EUROPEAN PUBLISHING TRAINING NEEDS IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

LEONARDO DA VINCI (STRAND III.2.A)

SLOVENIA REPORT

PROJECT PARTNERS:

CENTER FOR PUBLISHING DEVELOPMENT, OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE, BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

SCHOOL OF ART, PUBLISHING AND MUSIC, OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY, OXFORD, UNITED KINGDOM

STRATEGY RESEARCH AND ACTION, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

AUSSTELLUNGS UND MESSE DES BORSENVEREINS DES DEUTSCHEN BUCHHANDELS, FRANKFURT, GERMANY

PUBLISHING TRAINING CENTRE, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

MAY 2000

1. INTRODUCTION

Leonardo da Vinci project III.2.A has been commissioned by the European Commission to identify the extent and nature of the need for publishing training in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). The project is entitled European Publishing Training Needs in the Information Society II (EPTNIS II).

The project was commissioned following the success of EPTNIS I, a project conducted in 1998 in western European countries.

The project assesses the training needs of the publishing industry in 9 CEEC countries.

In January 1999 the project members met in Budapest to draft a research plan and to discuss the agenda for the project. As a result of this planning meeting a two-stage research project was agreed on and completed. The initial stage involved qualitative research in 4 countries followed by quantitative research in all 9 countries.

1.1 PROJECT PARTNERS

The project benefits from experienced partners, and each partner complements the skills of the other partners.

The project partners include:

Paul Richardson, professor of publishing at the School of Music and Publishing at Oxford Brookes University;

Frances Pinter and Jerzy Celichowski, from the Center for Publishing Development, Open Society Institute, Budapest;

Dag Smith, from Publishing Training Centre, London;

Barbel Becker, Ausstellungs und Messe des Borsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels, Frankfurt;

Robin Birn and Simon Whitehead, Strategy Research and Action in London.

However the data collection stage of the project could not have been successfully completed without the contribution of the staff of the Open Society Institutes in the countries involved, who worked to coordinate the translation and mailing of the quantitative questionnaire. It is for this reason that the research results have proved so robust, and the success of the project ensured.

It is also of value to mention the high response rates achieved during the research, and to appreciate that many of the publishers have been forthcoming in information, some of which could be considered to be sensitive.

1.2 METHODOLOGY

The research has been completed using a two-stage approach.

The first stage, the qualitative stage, consisted of in depth interviews with publishers. It was designed to provide guidance to help shape the quantitative research and identify the key issues related with training in Eastern and Central Europe. There were 10 interviews conducted in each of the 2 larger countries of Poland and Romania, and 6 in Hungary and Latvia.

The quantitative research was completed in the 10 countries of Central and Eastern Europe that have applied to join, and are being considered for membership of, the European Union in the future.

These countries are: Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Estonia. All responded with sufficient questionnaires except Estonia.

The research has been designed to be fully comparative across countries and to identify the comparisons and contrasts between the countries in the study. As such the methodology reflects these needs.

The quantitative research sought to interview a statistically significant number of publishers in all 9 countries and access them by means of a postal self-completion questionnaire. The samples were decided using a sample frame from established data prepared by the Open Society Institute on publisher numbers in each of the countries.

In each country different sources were required to build a postal address list of publishers, and the Open Society Institutes in each country were able to provide substantial assistance in this regard.

A total of 2,306 questionnaires were mailed out.

The response rates in each of the countries obviously differed, but a total response of 780 returned for analysis was achieved.

When compared to typical research projects the response rates are all very high for a number of reasons, and this project has a response rate of 34%. This is in itself an encouraging sign from publishers in the region.

It is believed the good response rates are due to the specific nature of the study, the interest from the respondents, and the Open Society Institutes following up each questionnaire they posted out with a telephone call. The data can therefore be used to define training needs and to assess future training activities in each country.

1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The main objectives for completing the research were as follows:

• Establish the attitudes towards training of publishers in the region
• Establish the extent to which electronic publishing is undertaken by publishers in the region
• Define the extent to which publishers feel publishing training is needed, and in which business disciplines it is most required
• Define the extent to which electronic publishing training is a priority in the region
• Produce data on the publishing industry which is internationally comparable, and which will provide a benchmark of the state of the publishing sector in the region

Users of the data should therefore be able to define better the segments in the publishing industry in the region, and position themselves better to grow the market with this knowledge.

