Editor’s note: News of the pandemic in Ukraine is difficult.A report from the English data platform Ukraine 112 1,616 new infections recorded at 24 hours (August 18), and in its last update at 10:27 am ET (14 : 27 GMT) of emissions from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.96,653 cases out of a population of 42 million. The death toll is 2,152.— Porter Anderson
By Eugene Gerden
Alexander Afonin, president of the Association of Publishers and Booksellers of Ukraine, told Publishing Perspectives that the crisis in the industry is shown through official market statistics during the first part of the year, showing that the number of e-book titles published in Ukraine is between January and June to 55 consistent with the penny at the same rate consistent with last year , in 4,608 units.
Afonin said: “This year, the industry has faced near-total collapse.So far, the e-book industry has not received monetary, but promised, support from the state.
“This would basically consist of forty-five million hryvni ($1.6 million) to finance the acquisition of library books, and 150 million hryvni ($5.4 million) directly for industry and giant corporations.
“The scenario is also complicated,” says Afonin, “because of the difficulty that national publishers have in finding reasonable loans.The e-book publishing and selling business in Ukraine attracts investors.This means that the current scenario is very difficult, even disastrous.”»
Recovering the innermost stages of efforts to mitigate the virus, he says, remains incredibly slow.
“The local e-book industry has even reached 40% of its pre-quarantine level,” says Afonin.
“For this reason, we expect Ukraine’s e-book publishing business to want at least a year and a part or two for the kind of effects we’ve noticed in 2019.”
Similar come from representatives of the Ukrainian press.
Olga Pogynaiko, director of market and sales in the smoloskyp publishing space, known for publishing dissenting literature and human rights in the Soviet era, told Publishing Perspectives that her company felt the negative effects of the pandemic on her own business and on the market in general.
“We’ve noticed a drop in sales of our books,” he says, “65% less, both in sets and in revenue.
“Our bookstore was closed for two and a half months.It is now open, but the number of consumers is still small.
“We are fortunate to have our own online bookstore, which allowed us to sell our books sooner and deliver them with the postal service. The Internet bookstore showed an increase in sales in March, April and May. And now it is stable.”
Pogynaiko says she and other Ukrainian publishers do not expect to see a market recovery this year.E-book trading, like the national economy, has been declining for a long time.
One of the reasons for this perspective is that many players in the e-book sales industry expect additional closures amid the continued volatility in COVID-19’s workload.
However, publishers, Pogynaiko says, still expect the Kiev government to obtain approval for the national e-book publishing sector before the end of the year.The budget is expected to be channeled through the Ukrainian Book Institute, a public establishment under the Ministry of Ukraine.Culture.
However, there are concerns that the procedures for distributing this remain transparent and that investment for the industry is likely to be prey to corruption, even if allocations are made.
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Tags: bookstore, coronavirus, COVID-19, retail trade, statistics, Ukraine, Ukraine Book Institute