The seal of Russianness - Newspaper Kommersant No. 47 (7492) dated 03/21/2023

The seal of Russianness - Newspaper Kommersant No. 47 (7492) dated 03/21/2023



Sales of literature in a foreign language in Russia in February decreased by 15-30% year-on-year in physical terms, market participants say. They attribute the fall to the departure of Penguin Random House, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, international book wholesaler Gardners, and a decline in the number of foreigners in Russia. Publishers and marketplaces are selling off inventory at a discount. They are convinced that the reduction in the supply of literature in a foreign language will not have a significant impact on the market, since this segment has always been in demand by a very narrow audience.

Kommersant's interlocutors in the book market, as well as a source close to one of the major distributors, talk about a sharp drop in sales of foreign language publications in the Russian Federation: in February, they decreased by 15-30% year-on-year.

After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, many foreign publishing houses announced the suspension of work on the Russian market (see Kommersant dated March 21, 2022). Among them were the world's largest publisher of books in English Penguin Random House, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and the international book wholesaler Gardners. Kommersant's sources said that the delivery of their literature was also stopped by Hachette UK, Ebury, Berrett Kohler, and the Michael O'Mara agency.

Now literature in a foreign language can be purchased at the bookstores Moskva, Young Guard, House of Foreign Books, Bookbridge, and the Chitay-Gorod-Bookvoed chain. They didn't answer "b". A representative of one of the book houses said that supplies had almost stopped, and the range of the segment had fallen by 40%: “Now it is mainly educational literature, and they are doing big discounts on it, because demand is low, except for bulk orders from schools.”

The volume of sales of the Russian book market, excluding educational literature, according to Eksmo-AST, increased by 10% in 2022 and reached 109 billion rubles. The number of published books and brochures in Russia at the end of 2022 decreased by 0.3%, to 108 thousand publications, according to the report of the Russian Book Chamber (see Kommersant on February 28).

Sources of "Kommersant" in the book market also note that many marketplaces are selling off inventory, offering discounts on literature in foreign languages ​​in the amount of 10-15%. Widberries told Kommersant that they have not yet observed a decrease in sales dynamics, rather the opposite: “Interest is growing due to the fact that residents of our country are actively learning foreign languages.” The most popular edition on the platform is a set of five Harry Potter books in English and in a gift box. Ozon added that in the nine months of 2022, unit sales of a book in German, for example, grew 8.6 times year-on-year, and 6 times in English. The companies did not provide more recent data.

“The sale of literature in foreign languages ​​in Russia is mainly carried out by bookselling companies, not by publishers, since such books are mostly imported,” explained Alexei Ilyin, general director of the Alpina publishing group. In his opinion, the decline in sales of literature in foreign languages ​​can be explained by the decrease in the number of foreigners who live in Russia. Eksmo-AST declined to comment.

Reducing the supply of literature in a foreign language will not have a significant impact on the Russian book market, Vladimir Kharitonov, head of the Association of Internet Publishers, believes: “It has always been a fairly niche segment. There are few people in Russia who are interested in publications in foreign languages.” He also stressed that the import of such books to Russia was accompanied by difficulties with logistics even before the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. According to Mr. Kharitonov, buying literature in foreign languages ​​"has always been more expensive than, for example, in Europe."

Julia Yurasova



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