Book covers are becoming more important than content. And that's why

The book industry in Russia is experiencing a change in trends. Youth and teenage literature in the genres of fantasy, sci-fi and romance is growing in popularity. At the same time, paper books are turning from a mere source of information into collectors' items and visual attributes, for which cover design is becoming so important that it is leading to a shortage of printing. How the print market is changing in Russia and why book prices are rising - in Izvestia.

How the book market is changing

- Experts in the field of book publishing agree that covers are becoming increasingly important in the promotion of books. Like any mass-market product, they need a memorable visual image that will contribute to sales growth and distribution. This trend has become apparent in the last 30 years with the rise of private publishing. Of course, there is still a situation in this industry where readers are focused on a specific publication and are only interested in the content of its books, but the growing interest in external design cannot be denied.

- Fashion trends are forcing Russian printers to use new ways to attract attention. The standard is becoming high-quality printing, providing not only high resolution of the picture on the cover, but also its durability. Unusual materials are also used: foil, metallized films, glow-in-the-dark varnishes, glitter, transparent elements. In the flow that falls on the reader in the bookstore, it will immediately help to attract his attention.

- A separate trend in the publishing house was the careful design of the edges - the end part of the book with the pages. So that the book does not look like a simple stack of paper from the side, this part can be colored, painted, foiled, glossed or unevenly applied to the edges. Decorated trim becomes a continuation of the cover, this immediately increases its effectiveness, turning the book into an aesthetic object, which will be pleasant to show to another.

- It is not only the cover that makes a book attractive. When buying children's literature, the buyer pays attention to the illustrations, paper quality, fonts, location of text on the page and its quantity. The book may contain coloring, which should be resistant to paint, Velcro and other interesting elements for children.

- The high demand for the design of books leads to the transformation of the most conservative layer of the book market - classic literature. To attract attention to it, publishers are moving away from strict monochrome design with sparing decoration. Works of classics get covers with images of heroes in the style of anime or comics, causing an emotional response from both the younger and older generations.

Why covers interest readers

- There are several reasons why the visual component of a book is sometimes superior to the textual component. Today, when young people feel more and more isolated and have more opportunities, including economic ones, youth literature, also known as young adult, is gaining special development. Its central theme is the maturation and formation of the young protagonist. Such literature has a rich genre diversity, from fantasy to romance. Bright worlds described in such books require an exit beyond the paper pages, and the cover becomes the first manifestation of it.

- Modern young people cannot imagine life without social networks, which literally create visual universes for users. The development of photo and video equipment only pushes to the fact that the main thing in the transfer of information is the image, its quality and semantic load. The higher the resolution of a tablet or smartphone screen becomes, the higher the requirements to everything that can be seen in it. And this requirement also applies to books - to be in the world of social networks and blogging, where young people are, you need a vivid image expressed by the cover. Even an e-book without a hard copy needs something to look like so that it doesn't get lost in the visual stream.

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- To this we should add that the book can serve as an external attribute, by which its owner tells others what he is and what his interests are. Just as social groups distinguish each other by clothing, makeup, jewelry and some objects, books give an instant insight into their owner if their cover is designed accordingly.

- The life of any book is divided into two parts - first it is read and then it stands on the shelf. At the second stage it turns from a carrier of information into an interior object, the visual requirements for which are still as relevant. A book needs to decorate its owner's home, not dissolve in it. If it remains visible and continues to return to the emotions experienced during reading, it will help to maintain interest in literature, which will be expressed in the next purchase of a book with a similar cover.

- Many people are attracted to collecting, which satisfies the unconscious human urge to collect, research and organize. Beautiful and rare books, moreover glimpsed on social media, are well suited for this process, especially for those who find collecting familiar objects like stamps and coins useless. The desire to possess books that adorn the collection will push to add to the collection, even those that did not arouse interest with their contents.

What leads to the pursuit of a beautiful cover

- The increased demand for beautiful and high-quality book design has its own consequences. Now printers are difficult to meet the demands of publishers, who put requirements for the appearance of their products. To create a vivid image of the book needs paints, varnishes, paper, cardboard, films and other materials that make up the cover. The growing volume of book production leads to a shortage of printing equipment, especially technically sophisticated equipment.

- The high demand for books with spectacular covers, which printing houses cannot keep up with, naturally leads to higher prices. Lack of production capacity also leads to a reduction in print runs - this is the only way for publishers to increase the diversity of products. A narrow print run makes a book rare, and this contributes even more to the growth of the final cost. In some cases, this situation immediately turns a book into a collector's item.

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- Under current conditions, when sanctions and staff shortage hinder the expansion of book production, the solution may be to move production abroad. Publishers are beginning to focus on printing books in China, but this leads to higher costs for logistics, customs and administration. If in Russia the average period of publishing a print run is one and a half months, it may be longer abroad.

- The trend to own brightly designed books is largely of socio-cultural origin. This means that in time it will be subject to revision, when there will be corresponding changes in public life, which will change the attitude to books and literature in general. It cannot be ruled out that if readers' priorities change and there is a revision of some values, the fashion for minimalism and modesty, which has long reigned in the book industry, will return in the future.

In preparing the material Izvestia talked to and took into account the opinions of:

• Nadezhda Mikhailova, chair of the reading committee of the Russian Book Union;
• Lyudmila Kondrashova, Director of the Editorial Department of Children's and Teenage Literature at Eksmo Publishing House.