Book business from scratch: revival and a new round of publishing. Own publishing business - media - as a business - archive of ideas - directory of ideas - idea

Piracy, the transition to electronic formats, rising prices for paper and paint - these are just three of the many problems that Russian publishing houses face. The crisis that began at the end of last year is once again testing the strength of the Russian publishing system. Because of the dollar, prices for printing services soared, and the amount of contracts with foreign authors increased. All this leads to an inevitable increase in the price of books on store shelves. However, some presented publishing houses believe that the crisis will go Russian market only for the benefit.

About how much the price of books will rise, and about the need state support The site was told by the heads of well-known Russian publishing houses: fiction is represented by "Eksmo" and "Gayatri / Livebook", and non-fiction and business - by "Alpina Publisher" and "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber". The situation with prices on the market was also commented on by Sergey Anuriev, General Director of the online e-book store LitRes.

About publishers

Eksmo is one of the largest publishing companies in Russia, founded in 1991. The publishing house cooperates with such writers as Alexandra Marinina, Daria Dontsova, Oleg Roy and others.

Gayatri/Livebook is a private book publishing house founded in 2004 by publisher and public figure Maria Aksenova and entrepreneur Grigory Kovalev. Publishes modern Russian and foreign fiction, informal popular science books and illustrated conceptual publications. Particular attention is paid to ironic, absurd and humorous literature.

"Alpina Publisher"- a large publishing house specializing in the production of business and professional literature, audio and electronic books, as well as video courses. It was founded in 1998 to produce financial literature. Among his major projects are "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey, as well as books by Gleb Arkhangelsky, Philip Kotler and other famous Russian and foreign authors.

"Mann, Ivanov and Ferber"- Moscow publishing house of business literature, which began its activity in 2005. Founders: Igor Mann, Mikhail Ivanov and Mikhail Ferber. The publishing house publishes books on marketing and management, time management, as well as literature on sports, psychology, cooking and creativity.

Is there a crisis

Sergey Rubis

"The crisis did not come to the Eksmo publishing house in full, nor to the market as a whole. Judging by the sales data for January and February, the situation is stable, compared with last year. We can even say that there is a slight positive trend.

Prices for paper and other printing materials rose by 15-20 percent in two months. And even on domestic grades of paper. It is difficult to say how long we will be able to contain such a price increase. The book industry is socially significant for society. Quotas are needed for domestic producers. Theoretically, this can compensate for the increase in prices for the purchase of imported materials. This year is the Year of Literature, so the state, in my opinion, should pay extra attention to our book industry."

Olga Lyabina

"At the moment, the work of the publishing house is more likely to be influenced by the state of expectation of the crisis, that is, now efforts are being made to create conditions for existence at the worst time. The main way is to reduce the costs of printing, storage, and conducting " general cleaning"budget, monitor the work of contractors as closely as possible, make adjustments to the publishing portfolio."

Alexey Ilyin

"I think that there is not a single company in Russia that is not affected in one way or another by the crisis. For the majority, the impact is negative, but for those who are export-oriented, it is rather positive. The publishing business, like many other businesses, has found itself in a situation where when the cost price has risen sharply, and it is impossible to raise prices comparable.For January-February 2015, offset paper Russian manufacturers rose in price by 40 percent. The fact is that paper and pulp are export goods. It turned out to be much more profitable for manufacturers to sell everything for export for dollars and euros. Imported paper and printing materials almost doubled in price. The services of printing houses have risen in price, deductions to foreign authors have also grown. At the same time, book sales haven't dropped yet, which is good news."

Maria Lapshina

“In our publishing house and in our work, there are three areas that have been affected by the crisis.

First, it is direct work with the media. Historically, the publishing house has not allocated funds to promote books. It is on a budget-free basis that we have built and are building work with the media. Every day we offer partners from the media environment unique high-quality content created based on the books published by the publishing house. Now, in the conditions of the crisis, we feel that the commercial service has become more picky and attentive to the editors of the media in this regard. Nevertheless, we manage to offer editors and journalists interesting materials that are gaining good amount views and visits. Now, by the way, every month we have about a thousand mentions of books in the media, the blogosphere and social networks. And this number is constantly growing.