1.4 USE OF RESULTS

The European Commission who have provided funding for the project, will be using the data, report and recommendations to assess the possibilities of providing financial assistance to publishers in Central and Eastern Europe in order to enhance the building of an Information Society within the Union.

It is assumed that the countries involved in the project will join the EU in the medium or long term. Consequently the results can be used to enhance knowledge about the new countries in order to coordinate transnational projects.

A further use of the data is by publishers themselves and by the Open Society Institute as a tool for decision-making. This is the first definitive survey of publishers’ activities in Central and Eastern Europe and is data which can be interpreted to define transnational publishing and subsequent training needed.

1.5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

There are a significant number of results that have come out of the research. Those that are most significant are likely to refer to individual countries or to come about as a result of comparison between data sets. As such this executive summary is limited to findings relating to Slovenia only.

The key findings of the research are:

• Criteria used to measure the extent to which an Information Society exists points to an infant stage of development of the Information Society in Eastern Europe.
• Local control over key industries necessary for the Information Society is being reconfigured through privatisation, and it is possible control of some sectors of the economy will pass into foreign hands.
• There is evidence that the publishing sector in the region has restructured during the last decade, and such prioritisation of electronic publishing that exists is taking place within a wider context of change.
• There is also some evidence to suggest that moves by publishers towards involvement in electronic publishing are contingent upon wider restructuring within their markets. Factors such as lack of market and piracy affect the demand for electronic products, and exacerbating the difficulty are supply side issues such as low spending on training, skills shortages amongst staff, and lack of access to finance.
• The most significant sector for publishing in Central and Eastern Europe is the education sector (History/Social Science/Academic/STM/Textbooks). This is measured by the number of publishers involved in publishing each genre.

• Electronic publishing (Internet and CD-Rom) is primarily confined to the Educational market, again implying institutional buying.

• Expenditure on training is very low. Indeed, almost three quarters of publishers spent under Euro1000 on training in the last year, representing (assuming they employ on average 6 people) around Euro150 each. Again, there is considerable difference between different countries.
• Such training that there is appears to be fairly evenly distributed between non-EU and EU training providers, as well as between trainers in the booktrade and trainers external to it. However, when asked, most publishers feel that it is important that their company has access to training in another country.
• The detailed research analysis shows that it becomes evident that publishers feel that a number of specific fields would benefit from transnational training, whereas a number of others would benefit more from training in their own country.

• The publishers believe the biggest problem experienced in becoming involved in electronic publishing is lack of resources, followed by lack of business partners.
• Supporting this, publishers feel that the biggest threats to electronic publishing are lack of access to finance, and piracy of original copy and texts.
• The lack of current training expenditure is put into further context when publishers say that they feel strongly that their staff will have to change their working methods and roles. Interestingly it is sales and marketing and editorial, techniques which the majority of publishers feel will need to change the most as EU integration develops.
• The fact that publishers would spend any additional funds on new products reveals a belief that essentially they are operating correctly and efficiently, and that growth would best be achieved by expanding output.

• Publishers agree with the statement that they would grow faster if they were to publish through new media.
• Although English enjoys dominance in terms of foreign languages, the majority of electronic publishers publish in their own language revealing a strong degree of cultural diversity in the electronic publishing sector.
• Finally, a significant proportion of publishers’ express and interest in electronic publishing, either by saying it is a priority, or by or by saying that they would be plan to publish electronically relatively soon. However this is to be contrasted with the low proportions of publishers currently involved in electronic publishing. This gap is best explained with reference to the publishers saying that lack of access to finance and lack of resources are a problematic.

1.6 QUALITATIVE FINDINGS

Publishers in the region were initially researched through the Qualitative research about the issues involved in publishing training, as well as their experiences with, and attitudes towards, transnational training and electronic publishing.

The findings of this stage of the research assisted further development of the questionnaire for the Quantitative research, and the bulk of the findings do indeed support the findings of the Quantitative stage.

