DOES THE RISE OF THE INTERNET MEAN THE DECLINE OF PRINT BOOKS?

Abstract

Recent changes in the book publishing market are partly contrary to some earlier forecasts. New trends that no one could have predicted are emerging instead of those that seemed highly sustainable not long ago. The present paper aims to unveil deep shifts in the structure of book publishing and sales, new patterns of consumer preferences with special attention to the Russian book market specifics. We analyzed both secondary data obtained from open sources, government documents and officially published reports, and primary data collected through interviews and survey, to have a more comprehensive picture. The results confirm that the development of the Russian book publishing market is consistent with the global trends, though with its own peculiarities significant for publishing companies and their production plans. Thus, while electronic and hardcopy books cost approximately the same in the developed countries, in Russia e-books are 30-40% cheaper. Another specific feature is that foreign authors occupy the majority of popularity ratings. At the same time, the current "fight for customers" between e-book and paper book production is more of a long-term phenomenon, and we should not expect a dramatic shift in book type preferences for consumers in the nearest future..