The second area affected by the crisis is the fullness of the portfolio, especially in MIF.Childhood. As a rule, children's books in our publishing house are translated, which means that we pay royalties and royalties to authors in foreign currency. The same applies to the production of books that are printed abroad. Therefore, now we are turning a little towards Russian authors and contractors.

The third area affected by the crisis is the labor market. In our publishing house, marketers and PR people directly influence sales. And unlike many companies that fire marketers during a crisis, we hire them to fulfill the sales plan. But, if you look at the personnel market during the crisis, many people who have lost their jobs begin to actively look for them. They send resumes wherever possible, and not in a company where they really would like to work. This situation generates "personnel noise", when it becomes very difficult to find the right person for our team.

Regarding the freezing of projects. Because of the crisis, we do not stop projects. the only possible reason is described by the phrase "a good spoon for dinner." If we believe that the project will be more in demand by the holiday period, then we release it by the summer, and not by the fall, when everyone returns from the holidays."

About e-books

"The crisis in the e-book market is not as tangible as in the paper market. The point, of course, is also the price of an electronic copy. In search of more budget-friendly leisure opportunities, people turn to e-books as one of the most inexpensive options entertainment, gaining new knowledge and even advanced training (which is also very important in a crisis period).

The cost of e-books, on average, is half that of paper books. The price depends primarily on the policy of a particular publisher and is aimed at obtaining by the author and publisher an income comparable to the sale of a paper book. In the event that they do not receive any noticeable income, as a rule, they refuse to issue an electronic counterpart.

We and our publishing partners understand that the exchange rate of the ruble changed dramatically at the end of 2014, while household incomes remained at the same level. So far, due to the volatility of exchange rates and the weakening of the ruble, we do not plan to specifically raise prices for e-books. There will be an increase in prices at the level of previous years, that is, at the level of 10-20 percent per year, mainly due to the fact that new items are always sold a little more expensive than the author's previous books, series."

Sergey Anuryev

General Director of the online e-book store "LitRes"

Rising prices and falling demand

Sergey Rubis

Editorial Director fiction publishing house "Eksmo"

"We've raised prices by five percent. That's moderate. Aggressive increases in the price of books are also not planned. We understand that people should read books, so the book should be affordable."

Olga Lyabina

Executive director of the publishing house "Gayatri / Livebook"

“As the cost of books rises, we have to raise their prices. We adjust prices if costs rise. But at the same time, we also think about the final price, which should not be such that the reader cannot afford our book.

There are few frozen projects, but the publishing portfolio has to be corrected.

Reduction of runs is possible. But at the same time, the prime cost of the book grows, the reader will see the book at a price that can easily scare him away from buying it. Therefore, it is necessary to balance with circulations in order to guess the demand and not increase the price significantly. For us, e-books are still a segment that a publishing house cannot go to and exist in the current format. We won't be profitable with just e-books."

Alexey Ilyin

General Director of the publishing house "Alpina Publisher"

"The artist has recently been under the most severe blow. The share of non-fiction books in total sales is constantly growing and already significantly exceeds the share of the artist. A feature of the fiction market is the extremely high concentration of sales on several dozen titles of books by top authors. These books occupy the first places in the sales rankings, which gives the false impression that the genre of fiction is generally popular. Non-fiction and non-fiction books have more evenly distributed sales. Often, the topic is a more important buying argument than the author's fame.

Most Russian publishing houses have already raised prices by 10-25 percent. For the time being, we have decided to raise prices only for new releases and re-releases, for which our costs have risen sharply. As for our main portfolio, we have decided not to raise prices for the time being, realizing that our audience is becoming more and more price sensitive."

Maria Lapshina

Marketing director of the publishing house "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber"

"There is a slight increase in prices, but there is nothing supernatural here, like 200 percent for buckwheat. We have done very serious work to optimize costs. And here we are holding back the growth of costs."

State support of publishing houses

Sergey Rubis

Editorial Director of Fiction at Eksmo Publishing House

“I think it makes sense to consider changing the VAT rate. In France, for example, books have a zero VAT rate, while in other countries the rates are much lower than for other goods.

You can also make preferential rental rates for bookstores. We'll take care of everything else."