It was for instance evident that the degree to which a publisher perceived multimedia training as important was a reflection on their abilities to present themselves in the market. Caution was the key word within the multimedia publishing industry, and the inability to deal with piracy a major concern.

Overall, the Qualitative research was used to assess methods to ensure that the quantitative research would be successful, and addressed the perceptions of the publishers in Eastern and Central Europe.

1.7 QUANTITATIVE FINDINGS

The Quantitative findings of EPTNIS II are substantial and in depth. They have been presented as tabulations, and several cross tabulations of questions were specified.

It should be noted that this survey, with 780 completed responses, represents the most extensive survey into the publishing sector ever completed in the CEEC. As such, the data in this report are highly significant statistically. So too, in Slovenia, the data represents the most comprehensive picture of the industry yet produced to assess training.

The following are the results of the research.

8.7.1 CURRENT MATERIAL PUBLISHED

Of the total sample of 780 publishers, 621 (80%) are currently publishing only in print. 18% are publishing both print and electronically, and just over 1% are publishing only electronically.

In Slovenia 79% of publishers publish material in print, and 21% both electronically and in print. None only publish electronically.

Slovenia is therefore an atypical example of the structure of the output of the publishing industry in Eastern and Central Europe because it is country where publishers are the least likely to be involved in electronic publishing.

8.7.2 GENRE CURRENTLY PUBLISHED

In terms of the most commonly published genre in Slovenia, History and Social Science material is the most common, with 58% of publishers saying that they publish this genre.

This is followed by Textbooks which are published by 53% of respondents.

Fiction is published by 50% of respondents, as are STM titles.

Academic titles are published by 45% of respondents, and literature by 43%. Other titles are mentioned by 42% of publishers.

Children’s material is published by 39% of publishers.

Language titles are published by 32% of respondents.

Other titles published are Biographies, Maps/Atlases and Travel Guides, and Mind Body Spirit titles.

Other genres are published by fewer publishers.

Slovene publishers generally publish more genres than publishers in other countries.

This may indicate that there are a small number of publishers in Slovenia, and that they attempt to cover the majority of genre commonly published within the industry in Slovenia.

As with Slovakia and Czech, in Slovenia the similarity of the language to Croat facilitates the transnational trade of books.

1.8 PLAN TO PUBLISH

For the majority of genres, respondents as a whole do not plan to increase the range of their output. Generally publishers say they plan to publish similar genres to those they currently publish.

These results are likely to reflect some ambiguity in the question, whereby those currently publishing a genre may not have responded to the suggestion that they plan to publish a genre in the next 2 years because they feel that as they are already doing so it would not be an additional plan to purchase.

1.9 CURRENTLY INVOLVED IN PUBLISHING CD-ROMS

There are very few Slovene publishers currently involved in publishing on CD-ROM and Disks. Those that do publish STM and Language titles.

1.10 CURRENTLY INVOLVED IN INTERNET PUBLISHING

Again there are very few Slovene publishers involved in Internet publishing, however a minority publish textbook, STM and Language titles. Most other titles are published in very small numbers.

1.11 PLANS TO PUBLISH MULTIMEDIA

32% of publishers say that they are currently unable to get involved in multimedia publishing in the future. This is lower than the average for publishers in other countries.

42% of publishers plan to publish electronically within one year, and this is higher than the average.

Currently 18% of publishers have no plans to get involved in multimedia publishing.

1.12 EU TRAINING PROVIDER

39% of publishers did not mention a training provider in the European Union.

This is lower than the CEEC average, suggesting that Slovene publishers are more likely to collaborate with EU training providers than the regional average.

Those (up to 15%) that have any training providers in the EU use mostly training providers external to the book trade, followed by in-house experts and external consultants, or other providers.

1.13 NON EU TRAINING PROVIDER

53% of publishers did not mention a training provider outside the European Union, compared to the average of 59%.

21% say that they use external training consultants.

Few publishers use any other training providers.

The general indication then is that the majority of publishers in Eastern and Central Europe do not currently have any provision for training. Interestingly it is those publishers with a concern for electronic publishing that are more likely to participate in training, and the low involvement of Slovene publishers in electronic publishing is reflected in the low use of training. This may be due to the rapid changes in the field, necessitating the use of external training providers.

