THE ROLE OF PERSO-NALITIES ACTING AS HEADS OF PUBLISHING HOUSES ON MODERN BOOK PUBLISHING IN LITHUANIA

Abstract

The aim of the article is to investigate the impact of a personality heading a publishing house or a publishing business. The article has shown that almost all Lithuanian publishers are for-profit, small and micro-enterprises, where most of the different processes include a small number of people and the head of a publishing house comes into direct contact with all the publishing processes. The smaller the publishing house is, the more important the role of the head of a publishing house and his/her personality becomes. The analysis of a publisher’s personality was conducted on the basis of the adapted Big Five model, with the conclusion that a publisher’s personality is comparable to the personality characteristics of any entrepreneur. The personality-related analysis of Lithua­nian publishers revealed that those Lithuanian publishers who founded a publishing house are often high-brow, artistic, romantic, ideological personalities who regard publishing more as a cultural mis­sion than a commercial business. The empirical study (interviews conducted with several heads of Lithuanian publishing houses) has disclosed that the role of the head of a publishing house is also affected by such factors as literature genres and scope of publishing activities. It has been found out that the most important and influential personality in a publishing house is usually related to a thorough knowledge of the literature the respective publishing house is specializing in. The perso­nalities of the Lithuanian publishers are not distinctly different from those of foreign publishers: all of them can be characterized as comprehensive and well-rounded personalities, having the ability to find and exploit new opportunities, motivated by the pursuit of lifelong learning, interested in team- work, displaying patience and creativity. The study also identified the following personality traits (which are otherwise not mentioned in literature) – instincts, intuition, the ability to value a book, knowledge of the publishing repertoire and devotion to it as well as cultu­ral choice motives for the publishing industry. In conclusion, the Lithuanian publishers as personalities exert an extremely significant influence on contemporary image-making in Lithuania, which makes the situation in Lithuania different from the respective publishing landscape in foreign countries. Thus, the following conclusion can be drawn: a mere talent of a promising entrepreneur does not necessarily ensure a success in the publishing indu­stry. To a large extent, success depends on a publisher’s comprehensive, well-educated and culturally sophisticated personality.