Olga Lyabina

Executive director of the publishing house "Gayatri / Livebook"

“Perhaps, state quotas or, for example, easing the tax burden will have a positive effect on publishing houses. But I don’t think that this step alone will radically change the situation, since in addition to publishing houses there is a long chain of participants in the book market: bookstores, bookselling companies, there are libraries and bibcollectors. And there are a lot of difficulties in each link of this chain. Bookstores are closing in Moscow and the regions, so I see it as extremely important to create favorable conditions for bookstores, for example, the use of a preferential rental rate for city premises. Bookstores often cannot be profitable at current rental rates, and people's access to books is shrinking. But in any case, one single measure will not change the situation significantly."

Alexey Ilyin

General Director of the publishing house "Alpina Publisher"

"I think that all publishers would be happy to reduce the tax burden. In many countries of the world, books are not subject to VAT, they have income tax benefits. This is understandable, since books are an important element in the development of culture and education in society. As for quotas for purchases and other non-market support measures, it will bring much more harm than good. This will benefit not the publishers of high-quality in-demand books, but those who have a resource in power."

New projects

Sergey Rubis

Editorial Director of Fiction at Eksmo Publishing House

"We approach the publication of new projects in a crisis more carefully and balanced. New projects are launched in a smaller volume, but we do not cancel plans to publish new interesting books. We will continue to invest in market development and in young authors.

Many well-known authors now began to write in a crisis. Crisis is a time of opportunity. The market is clearing. Everyone starts to take a closer look at what they are doing, so the output is reduced naturally. When the market environment is less competitive, it is easier to break through. Therefore, for new authors, the crisis is a golden time.

Jobs are shrinking. People have more free time. Why not try writing a book? This often happens in crises. Our industry is not financially attractive. The same screenwriters in movies are paid more than writers for books. And now there will be fewer films, so there is a chance to realize yourself in a different kind of creativity.

To date, the most popular are still entertaining genres of literature: detective stories, fantasy and sentimental literature. These are genres that are traditionally in demand all over the world."

Olga Lyabina

Executive director of the publishing house "Gayatri / Livebook"

"We continue to work with new projects. It becomes difficult to look at the projects of foreign authors due to fluctuations in the foreign exchange market. This is very sad, but we are forced to react by abandoning some projects that we would have agreed to in the previous situation."

Alexey Ilyin

General Director of the publishing house "Alpina Publisher"

"The work on launching new book projects continues. We are constantly monitoring demand, trying to publish what our audience is in demand. As a result, we are now releasing a few less professional business books and more books on applied psychology and books for parents."

Maria Lapshina

Marketing director of the publishing house "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber"

The approach to the selection of manuscripts has not changed, the approach to portfolio formation has changed. We are now moving away from positioning MIF as a business publishing house. Our entire portfolio of books is divided into seven areas: business, marketing, self-development, creativity, healthy lifestyle, MYTH.Childhood, horizons. We are now individually forming a portfolio of books in each of these areas.

As for the selection of manuscripts, our principles have not changed. We only select books with strong, high-quality content. At the same time, we always leave readers a choice: we publish books different points vision. For example, the books The China Study and Food and the Brain. They offer different concepts healthy lifestyle life and nutrition, but each of these concepts has a right to exist. Which one to follow is up to the reader to decide.

The Future of Publishing

Olga Lyabina

Executive director of the publishing house "Gayatri / Livebook"

"The crisis is not only a negative phenomenon. These processes are inevitable and, in general, help to crystallize business models, find new opportunities, be maximally tuned to survive and move on."

Alexey Ilyin

General Director of the publishing house "Alpina Publisher"

"The publishing market can be divided into the print media market and the book market. The media business has been hit very hard, and I expect a significant reduction in the number of print media. As for the book market, I think that this sector is more stable. A lot now depends on financial stability retail sales channels (bookshop networks, online stores, and so on) - this is where the main risk for the publishing market is hidden. It is very possible that individual publishers will leave the market, some will be taken over by larger publishers, but if there are no major bankruptcies in the book trade, then the situation on the market will be normal.

