Notes Towards a Complete Taxonomy of Murkiness: Publishing in Russia

Abstract

An overview of publishing in Russia based on interviews conducted since 2010 with multiple professionals inside the industry, including Oleg Novikov, CEO of Eksmo, the largest publisher in the country; Julia Goumen, prominent agent; Vladimir Kharitonov, expert on digital; and Boris Akunin, multi-million selling author. Global issues are discussed in a country-specific context, ranging from piracy, to Russia’s endemic problems with distribution, the challenges posed by digital, the lack of foreign investment and the many murky and gray areas that bedevil doing business in the country, particularly when it comes to book pricing and reporting sales. Also discussed is the idea that due to the habitual state of crisis since 1991, Russia has in some ways acted as an outlier for crises now affecting developed Western markets. Finally the decline of reading is also addressed—long a source of anxiety in post-Soviet Russia, and now a statistical reality.