Circulation of books and brochures published in Russia fell by 23% in January-March

The circulation of books and brochures published in the Russian Federation in January-March fell by 23%, to 69 million copies, the Russian Book Chamber calculated. Experts and market participants cite a rise in the cost of consumables and a decrease in the number of licenses of foreign authors, which publishers cannot renew from 2022, among the reasons. The industry is talking about the need to fight piracy and support through state programs, including the development of Russian bookstore chains abroad.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the data of the Russian Book Chamber (RKP) on the release of books and brochures, which were presented on June 2 at the industry meeting “The Book Industry in Russia: Time for Consolidation”. It follows from them that the total circulation of books and brochures in the Russian Federation in the first quarter amounted to 69 million copies, which is 23% less than in the first quarter of 2022 (90 million copies). The number of items for the period also decreased by 13%, to 26 thousand units.

The total circulation of bound books and pamphlets fell by 31% to 23 million copies, the number of titles fell by 12% to 9.5 thousand. Reissues also suffered: their circulation decreased by 28% to 19 million copies. The number of titles in the segment decreased by almost 23%, to slightly less than 3.4 thousand units.

The market leader in terms of titles, according to the RCP, was the AST publishing group (2.4 thousand publications), followed by Eksmo (2.3 thousand) and Enlightenment (1.9 thousand). In terms of circulation, the order is reversed: Enlightenment (19 million copies), Eksmo (10 million) and AST (8.3 million). The most published author in the first quarter was Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov), whose book is published by the Free Wanderer publishing house (50,000 copies). In second place – “Armored steamers” by Alexei Ivanov “RIPOL Classic”. The top five is closed by AST books of 40 thousand copies each: “Arc de Triomphe” by Erich Maria Remarque, “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen and “Secret Garden” by Francis Burnett.

Circulations of books have been falling for several years, notes Galina Perova, head of the Department of Press Statistics and International Numbering of the RCP RSL Complex. Output, she says, is driven by demand and publisher capacity, “both seem to be down.”

The trend is confirmed by comic book publishers. For example, in the first five months of this year, the Comic Book Factory project saw a decrease in orders from bookstores, as a result, they began to ship less, said publisher Fedor Yeremeev. “This affected our plans to print new books, slightly reduced circulation and reduced the number of reprints,” he said.

After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, a number of foreign authors (among the most famous, for example, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling) suspended work with Russian publishers (see Kommersant of March 21, 2022). There was also an acute shortage of personnel in the book printing sector, serious problems with coated paper, consumables, equipment and spare parts for it due to sanctions (see Kommersant of March 11 and October 5, 2022). The situation was exacerbated by outdated equipment and lack of investment. However, at the end of 2022, the drop was not as dramatic as in January-March 2023: the number of published books and brochures decreased only by 0.3%, to 108 thousand, with a total circulation of 392 million copies (see Kommersant from 28 February).

Publishers could not fail to respond to the reduction in demand, the forced reduction of the portfolio and the problems of printing houses, explains the former head of the Association of Internet Publishers Vladimir Kharitonov. According to him, the production of bound books is more expensive than the publication of books in the cover, in addition, the former are more difficult to produce and require more consumables, which have increased in price. Also, the expert adds, the reduction of the portfolio of reissues was affected by the termination of foreign licenses. The circulation situation will worsen until publishers find new ways to combat piracy, says a Kommersant source in the industry. “Now more and more people are turning to either free digital copies on the Internet or illegal publications on marketplaces,” he notes.

The main problems hindering the development of the industry are the reduction in the number of bookstores, the lack of measures to support them, piracy, said Evgeny Kapyev, general director of Eksmo-AST. Among the measures that could change the situation, he notes the need for a state project to launch a network of Russian bookstores abroad, as well as the creation of a “unified program for children’s reading.”

Julia Yurasova