The situation in Slovenia is that the majority of publishers are not engaging in any kind of training.

1.14 LIKELIHOOD OF CHANGING THESE RESOURCES IN NEXT 2 YEARS

42% of publishers say that they are possibly likely to change their training resources in the next 2 years.

26% say that they are likely to change their resources.

13% say that they are unlikely to change their training resources in the next 2 years.

A further 11% do not know, and a small minority have not answered the question.

Slovene publishers are typical in their attitudes towards their training resources.

1.15 IMPORTANCE OF ACCESS TO TRAINING RESOURCES ABROAD

Respondents were asked to state, on a scale of one to three, the extent to which they feel that it is important that their company has access to training resources in another country.

The mean score is 2.61 in Slovenia, indicating that overall publishers do agree that it is important to have access to training resources in another country. This is higher than the CEEC average.

1.16 FIELDS TRANSNATIONAL TRAINING OF MOST BENEFIT

The fields in which transnational publishing training could be most beneficial to the publishers are:

Sales and Marketing (87%, compared to CEEC average of 72%)

Editor Creative (58% compared to 31%)

Management (53% compared to 44%)

Customer service/distribution (50% compared to average of 55%)

Legal/Contractual (42% compared to 32%)

Design (39% compared to 31%)

Financial (24% compared to 25%)

Production (21% compared to 20%)

What is striking in the results is the extent to which Sales and Marketing is revealed as a field in which transnational training would be beneficial to publishers.

Management also scores high in Slovenia.

1.17 WHERE TRAINING WOULD BE MOST BENEFICIAL

Publishers were asked to state where they believed training would be most beneficial to their companies.

For Management training, more publishers believe it would be better conducted transnationally.

For Editor/Creative training, most Slovenes would also prefer to be trained transnationally.

For Design training, publishers would prefer to be trained transnationally.

For Production training, publishers are evenly split.

For Sales and Marketing training, more publishers would prefer the training to be done transnationally.

Publishers are evenly split over Legal/Contractual training.

For Financial training publishers are unsure, although many feel that it is best conducted transnationally.

For Customer Service and Distribution training more publishers believe it would be better conducted transnationally.

This data shows Slovene publishers are evenly split on a number of the fields, but that generally they favour transnational training over training in Slovenia.

1.18 SPEED OF GROWTH THROUGH NEW MEDIA

Publishers were asked whether they felt that their company would grow faster if it were to publish through the new media.

On a scale of 1-5, the mean score is 3.27 in Slovenia, suggesting agreement with the statement that a publisher would grow faster if it were to publish through new media, although this is considerably lower than the CEEC average of 3.71.

1.19 LENGTH OF TIME ELECTRONICALLY PUBLISHING

Of those publishers that have been publishing electronically, most have been publishing electronically for some time, often over 2 years.

1.20 LANGUAGE OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING

Of those publishers that have been publishing electronically, most have been publishing in Slovene, although English is also popular (50% of publishers publish in English). Some publishers publish in other languages.FOCUS OF

1.21 ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING

50% of electronic publishers focus on the Educational market, and fewer on the Business market for their electronic publishing. Very few publishers focus on the Consumer market.

Few respondents did not mention the focus of their publishing.

1.22 PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN BECOMING INVOLVED IN ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING

By far the biggest difficulty encountered by publishers in becoming involved in electronic publishing is a lack of resources for electronic publishing. This is encountered by most Slovene publishers, and is considerably higher than the average.

Publishers also suffer from a lack of business skills for electronic publishing, and from investing in other products.

Other problems are encountered by fewer publishers.

1.23 EXTENT TO WHICH FACTORS ARE A THREAT TO PUBLISHING

The extent to which different factors are a threat to electronic publishers is measured on a scale of 1-3, where 3 represents an important threat, and 1 is not a threat.

In ranked order the most threatening factors for electronic publishers are:

Lack of access to finance (2.58, CEEC average is 2.62)

Lack of market (2.38, CEEC average is 2.38)

Piracy (2.38, CEEC average is 2.60)

Lack of business skills (2.15, average 2.11)

Lack of technical skills (2.00, average 2.03)

International competition from EU (1.67, average 1.94)

Other factors (1.67, average 1.74)

International competition from non EU states (1.50, average 1.67)

Domestic competition (1.26, average 1.70)

It is evident that lack of access to finance is the key threat to publishers in Slovenia.