Maria Lapshina

Marketing director of the publishing house "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber"

"We need to look at the trends as a whole. The problem is that the publishing business is conservative. And one of the reasons for the current crisis is that it is difficult for it to adapt to new trends, conditions. We are trying to do this.

For example, there is a global trend - going into digital media. We picked it up, and for a year now, the sale of e-books has been implemented on our website. Moreover, this is the main distribution channel of the electronic format. We recently launched the "Give a book with a 10 percent discount" option, which also turned out to be in demand.

The second trend is the clip thinking of generation Y. Our portfolio of self-development books has changed a lot: if earlier the main focus was on productivity, time drive, goal setting, now there are more motivational books, books about purpose. For example, our sensational project "Important Years", whose circulation exceeded 20 thousand, with an average of two thousand.

The next trend is books on creativity. By the way, these are the projects together with the MIF projects. Childhood is completely protected from electronic format. So, if we take books on creativity and the trend of visual content in the Instagram format, then we have such books in which there is a minimum of text, but a maximum of illustrations. An example is the book Steal Like an Artist. Or creative diaries, where the book has many blank pages on which readers can write or draw whatever they want.

Therefore, the crisis hits those who cannot adapt to changes and trends. We're trying to do that."

The current situation in the book publishing business is rather alarming. The ubiquity of devices with which you can easily read books in various electronic formats, as well as the development of the Internet, have threatened the existence of publishing houses that print books.

It is worth noting that such a gloomy situation is developing in almost all countries. Previously, some experts attributed the decline in sales of book products to the crisis of 2008, however, even now the demand for some types of paper literature has not recovered. It is possible that an important role was played by the fact that over the course of two decades the book printing market has developed extremely chaotically, as a result of which a lot of unclaimed literature began to accumulate in store warehouses.

Despite unclear prospects, the publishing business is very popular among Russian entrepreneurs, which, in principle, is explained by the rather low cost of publishing a book, which fluctuates between 150-300 thousand rubles.

Sales problem

The problem of selling book products lies in the specificity of their consumption. A person, as a rule, reads more or less only depending on the availability of a quality product on the market. Thus, almost every book with a certain degree of probability can become a bestseller. In addition to the difficulty of determining the potential popularity of a book, an aspiring entrepreneur needs to consider that there is currently a significant decline in demand for fiction. However, the trends of progress have not captured such segments in the publishing sector as children's, professional and gift literature. Parents still try to buy paper books for their children, as they have an attractive, bright and positive design. Gift literature is initially focused on the informational component and beautiful design.

The authors

One of the hardest parts of organizing your own publishing house is finding authors. The difficulty, in particular, lies in the fact that established authors already work in large publishing houses that can offer them more profitable terms than start-up publishers. Another unpleasant moment is the low probability that an aspiring writer will be able to quickly gain popularity among readers, although, of course, there are successful examples. Meanwhile, it is almost impossible to calculate whether the author will be readable.

Staff

A start-up publishing house should not hire too large a staff. In principle, most of the work can be given to contractors, since in this case you will not have to bear the monthly costs of paying unused employees. However, the positions of editors and sales managers of people in any case will have to be hired. The fact is that the functioning of any publishing house is almost entirely based on the work of editors. Editor book publishing house must feel the potential reader of the book, he must also ensure that the contents of the book and its cover match.

Implementation

The full production cycle of the book takes about four months, but the publication of the book is only part of the work. It is much more difficult for a start-up publisher to sell a book, because most book distribution companies are interested in large volumes, as well as cooperation with established publishers. Therefore, the most optimal way out seems to be to promote the book. on their own, that is, to conclude agreements with retailers and agree on information support for the books of the publisher.

Risks and outlook

The main risk for any publishing house is the authors working with it. Among possible problems it is worth highlighting such as:

• Dependence of the publishing house on one author;
• The appearance of disagreements with the authors;
• The finiteness of the fruitful period of any author;
• Poaching of good authors by competitors.

The prospects of book publishing activity are very difficult to calculate. In fact, book sales directly depend on how much readers like it, and sometimes the author's fame is not a guarantee of successful product implementation. Also, an unpleasant moment is the lack of prospects for the sale of a ready-made business, since, in fact, in itself it does not represent a strong interest for the investor, unlike the authors on whom the work of the publishing house is tied.

