Oleg Novikov: “The situation with the departure of foreign authors is unpleasant, but not critical”

In 2022, the Russian book market in monetary terms, taking into account digital books and educational literature, grew by 10% to 109 billion rubles, follows from the data of Eksmo-AST, the largest publishing group in Russia. In terms of the number of issued copies, the commercial market for paper books (excluding digital books and educational literature) showed a drop of 7%. This is a negative signal – the market grew only due to the increase in book prices, while their real consumption decreased, says Oleg Novikov, co-owner of the Eksmo-AST group of companies. Such market dynamics, according to him, is due to a number of factors, the key of which are the cessation of the release of book novelties by a number of popular foreign authors, the withdrawal of foreign digital book services from our market, a decrease in the population’s solvency, an increase in piracy, etc.

At the same time, the increase in the cost of books is a necessary measure, Novikov explains. Some of the materials – coated paper, paints, etc., used for printing books, were traditionally imported from Europe. But after the start of the SVO, they were included in the EU sanctions list, and their import into Russia was prohibited. Alternative suppliers, according to the co-owner of Eksmo-AST, were found, including in China. But the delivery of materials from there and settlements in yuan increased the cost of logistics, printing and, as a result, the cost of production. In an interview with Vedomosti, Novikov talked about what challenges await the Russian book industry in 2023, why the publishing group needs its own printing facilities and participation in film production, and what the Eksmo-AST development strategy will be based on in the near future.