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On Rights and Book-Scouting
Translations account for about 12% of all titles published in Russia in 2010. Here, as in other corners of the world, American and British blockbusters are translated and almost guaranteed top slots on the bestseller list. Names like J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Agatha Christie, Nora Roberts, Stephenie Meyer, and John Grisham are no strangers in Russia.
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Bricks-and-Mortar Still Rules
Nearly 40% of Russia's book sales in 2009 came from independent bookstores. Bookshop chains contributed around 20%, and only 8% were transacted online. The dependence on bricks-and-mortar outlets remains unassailable even though bookstores outside of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and some other major cities (such as Ekaterinburg and Novosibirsk) are poorly stocked.
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Braving the Digital Path
Given that nearly 90% of Russian households are expected to have Internet access by 2012, it is easy to see why e-books, online retailers, and electronic libraries are getting so much attention (and investment interest) in recent years. Russian publishers, fueled by the success of their U.S. counterparts, are busy converting e-books and working with service providers to put the titles online. But this being a new sector in the Russian book market, challenges abound. Here, a few dominant players talk to PW about the general e-book industry, their successes, and the challenges ahead.
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A Young (and Very Ambitious) Group of Publishers
The current crop of Russian publishers is collectively on the young side, many of them born shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Then, teething problems were many and the growth path rocky at times. But today these publishers produce nearly 120,000 new titles per year, placing Russia firmly in the #4 slot in global ranking (after China, U.S., and U.K.) in terms of output.
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The Dynamic Russian Book Market
Talk about transformation. In a span of 20 years, the Russian book market has made a 180-degree shift, from state-owned publishing and distribution to privately held (except for a few exceptions) and increasingly client driven. Every component of its book market was created overnight, after state-owned publishing and the infrastructure supporting distribution and retailing collapsed.
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Japanese Publishers, Booksellers, Move Forward After Quake
Despite the grim news reports coming out of Japan, the country's publishing industry seems to have weathered the earthquake and tsunami with a relatively moderate amount of damage. However, some printers located in the affected areas are still recovering and have not resumed production, and at least three independent bookstores were destroyed.
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Canadian Book Sales Down
Canadian book sales were down significantly in the vital fall and Christmas season of 2010, according to BookNet Canada’s fourth quarter report. The market was down 5.6% in the number of books sold and 6.2% in dollar value. BookNet CEO Noah Genner attributed the drop to both e-book sales and economic conditions, but in his estimation e-book sales were a larger factor than the economy.
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Selling Abroad: Debuts Top European Lists
Most noteworthy among February’s international bestseller lists was the prevalence of new fiction titles in Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain.
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More International Bestsellers: Week of 3/21/2011
In the U.K., British thriller/crime writer Simon Kernick’s The Payback debuted at #1. John Grisham’s The Confession returned to the list after a hiatus, coming in at #2, and chick lit author Jill Mansell’s To the Moon and Back debuted at #3. As for British nonfiction, cookbooks made a strong showing, with books by Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, and model Lorraine Pascal appearing on the list, along with an unauthored tome, Grandma’s Best Recipes.
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Children's Publishing in Asia
In most parts of Asia, wizardry and fantastical plots have lost much of their magic after dominating the bestseller list for so long. The subsequent vampire and werewolf fever is, by comparison, not as rabidly welcomed in certain territories. As for that wimpy kid, well, his popularity suffers somewhat as Asian kids have different school life and growing-up problems. Still, these imported blockbusters have spurred local writers to produce longer fiction for children and helped boost a hitherto weak YA market.
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Former Fenn Clients Find New Distribution in Canada
As the dust settles from the bankruptcy announcement by Canadian distributor H.B. Fenn, its client publishers, including Hachette Book Group USA and Whitecap Books, are finding alternate companies to represent them.
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Inspectors from the European Commission Investigate European Publishers
This story originally appeared in the French publishing trade magazineLivres Hebdo.
The European commission agency Directorate General for Competition launched an investigation yesterday into several publishing companies, including all the major French publishers, suspected of possibly colluding on the price of digital books, reports the French publishing magazine Livres Hebdo. -
Nordic Crime Dominates International Bestellers: Week of 2/28/2011
If January is any indication, 2011 is going to be another big year for Nordic crime all over the world. While Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy continues its run on many international lists, those books aren't alone. In the U.K., Norwegian Jo Nesbø tops the list with the eighth installment of his Harry Hole series, The Leopard.
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One Book, One Day, 10 Countries
This spring, bestselling author Jean Auel will publish The Land of Painted Caves, the sixth and final installment in the Earth's Children series, which began with the 1980 classic The Clan of the Cave Bear. Some 30 years later, with more than 45 million copies in print in 30 languages, Auel is one of the most successful international authors in history.
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Books, E-books, And Americans In Paris
Organized as part of a cultural cooperation agreement between the French Ministry of Culture and the French-American Foundation of New York, a group of six American publishing professionals spent a week in Paris, January 23–28, meeting their French counterparts at publishing houses, the publishers association, libraries, and bookstores, with an emphasis on observing the state of digital publishing in France.
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The Fenn Fallout
With Grant Thornton, the financial company managing the affairs of Canada's bankrupt distributor H.B. Fenn, saying more details about the alternatives it is exploring on the Fenn bankruptcy are still a week or so away, some industry members are questioning whether distribution is still a viable business in Canada.
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Canada Book Count Finds Encouraging Response
According to Canada's first-ever National Book Count, 2.7 million books were purchased from stores and online retailers or borrowed from libraries from January 10 to 16.
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Pope Lights Up Lists
Pope Benedict XVI's Light of the World, coauthored with German journalist Peter Seewald, was a popular book in December. The work has been translated into 18 languages and landed on bestseller lists in Germany (#6), France (#8), and Italy (#15). Ignatius Press published the book in the U.S. last November after hearing about it at Frankfurt last October.
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International Bestsellers: New Fiction in France, Germany, Spain
ix of the top 10 titles on France's fiction list were new. Prix Goncourt winner Mathias Énard landed at #2 with Tell Them About Battles, Kings and Elephants. (Open Letter just released Énard's Zone here; PW gave it a starred review.)
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