Once our country was the most reading in the world. Education reform and mass occupation commercial activities led to the fact that at first people simply did not have enough time to read, then interest in literature faded by itself, and the publishing business ceased to be so popular from scratch. Indeed, life was so hectic not so long ago that a person barely had enough strength to eat a semi-finished product and fall into bed.

Today there is an opposite trend. For what reasons is unknown. But every year the number of people who are happy to buy and read books is growing. And real, paper, not newfangled electronic devices. It is this trend that enables passionate people to start today book business from scratch.

What you need to know if you want to open a bookstore

The bookstore has nothing to do with various outlets. It should be noted that books cannot be attributed to such essential items as food or clothing. Based on this, before starting a book business from scratch, you need to analyze all the pros and cons and develop a clear business policy.

Key points to consider when opening a store:

1. The most important condition- Store location. If it is possible right in a residential building, then you should try to choose a place for a bookstore. The place should be passable and be in plain sight so that not only regulars, but also casual buyers can enter there. Such places include train stations, airports, subways or places located in the city center. No need to buy or rent large areas. You can just pick up an interesting assortment of literature.

2. The second most important condition is the assortment. How to understand which books are worth selling, and which of the proposed literature will be in demand. To do this, it is important to thoroughly study the market, to understand what different segments of the population are interested in. It is best to adhere to the golden rule: to have on sale classics, detective stories, and numerous fantasy and mystic books so beloved by young people.

3. The issue of purchasing literature for some reason never arises. When the owner begins to search for and purchase the necessary books, he encounters difficulties in the form of rather high prices. It is most profitable to buy books for your store directly from publishers. Moreover, depending on the publisher, the cost can vary significantly. In addition, transport costs affect the cost, so it is also better to think over the issue of delivery in advance.

4. Various types of services and sale of related products will help to get additional profit and attract new customers. As a service, you can offer the acceptance of used books on a commission, as well as their subsequent sale with a minimum margin. Many small shops, in fact, with these incomes and exist. And long years. In addition, in the store you can put a copier, install a booklet maker. As for the sale of related products, it all depends on your imagination. You can sell anything: puzzles, calendars, board and educational games for children.

5. If you decide to take a more thorough approach to opening a store and plan to occupy a large space for it, you should think about holding themed parties, children's parties and presentations of books by various writers.

In principle, starting a book business from scratch is not so difficult. But in this case, it is necessary to have some start-up capital(for example, to purchase books or rent a room). The benefit of opening such a store is that with small margins, you get a stable flow of customers. I would also like to note that bookstores, once opened, rarely close!

How to start your own publishing house

For many, the concept of a publishing house is associated with a printing house, that is, a place where various newspapers, magazines and letterheads are printed. In fact, the printing house is one of the divisions of the publishing house. If earlier only wealthy people could afford to open a publishing house, today everything is much simpler. So, what is important to know in order to start a publishing business from scratch:

1. Since the publishing business primarily involves working with authors, you should look for new authors or venerable writers of interest. As for promoted authors, only the most profitable fees can interest them. Working with new authors, even not very well-known ones, is often fraught with the fact that it is impossible to plan the profit from sales.

2. What to look for when choosing an author? Of course, to reach the audience. The wider the potential circle of buyers, the higher the profit. That is why the shelves of shops today are full of a certain kind of literature, which is bought to be read once and put on the shelf.

3. Working with authors is not only about signing contracts. Very often, publishers acquire the rights to a particular work, which are then resold to larger publishers. In addition, works submitted to the publishing house must be proofread and edited. This will make it possible to filter out the weakest works of applicants. That is why it is immediately necessary to get a good editor on the staff.

4. Very often, among novice writers, there are really promising authors. You can keep them only by signing an exclusive contract. If the writer is very good, it is worth trying to conclude a contract for several works at once in the future.

5. Very often, people who organize a publishing business from scratch try to cover everything at once: think over the concept of a publishing house, rent a printing house, equip an office. In fact, at the beginning of the publishing business, you will not need your own printing house, this will only entail extra costs. The most important thing is to focus on attracting authors to cooperate.

