“The growth is not spectacular, it is not the long-awaited sign of ’emergence from the crisis,’ but it is a welcome indicator that the book market has stabilized,” says Lidia Bodea, general manager of publisher Humanitas.
“If we look at the figures objectively, we can see the growth is owed to close title selection, diversified sale channels, matched by specific marketing and promotion measures.” Bodea says Humanitas’ performance does not necessarily extend to the entire market.
Last year, Humanitas had a turnover of EUR3 million and EUR73,000 in net profit, according to data from the Finance Ministry. In the first six months of 2011, the publisher increased its turnover by 6%, to EUR1.25 million.
Humanitas’ growth is a positive signal, writes Business Magazin.
With insolvency coming a-knocking, most publishers have reduced their range and circulation, distributed their books through stores that provide shelf promotion and have laid off part of their staff. Despite this, the market has shrunk. Including newsstand editions (books sold together with newspapers and magazines), the market is worth an estimated EUR112 million in 2010, down about 15% compared to 2009, according to a report by bookstore network Diverta. Without the newsstand editions, Romania’s book market was worth EUR60 million last year.
The crisis sifted the market, leaving stronger publishers or those that used many special projects, anticipating and accepting the market’s trends. The year 2010 was overall profitable for Romanian publishers, according to the financial reports of the main groups in the business, posted on the Finance Ministry’s website.
The reports showed a predictable and balanced situation in the case of large old publishers, like Polirom or Humanitas, but also incongruity between a large turnover and low profit – publisher Litera – or between large turnover and losses – Corint.
On the other hand, smaller publishers, like Art and Paralela 45, managed to come out ahead by profit last year. Dan Vidrascu, general manager of Litera, told MEDIAFAX that the group’s large turnover owed to the various projects it implemented in 2010 in cooperation with newspapers and magazines. He also said that, in the case of Litera International, the share of newsstand projects in turnover is 65%. Polirom SA, which owns publishers Polirom and Cartea Romaneasca, posted net sales of EUR4.2 million and net profit of EUR215,000 last year.
Silviu Lupescu, general manager of Polirom, told MEDIAFAX that the publisher’s target in 2010 was not profit, but maintaining good market share despite the crisis: “We did not cut back on staff or funds for new copyright purchases,” he said, adding “the turnover resulted exclusively from the sales through bookshops.”
“We had no service or co-publishing contracts with any national daily, nor newsstand editions. Book sales in cooperation with [local paper] Ziarul de Iasi had an insignificant share in our turnover [below 1%],” said Lupescu.
Trying to prevent the decline of their own business, the heads of Humanitas used promotional offers in addition to a reorganization strategy: in 2011, special offers have already brought EUR200,000 in revenue.
Humanitas, the publisher, has the highest contribution in the turnover of the Humanitas group, which also includes Humanitas Fiction, distributor Librariile Humanitas, Humanitas Multimedia and Humanitas Digital. The group circulates its products through hundreds of clients (Diverta and Carturesti being the most important), in addition to its own bookshop network.
Author Gabriel Liiceanu owns 88% of the group’s stock; about 4% is owned by Mihaela Maria Korne and smaller shares are owned by Librariile Humanitas and individuals.
The strategy used by the shareholders and management was to combine new titles with established names, to ensure consistent sales: “We brought a balanced range, including new books (about 70) and new editions (about 200), plus books from established authors (Andrei Plesu, Mircea Cartarescu, Ioana Parvulescu, Gabriel Liiceanu, Neagu Djuvara). These books became instant best-sellers,” Lidia Bodea explains. The total circulation of books published by Humanitas in the first half of the year exceeds 300,000.
Lidia Bodea expects the total circulation to surpass 600,000 by the end of the year, given that the Gaudeamus book fair is coming up, as well as November, one of the best months of the year for bookstores.
Romania is still in last place in the European Union by book consumption, as Romanian spend on average EUR4-5 per year on books, while beer consumption is among the 10 highest in the world.
There is no official data on the size of the book market, but its actors estimate it is worth EUR80-100 million.
(English version by Radu Bostan)