For the first time, more than half – 52% – of sales of the most popular digital books were provided by samizdat. This follows from the data of the Litres study, which analyzed the top 1000 bestsellers of electronic and audiobooks sold on the service from January 1 to June 16, 2023 (Vedomosti got acquainted with the study). For the same period of the dock-shaped 2019, this figure was 18%, and in 2022 – 39%.
The Litres service is part of the group of companies of the same name, which also combines the MyBook subscription service, Litres: Samizdat, etc. The Litres Group is the leader in the digital book market, according to the company’s own estimate, its share in 2022 was 68%. The entire digital book market, according to Litres, last year showed zero dynamics and amounted to 11 billion rubles. Samizdat sales in 2022 increased by 10%, they accounted for more than 33% of the market.
Sales of digital books in Russia in 2022 did not grow for the first time
The authors of samizdat are also leading in fertility – in the number of works of one writer who got into the top 1000. The first place belongs to Max Glebov – 26 books. In second place in terms of the number of mentions in the ranking is Roman Prokofiev (24 works), in third place is Andrei Vasiliev (20). For the first time, Nikita T (15 works) entered the TOP 100 Russian-speaking writers according to the version of the Digital Showcase portal. All these writers published their works in various subgenres of fiction and were published on paper: Glebov and Prokofiev – in the AST, Vasiliev – in the Alpha Book. Books by Nikita T can be bought in the chain of stores Chitai Gorod (they were published by the once popular publishing house – Mask)
The top 5 bestsellers of samizdat were headed by a novel in the genre of love fantasy by Yasi Nedotroga and Anna Gavrilova “His Majesty’s Favorite Adeptic. Book 2. ” The Adeptka series today has four volumes and tells about a modern girl who falls from our reality into the magical world. There she enters the magic academy and becomes the object of the king’s love interest.
Two books by Andrei Vasiliev – the urban fantasy “Edge of Heaven” and “Time of Choice” – are located on the second and fourth lines, respectively. Max Glebov’s combat fiction Echo of the Orbital Strike is in third position. Rounding out the top five is another love fantasy – “Warlock School. An absolute artifact “by Matilda Starr.
It is the rise in the popularity of samizdat that Litres analysts also explain the strengthening of the position of Russian-speaking authors in the rating – from 62% of the total number of books in 2019 to 76% in 2023. Among the trends, Litres analysts note that fiction is the most dynamically growing segment of fiction in the top 1000. In five years, the number of books in this genre has grown by 80% and now they occupy 17% of the top 1000.
Co-owner of Eksmo-AST Oleg Novikov received 51% in the Litnet samizdat service
Despite the more modest growth rate (35%), fantasy remains the most popular genre in the ranking – it accounts for more than 25% of sales from the top 1000 digital books in January – June 2023, follows from the data of Litres. The share of romance novels for the specified period was 18%. Samizdat is already a driver of the development of the digital book market, and in the coming years it will provide growth, Oleg Novikov, co-owner of the Eksmo-AST publishing group, said in an interview with Vedomosti in February 2023. In April, Novikov bought 51% of the Litnet samizdat service. This is a long-term investment in support of national authors, he then explained to Vedomosti.
The growth in sales of the category of digital authors exceeds the growth rate of the digital book market, says Sergey Anuryev, General Director of Litres Group of Companies. In 2023, the samizdat segment, according to his forecasts, will grow by about 37% to 5 billion rubles. Among the popular writers whose career started with samizdat, in addition to science fiction writer Max Glebov, Novikov included the authors of the young adult genre Medina Mirai, Asya Lavrinovich, Leah Staffi, as well as the winner of the NOS and National Bestseller awards for the novel “Petrov in and around the Flu” Alexei Salnikov. The best of them, having achieved success online, are then published in paper, the publisher recalled.
Among the popular writers whose career started with samizdat, in addition to science fiction writer Max Glebov, Novikov included the authors of the young adult genre Medina Mirai, Asya Lavrinovich, Leah Staffi, as well as the winner of the NOS and National Bestseller awards for the novel “Petrov in and around the Flu” Alexei Salnikov. The best of them, having achieved success online, are then published in paper, the publisher recalled. “One of the obvious pluses of samizdat is the proportion of people who write has increased significantly. For example, only on the Litres: Samizdat platform (part of the Litres Group of Companies. – “Vedomosti”) now a total of about 35,000 authors. This amount will go into quality at some stage, “Novikov is sure.
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