In addition, I would like to note that you can publish not only books. It is quite possible and necessary to start a publishing business from scratch by publishing various magazines. This includes both popular science publications and a variety of entertainment magazines. You need to start your business in the field of publishing, having a fairly serious capital, which will allow you to rent at first required space and pay royalties to authors and staff.

In order for your investment to pay off handsomely, even before starting a book business, it is important to clearly define the concept that you will adhere to. For example, the main activity can be the release of children's literature or textbooks for the school, additional types - the release of popular science literature. Clear prioritization will help you avoid unnecessary costs.

Publishing is more than in demand, moreover, publishing is not only about books. Many companies, research institutes and just individuals need to write, prepress brochures, corporate printing products, such as magazines, newspapers, books, manuals and much more. Actually, there are three main areas of activity: book publishing, publishing specialized magazines and publishing newspapers.

An important advantage in the publishing business is complete transparency and low investment at the start. In addition, by choosing your niche and clearly formulating the concept, you can always take a worthy place and get a good income.

Of course, much depends on the literacy in building a business, on the professionalism of the team and on the chosen path of development. But a certain amount of creativity, a permanent agreement with a printing house or having your own printing house, will give green light to the future.

Organization of publishing business

So, to organize a publishing business, you need, first of all, qualified employees: literary editors, proofreaders, typesetters and designers, as well as a group of authors and journalists to work with customer materials, when we are talking about corporate products or about the wishes of private individuals. Another important component is an agreement with a proven, but inexpensive printing house that will promptly fulfill your orders. It should be borne in mind that the cost of an average book made on plain paper with a circulation of $10,000 will be only $1, while it will go on sale or to a client at a price two or even four times higher.

Usually it is most profitable to work in two directions at once. Fulfill orders from companies to prepare for printing corporate publications of any direction, when the client supplies a batch of disparate materials and his wishes, and the publishing house employees create the final product based on them.

Or to provide only pre-printing preparation, carrying out lithoprocessing of the already finished text, to complete the creation of the layout of the book (magazine) and submit it to the printing house for printing.

Along with such routine activities, it does not interfere with reconnaissance in the field of great literature and look for your own winning project. No matter how filled the book market is, there is always the possibility of finding an author who will bring fame and profit to the publishing house. True, it is difficult to predict the fate of the released project. And we must not forget that even the most brilliant book, which everyone has been waiting for a long time, will go unnoticed without advertising. The only thing to be scared promotional activities it’s not worth it, as a creative approach helps to achieve gorgeous results with a minimum of funds. And the profit in publishing is formed from the volume of regular circulation and sales.

The only negative is that it is almost impossible for the publishing business to find an investor, banks and investor unions are categorically not interested in such an unpredictable business. But private individuals will show favor and will not mind supporting a start-up project, since book publishing has always been considered a prestigious industry.

* Calculations use average data for Russia

This market analysis is based on information from independent industry and news sources, as well as official data from the Federal Service state statistics. The interpretation of indicators is also made taking into account the data available in open sources. The analytics includes representative areas and indicators that provide the most full review the market in question. The analysis is carried out for the Russian Federation as a whole, as well as for federal districts; Crimean federal district not included in some reviews due to lack of statistical data.

BASIC CONCEPTS

Publishing (publishing) is a branch of the economy that specializes in the preparation, creation, publication and mass distribution of information in print, music and other forms of production. Historically specialized in printed materials, but with the development of technology began to cover the publication and dissemination of information in in electronic format- on digital media, in information networks, etc.

In the classical sense, publishing activity includes the search for authors and manuscripts, preparing the manuscript for printing (editing, proofreading, design), printing and distribution.

Publisher - an organization acting as an intermediary between the author (owner of copyright in a work, text, etc.) and the end user. Publishing houses are classified into book, newspaper, magazine, music, online, etc.

When compiling analytics, the industry is usually divided into segments: books, magazines, newspapers, online publications.

