As a published author I've had to deal with publishers for quite a while. And I have quite often heard them complain that their profits from putting out a book are much less than those generated by wholesalers and retailers. So, I was a little bit surprised when I came across a newspaper article earlier this month saying that the domestic book retail business is far from being highly profitable.

According to the story, book prices in the country increased by less than 20 percent last year, while the rent for store spaces jumped up by between 20 and 30 percent over the same period, hitting the profitability of the book retail business. Retailers say it would be no longer possible to raise book prices to cover for increasing operational costs as they are already quite high.

And that's true. Over the last few years, books have become quite expensive in Russia, with prices more than doubling and in some cases tripling, compared with those in the early 2000s. True, salaries have also increased over the same period, but so have prices for just about everything, and many people simply cannot afford buying books.

Currently, an average price for a novel by a contemporary Russian or foreign author is about the equivalent of $10. That's, of course, less than in Europe or in the United States, but, given the noticeably lower salaries here, it's still far from cheap. And, ironically, people most inclined to read and buy books are not those with the highest salaries.

Publishers say that it is okay and people should be prepared to spend more cash on books. I remember reading an interview with a chief editor at a publishing house a couple of years ago, in which she said that books here should cost about 20 euros, as people don't have a problem spending the same amount of money for dinner at a restaurant. That struck me, as most people dining at restaurants still don't buy that many books, while those who do normally don't spend much money on restaurants.

Anyways, the problem is not in prices. Something must be wrong with the book retail business itself. For example, what always surprises me is the existence of huge book stores at big shopping malls. Sure, the rent must be quite substantial, given the area of such stores, but any time I went there - normally on the weekend - they were nearly empty, while people around were shopping for clothes, appliances and all other kind of stuff.

Certainly, the problem lies deeper than just skyrocketing rent and too high prices. Books are an "entertainment product," and you can't sell it the way you sell, for example, yogurts or stereos. If you want a yogurt or a stereo, you'll go and buy one, by one brand or another, but if you don't find a book that you like, you can opt for a movie on DVD or some other kind of similar entertainment.

Selling an "entertainment product" is always tricky: too much depends upon people's individual tastes and perceptions. You can fool someone once into buying a "fashionable" book, but if they don't like it, they won't fall for the same trick again. The book retailers certainly cannot be blamed for a huge amount of poor-quality commercial trash that has inundated bookstores all over the country. But they accepted the situation as long as they could cash in on it. Now that they no longer feel comfortable they begin to complain.

Meanwhile, people get disappointed with the selection of book they are offered in the stores, as just about any successful title triggers the arrival of ten or more "clones," while really interesting stuff for reading is hard to find. 

By Vladimir Kozlov