The time of bestsellers and fiction: the main trends of the book market are named

On Thursday, June 9, TASS hosted the All-Russian Book Rating press conference.

Evgeny Kapyev, head of the International Cooperation Committee of the Russian Book Union, Sergey Anuryev, general director of the LitRes group of companies, and Anna Karpova, Ozon business development director, spoke about changes in the book market, the choice of readers and future prospects.

The half-year of 2022 differs significantly from the same period last year in many respects.

According to Yevgeny Kapyev, books from the top 50 rating, which was formed on the basis of sales of the Chitay-Gorod and Bukvoed networks, the Ozon marketplace and LitRes sites, began to be bought 30% more often.

“We see that the industry has begun to use this rating, that readers have begun to use it, and most importantly, that the growth of reading has increased.

It is important for us that readers choose the best books,” said Kapyev.

Opting for Fiction

This year, readers predominantly prefer fiction.

There is less non-fiction in the ranking of the best-selling books.

According to Yevgeny Kapiev, this is due to the fact that many authors of non-fiction do not yet take into account the new priorities of readers in their work.

Anna Karpova noted that among non-fiction, the audience prefers psychology, while last year the choice fell on books on financial literacy.

For example, in the ranking of leaders for the past six months, one of the main positions has been occupied by the book “Tender to yourself.

A book about how to value and take care of yourself" by Olga Primachenko.

“If we talk about 2021, then there was more emphasis on financial literacy and books on financial planning, now we see books on psychology and about psychological ones, which is probably due to the situation in the world and the desire to support oneself,” summed up Anna Karpova .

The growth in demand for fiction was also noted by Sergey Anuryev.

On the platform of electronic and audio books "LitRes", 61% of all revenue for the first six months of 2022 was fiction.

At the same time, Anuryev believes that such fluctuations are not a trend, but a “response to events” that occur in the market and in the world.

“Fiction was a place of complacency and escape from reality,” he says.

Experts also spoke about the growth in popularity of romance novels by 70% - they returned to the ranking of the most purchased books. 

“This is a merit of the growth of the artistic direction as a whole, as well as of “samizdat” and publishing authors,” Anuryev explained.

Paper books vs. e-books

In 2022, paper books are in the greatest demand.

According to Yevgeny Kapiev, 84% of the top sales were provided by paper literature.

“An interesting fact: the share of paper books has increased in recent periods, especially after February.

We notice that sales of electronic and audio books have slowed down, ”said Kapyov.

Consumer interest in audiobooks has especially fallen.

Experts believe that this was influenced by the political situation, due to which the audience switched to the news.

“They (audiobooks. -

) were listened to in the morning and in the evening, but at the moment they read the news more in the morning and in the evening.

But, in general, it is extremely interesting.

It used to be different," he said.

Sergey Anuryev also noted a decrease in interest in audiobooks.

He believes that this format still "implies a certain even psychological state and attitude towards oneself."

Reading youth

This year, in the ranking of the most popular books, there is a lot of youth literature: comics, manga, Young adult novels.

In general, from the analysis of the past months, it became clear that books are mainly bought by young people aged 18 to 24 years.

“In the first half of this year, they (youth literature and comics. -

) took a fairly large place.

In the top 20, about 6-7 projects belong to these two segments,” Sergey Anuryev explained, noting that graphic elements are important for young readers when it comes to comics, so this literature rarely ranks among the top sellers in digital form.

In addition, experts focused on the growing popularity of Russian comic book authors.

In the latest ranking of 50 popular books, two domestic comic publications entered the top 5: Land of Kings.

Volume of Hearts” and “Land of Kings.

Tom of Clubs" by Fedor Nechitailo. 

“For the first time ever, a Russian comics author has a full two spots in the top 5, and it's a phenomenal story.

I'm happy for our comics industry.

Globally, comic book and manga rankings tend to be led by Japanese, Korean, and Chinese publishers.

Here in Russia, our comics artists show impressive results, ”said Yevgeny Kapiev.

At the same time, literature for children today does not attract buyers - there is not a single such book in the top 50.

Experts note that there are enough children's authors on the Russian book market, but they lack the resources to grow in popularity to compete with major global brands.

“I would like some kind of federal support, because all over the world very serious attention is paid to supporting national children's reading and national children's authors,” says Yevgeny Kapiev.

Foggy future

Experts call the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022 the richest time for bestsellers.

Books that climbed to the top of the rankings in sales accounted for 40% of the total market. 

Nevertheless, the speakers came to a common opinion that it is currently extremely difficult to predict the future of the book market.

“Now is a turning point.

A lot will depend on us, on the publishers, on the authors, on the readers.

The 2022 rating may differ significantly from the half-year rating, because the situation can either stabilize or go according to some kind of negative scenario, ”admitted Evgeny Kapyov.

However, experts hope that the reader's interest in books will not fade away, fiction will continue to be popular, and the political situation in the world will not interfere with the publication of Russian-language versions of foreign authors and the processes of interaction between online book platforms and consumers.

In addition, experts intend to continue to fight book piracy on the Internet, which has increased markedly over the past six months.

Yevgeny Kapiev noted that the distribution of free content could have an extremely negative impact on the book industry in the future.