OKVED CLASSIFIER

According to all-Russian classifier types of economic activity, publishing belongs to section OKVED 22.1 "Publishing", which has the following subsections:

22.11 "Publishing of books"

22.11.1 "Publishing of books, brochures, booklets and similar publications, including for the blind"

22.11.2 "Publishing of maps and atlases, including for the blind"

22.11.3 "Publishing of music, including for the blind"

22.12 "Publishing newspapers"

22.13 "Publishing of journals and periodicals"

22.14 "Publishing of sound recordings"

22.15 "Other types of publishing activities"

INDUSTRY SITUATION ANALYSIS

According to Roskomnadzor, at the beginning of 2016, more than 8,000 funds were registered in Russia mass media, of which 65% are printed media - newspapers (28%) and magazines (37%). Next come the online media - 11%, television - 10%, radio - 7%.

In general, the industry has seen constant growth in the number of players. Since 1990, all major media outlets have increased their numbers annually; the only drop in growth was for some types of media in 2004-2005.

Figure 1. Number of registered media outlets by main categories in Russia in 1990-2015, pcs.

Despite the steady growth in the number of media outlets in the newspapers and magazines categories, in general, the demand for their products has been declining in recent years. The situation worsened in 2015. Experts, first of all, attribute this to a decrease in the solvency of the population against the backdrop of rising prices for printed products - there was an increase in the price of paper, printing ink, printing plates and other materials. The population, spending more than 50% of their income on food, refuses non-essential goods, which, of course, include the printed press. At the same time, for the IV quarter of 2015, prices for it increased by 5%, and in January 2016 there was an increase of another 2% compared to December 2015. Some periodicals, however, saw a decline in retail prices. In particular, the decline occurred in such groups as daily and business press, youth and advertising publications, health publications, collection and business magazines. Such categories as magazines for mothers, needlework, cookery, popular science magazines have grown in price. For the second half of 2016, experts expect price growth to be contained due to falling demand – the growth will be about 1-2%.

Due to the rise in prices for print media, there is a logical shift in demand towards online media with free access. A decrease in market capacity is predicted both in monetary and physical terms (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. Forecast for the development of the print media industry in Russia for 2016, million rubles and billion copies

According to the Association of Printed Products Distributors (ARPP), in 2015 the volume of print media distributed at retail decreased by 15% in physical terms, and those distributed by subscription - by 16%. The print media advertising market fell by 29%, which led to a significant decrease in publishers' profits.

Ready-made ideas for your business

Legislative restrictions also affected the decline in the investment attractiveness of the publishing business in Russia. The first of these is a ban on advertising in the print media of certain types of goods, which significantly reduced the number of potential advertisers. It is estimated that the ban on advertising of tobacco and alcohol has reduced the income of publishers by 15-20%. The second is the federal law dated October 14, 2014 “On Amendments to the Law Russian Federation"On the Mass Media", which established the maximum volume of foreign capital shares in the Russian media business at 20%. As a result, many international publishing houses were forced to reduce business activity and close a number of successful publications.

The decrease in circulation was also affected by a decrease in the number of outlets. Sales of most publications through the branches of the Russian Post did not show any significant effect.

Figure 3. Dynamics of the print media distribution market in Russia, 2005-2018 (forecast), billion copies (according to ARPP, Russian Post, expert estimates)

The main trend of recent years in the print media is the creation of electronic versions of their publications. This allows you to create a symbiosis aimed at expanding the audience and attracting advertisers, the share of profit from which is on average 48%; 51% - income from the retail sale of publications, 1% - from subscriptions to electronic publications.

Some publishing houses completely abandon print and reorganize into online publications, which allows them to cut costs many times over. According to TNS Russia, annually up to 5% of the print media audience moves online; it is easier for online publications to draw attention to themselves by creating more modern and convenient websites, developing mobile applications etc.

Experts see great potential in electronic publications. In terms of the pace of development of innovative forms of online media, Russia lags far behind Western countries, where even the classic online version of the publication has 3-4 times more audience than its printed version. At the same time, in Europe, the printed press has VAT benefits and a number of other preferences.

The issue of public confidence in sources of information also plays an important role. According to Synovate Comcon data, it is Internet publications that enjoy the greatest confidence, then television and newspapers are approximately on the same level; radio is the least trusted by the population.

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However, there is also an opposite opinion. According to statistics, Internet users spend no more than 1% of their time reading news, forming a different audience than print media. In addition, the classic newspaper promotes "immersion" in information, forcing the reader to ignore external stimuli, which is very difficult to achieve on the Internet.

