Ukrainian publishers search for opportunities in libraries
Source:www.dsnews.ua
From:Taiwan Trade Center, Kyiv
Update Time:2019/01/30
The development of the market is not limited to the growth of the Ukrainian products produced by individual market participants. This trend has been observed since the end of 2014, when Ukrainians began mass boycotting Russian books, and enterprising publishers found the opportunity to use patriotic charge. But the qualitative change in the market, in particular, the differentiation of publishing strategies, a relatively new trend. So, with the exception of the companies "Vidavnitstvo starogo Leva" (VSL), "Club simeynogo dozvilla" (KSD) and "Our Format", which deal with several overlapping directions, the others chose combinations of several narrow niches like the classics of science fiction of the XX century or translations of Latin American bestsellers.
The blocking of the import of books from the Russian Federation led to the structuring of the market and an increase in the number of new products. Recall that from January 1, 2017, amendments to the laws on restricting access to the Ukrainian market of foreign printed products of anti-Ukrainian content came into effect. Despite the fact that the government approved in April the procedure for issuing (refusing extradition, revocation) permission to import books from the aggressor country, the commission, which should deal with licensing, did not work. As a result, Russian imports stood tight, but for Ukrainian publishers entire niches were stripped - from non-fiction and ending with the classics of fiction. Since it is unclear how long the blocking of Russian supplies will last (on the one hand, the abrogation of the law is active, but so far unsuccessfully lobbying for the "Opposition block", and on the other hand it can earn licensing), publishers' aspiration to occupy a niche as soon as possible, consolidate it and not It's natural to let competitors in there.
However, it seems that the market participants took too zealously to share the liberated territory. Severe internal competition, when several publishers are traded for a license with the rightholder, led to a noticeable increase in the price of rights. "If earlier the cost of copyrights to the best-selling books of the average hand fluctuated at the level of $ 500-700, now it is already $ 1-1.5 thousand and more," says Igor Stepurin, the publisher. On the other hand, so many are bought up that against the background of the growth of retail prices and high competition with the innovations of colleagues, individual players may face "overstocking" rights - when the acquired rights can not be realized (licenses are issued for a period of time, often only one year), since they just will not pay off. According to Igor Stepurin, almost all publishers have raised prices by 10-15% since the beginning of the year.
Simply put, the development of the printed industry did not entail the development of retail chains, not to mention independent book networks in the regions. Stores not only do not get bigger - their number melts. Some of them did not cope with the loss of customers due to the reduction, and then the complete stoppage of Russian imports. Others could not stand or hardly withstand the pressure of rental rates - the prices for areas with good traffic started to go up again. Domestic stores do not save from the closure even the location in the center of the capital and the arrival of stars like Garry Kasparov. "The queue for his autograph in the store on Khreshchatyk stood even on the street, but the playground was closed after all," recalls Igor Stepurin.
Source:http://www.dsnews.ua