, HR manager of the Mann, Ivanov and Ferber publishing house (MIF), clarifies: “These are the chief editors who are responsible for filling the book portfolio, searching for projects and novelties and supervising the publishing process, art directors and designers who are responsible for the artwork.”

In Alpina, they talk about the lack of personnel in logistics, warehousing and IT, for example, technical support specialists, 1C consultants, Bitrix. “Traditionally, the most difficult thing is to find employees for vacancies in marketing, now they are SMM specialists, brand managers, product line managers,” adds Irina Antonova, marketing director of the publishing house.

“With our modest self-flagellation, we have brought the industry to the point where it seems that it is not prestigious for young people to work here,” Boris Kuznetsov, director of the Rosmen publishing house, said on August 23 (quote from RIA Novosti). “But in fact, all over the world in books work is prestigious and interesting.

Eksmo-AST and AdMarginem did not respond to requests from Kommersant.

The interlocutor of Kommersant in one of the publishing houses notes that the shortage of specialists remains in the printing industry. After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the Russian Book Union applied to the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a request to introduce a deferment from partial mobilization for representatives of this direction (see “Kommersant” dated October 5, 2022), at least depending on the qualifications of employees, in order to avoid the loss of the most valuable personnel, for example, line drivers, technologists, mechanics. But the measures were never approved.

Kommersant’s source in the market links the shortage of personnel with the fact that publishers are launching large projects or imprints (a division for publishing books in certain segments).

For example, AST launched the NoSugar Books imprint in April, Black and White in August, and Rosman opened the Oxygen imprint in November 2022, Kommersant’s interlocutor adds. In May, AST also introduced the division “MEDprof: books and atlases for doctors.” RBC wrote in August that Eksmo had acquired 51% of Popcorn Books in order to invest in the development of comics and African novels. New projects, the Kommersant source emphasizes, require employees “who are not enough on the market.”

At the same time, Alpina claims that it is more about updating, rather than expanding staff – you have to replace employees who left, for example, on maternity leave or to other positions.

Market participants specify that the level of specialists and their remuneration remains a problem. So, notes the former head of the Association of Internet Publishers Vladimir Kharitonov, the lack of proofreaders is primarily due to the low level of their earnings: “The issue is not so much the lack of professional training – after all, there are many philologists editorial expenses. The expert adds that book layout designers also lack professional training: most of them are still poorly versed in the basic tools for preparing layouts for the production of digital books.

Julia Yurasova