The volume of state support for print media in Russia is quite large, but funds are spent to cover the deficit working capital and other current needs, and not for business development, innovation, etc. In particular, in 2015 regional budgets allocated 36.2 billion rubles to support the print media.

At the same time, Russia today is the only developed country where there is no state support for subscription to newspapers and magazines. The share of subscription circulations in the total volume in 2015 was 33%. Such a low level, according to experts, is due to the fact that subscription prices exceed the barrier of psychological acceptability.

According to experts, the only way out of this situation for the print media can only be a complete reorganization of business processes, the formation of a loyal audience with characteristics that are understandable to advertisers.

Figure 4. Newspaper audience distribution by platform, 2015 (According to the Association of Audited Media)

The situation is somewhat better on the book publishing market, however, according to various sources, there is either a slight increase or a slight decrease in demand. In monetary terms, the market clearly grew due to the increase in book prices, which resulted in an increase in the cost of paper and printing materials. Thus, in 2015, books were sold for total amount 51.8 billion rubles, which is 2.1% more than in 2014. However, in physical terms, sales decreased by 10.3% (in 2014 - by 13.1%). The average price at the same time increased by 13.6%. The increase in prices is due not only to an increase in the cost of consumables, but also to an increase in the price of rights to translate and publish foreign literature. According to experts, in 2016 we should expect further price growth - by at least 10-20%.

Figure 5. Cumulative circulation of books and brochures in 2008-2015, million copies

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An important trend in the market of book products is the constant growth in the number of book reprints - in the period from 2008 to 2015, the number of reprints increased from 26.2% to 37.3%. The share of translated publications remains stable throughout the period under review, at the level of 10%. At the same time, the main share of translated literature falls on works of children's and fiction. Books and brochures translated from English are in the lead.

The total circulation of the main types of books from 2008 to 2015 has been steadily declining. At the same time, the number of published titles remains approximately at the same level. Today, the publishing system in Russia is characterized by the predominance of small publishing organizations that publish an average of one book (title) per year. These organizations account for about a third of the total number of publishers. Only 8.5% of publishing houses have a total circulation of more than 500,000 copies a year.

Figure 6. Dynamics of the release of certain types of books in 2008-2015, million copies

Figure 7. Ratio various kinds of literature in the total output of book products in 2015 (outer ring - in total circulation, inner ring - by the number of titles)

ANALYSIS OF THE DATA OF THE FEDERAL STATE STATISTICS SERVICE

Rosstat data, which the service receives by collecting official data from market participants, may not coincide with the data of analytical agencies, whose analytics are based on conducting surveys and collecting unofficial data.

Figure 8. Dynamics of the main financial indicators of the industry according to OKVED 22.1 in 2007-2015, thousand rubles

Figure 9. Dynamics of the main financial ratios of the industry according to OKVED 22.1 in 2007-2015, thousand rubles

As can be seen from the diagrams, the main financial indicators and the coefficients show a certain stability. Revenue is growing on the back of rising costs and retail prices for publishing products. At the same time, the profits of the industry are also growing. Gross profit margin and return on sales during the entire period under review remain practically at the same level. To some extent, the structure of loans in the liabilities of organizations is changing - the share of long-term loans is decreasing, the share of short-term loans is increasing. This may be due to the rise in the cost of bank loans in recent years.

Figure 10. Goods shipped own production in 2007-2015, thousand rubles

Figure 11. Shares of regions in total revenue in 2015

Expectedly, the Central Federal District has the main share in the total revenue, since the largest publishing houses and the headquarters of the federal mass media are located here. The share of other regions is provided primarily by regional media; to a much lesser extent - at the expense of book publishers.

CONCLUSION

Summing up, we can say that all segments of the publishing business today are affected by a number of negative factors such as rising prices for expendable materials, a decrease in demand for printed products and its shift towards online media publications and electronic versions of books. There is also an insufficient level of state support for the industry.

With regard to printed products, both books and periodicals, the forecast is unequivocally negative. With a slight increase in prices, the volume of consumption will decrease significantly. Growth can be expected only in the segment of online publications.

Denis Miroshnichenko
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