The most anticipated books to be released in 2023 were named at a press conference organized by the Eksmo-AST publishing group.
One of the novelties will be "Cheburashka" - the official novelization of the film of the same name.
It was based on the script of the picture, written by Vitaly Shlyappo, Vasily Kutsenko, Anatoly Molchanov and Vyacheslav Zub.
According to the plot, Cheburashka ends up in a seaside town, where he meets an elderly gardener named Gena and other heroes of the work.
From the book version, children and adults will be able to learn more about the furry animal and its friends, as well as dive deeper into the adventures of Cheburashka.
The Young Adult literature collection will be replenished with two bestsellers.
For the first time, the novel "Rise of the Phoenixes" by Chinese writer Tianxia Guiyuan will be published in Russian.
Readers will be able to plunge into the atmosphere of Ancient China with palace intrigues, power struggles and all-consuming love.
The book was filmed as a drama that aired on Netflix and became popular among Russian viewers as well.
In addition, Naomi Novik's fantasy “Deadly Education.
The first lesson of Sholomanchi.
This book will open a series about the magical school of Sholomanch, in which there are no teachers, no holidays, no friendly classmates.
But there are scary monsters hiding in the dark corridors.
They are waiting for the moment to attack.
Not every student will be able to graduate from this school, just like getting out of there alive.
The author of the modern novels "Little Life" and "People among the Trees" Hanya Yanagihara has released another bestseller, which is also translated into Russian - "To Paradise".
This story is a reflection of the current era, and the fate of the main characters in it will intertwine through the centuries.
Among other things, the release of Sergei Lukyanenko's novel "The Jump" is expected - the final part of the "Agreement" cycle, which previously included the works "The Threshold" and "The Limit", as well as the book "The Keeper of Stories" by the writer Sally Page.
Other new releases include Helena Armas' romantic story The Spanish Love Deception and a new love book from Colleen Hoover.
Among the experts who spoke at the event held in Moscow were the president of Eksmo-AST Oleg Novikov, the representative of the Wildberries marketplace Alexei Kuzmenko, the owner of the literary platform for independent authors Litnet Boris Makarenkov, as well as Artyom Gabrelyanov from Bubble Comics and Mikhail Kitaev from Bubble Studios
Trends and prospects
The speakers also highlighted readers' genre preferences and spoke about the key changes in the book market.
In 2022, fiction and children's literature turned out to be more in demand among readers.
Non-fiction, which prevailed earlier, faded into the background.
According to Oleg Novikov, this trend may be due to external factors, in particular, the difficult situation in the world.
“There is a noticeable increase in the share of fiction.
Now there is a feeling that people want to break away from reality and immerse themselves in an interesting book, a fairy tale,” the expert explained.
The genre of science fiction has become the most popular.
Novikov connects such indicators, among other things, with the fact that the female half of the population began to be interested in the segment.
“We are used to the fact that science fiction is mostly male reading, and now a large number of women read science fiction, fantasy,” the president of Eksmo-AST explained in a conversation with RT.
At the same time, the reader is more inclined to domestic authors than to foreign ones.
Marketplace users, in turn, prefer children's and educational literature.
In third place in terms of sales are books on psychology and self-development, followed by fiction, including classics, said Alexey Kuzmenko.
Comic books have been a significant contributor to the growth in sales of fiction.
Their share of the entire Russian book market is 6.5%.
The highest reader activity in 2022 was shown by Russians in the age groups of 20-24 and 55-64, and the younger generation bought more books.
Experts characterize the past year as a difficult one for the book segment.
Due to the situation in the world, the cost of printed books has increased by about 25-30%, Oleg Novikov said.
This was influenced by an increase in prices for materials, as well as the search for new suppliers, an increase in the cost of logistics, and inflation.
“In monetary terms, the market grew by about 10%.
Unfortunately, this happened due to rising costs.
The main factor here was the price of raw materials and printing,” said Novikov.
At the same time, he stressed that in the first half of the year, the price increase amounted to approximately 15% - “including also for the assortment of 2020-2021, which was accumulated in warehouses.”
Thus, by the end of 2022, the cost of printed books on the market increased by about 20%.
Nevertheless, the interest of readers in paper literature did not fade away: the audience preferred to buy printed copies even despite the increase in prices.
And if, from a financial point of view, the book market grew by 10% due to paper literature, then the growth in e-books over the past year was close to zero.
At the same time, Novikov noted that among the popular printed literature there was a classic - consumers preferred to purchase a paper book, despite the fact that such literature is freely available on the Internet.
A significant part of the profit in 2022 was received by market representatives from online sales.
Marketplaces have become a particularly popular platform for buying books.
In total, online stores accounted for 46% of all sales.
Oleg Novikov noted that the law banning LGBT propaganda, sex change and pedophilia signed on December 5 had no effect on the book market.
According to Boris Makarenkov, market representatives, as well as the authors, only hope that in the future a little more specificity will appear in it.
The expert noted that clear criteria would help to better understand what definitely cannot be used in literary works.
The growth of the book market in 2023, according to Oleg Novikov, will be helped, first of all, by state support for authors, as well as the opportunity to buy books using the Pushkin Card.
In addition, the expert believes that it is important to add books to the anti-piracy memorandum and invest in opening retail bookstores in the regions.
Film adaptations of books by young authors can also help the market grow, since films or series based on a particular novel can draw the attention of the audience to the original source, Novikov explained.