1.24 EXTENT OF STAFF CHANGE REQUIRED

Publishers were asked to rate the extent to which they will have to change their working methods to meet the challenges of multimedia in the future.

Overall on a score of 1-3, where 1 is not at all, and 3 is a great extent, Slovene respondents gave an average of 2.22, showing that they feel to some extent that they would have to change to meet the challenges of multimedia. This figure is slightly below the average for the publishers in the survey.

Publishers in most of the different countries generally believe their staff will have to change to some extent.

1.25 WAYS IN WHICH STAFF WILL HAVE TO CHANGE TO PUBLISH ELECTRONICALLY

68% of publishers state that their staff would have to develop more experience with multimedia in the future to publish electronically in the future. This is the average for publishers in the region.

37% of publishers feel that they need better working methods between IT and Editorial, which is slightly higher than the average.

21% feel that their staff need to become more aware of market opportunities, lower than the CEEC average.

1.26 LEVEL OF PERSONNEL AT WHICH THERE IS A NEED TO CHANGE OR IMPROVE SKILLS TO PUBLISH ELECTRONICALLY

In Slovenia, 63% of publishers say that they believe that Editorial Creative staff need to change or improve their skills. This is considerably higher than the CEEC average.

58% of publishers say that they believe Sales and Marketing need to change or improve their skills to publish electronically.

45% say that Customer Service/Distribution staff need to change or improve their skills.

47% say Management need to change or improve.

37% say Production need to change or improve close to the regional average.

21% say Financial need to change or improve, and 21% Legal/Contractual.

11% did not mention any areas.

47% say Design need to change or improve, considerably higher than the regional average.

Editorial Creative and Sales and Marketing are the two key areas where change is needed.

1.27 WAYS IN WHICH STAFF ARE CURRENTLY INCORPORATING NEW SKILLS

Currently most publishers are incorporating new skills by on the job training (55%), and 58% recruit staff with skills.

29% train existing staff internally.

39% train existing staff externally.

13% incorporate new skills through other means.

1.28 LIKELIHOOD OF THIS CHANGING

Publishers are unsure if this will change, but many think it is unlikely to do so.

1.29 COMPANY OWNERSHIP

When asked whether they felt that the ownership of their company would remain the same over the next 2 years 79% say that they do expect it to remain the same.

Just a few expect a change.

1.30 SPENDING PRIORITIES

Respondents were given a hypothetical question, and asked to say how they would spend Euro25,000 if they were given it to spend. Their answers are ranked according to the mean score of their answers on a scale of 1-3.

In first place, most say that they would spend additional resources on new products (mean 2.77), and staff training (mean 2.59), on acquisitions (2.58) and marketing (mean 2.52).

This is followed by advertising (mean 2.42), and spending on market research (2.14).

Then the priority for spending is on capital goods (2.04), and finally management consultancy (1.96).

This is somewhat different to the average across the region, with a high emphasis on new products and acquisitions.

1.31 MEMBERSHIP OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Most Slovene publishers view membership of the EU as an advantage, although a high proportion do not know whether membership of the European Union will be an advantage or disadvantage to their company.

Few see it as a threat.

Slovene publishers view membership of the EU about average compared to publishers in other countries.

1.32 CURRENT STRENGTHS IN PUBLISHING

When asked to state what they perceived their strengths to be in their current publishing, publishers state two particular strengths.

An established company reputation is perceived to be an advantage by 68% of Slovene publishers.

Higher quality than competitors (58%) is mentioned frequently, as is specialist lists which are mentioned by 55% of publishers, knowledge of the market (42%), and translation and publishing in different languages (34%).

Other factors are less likely to be listed as strengths.

Slovene publishers are more likely to feel that they have better quality products than their competitors.

1.33 EXTENT TO WHICH ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING IS A PRIORITY

Few publishers say electronic it is a priority to a great extent, whilst most of them say it is either a priority to some extent, or that it is not a priority at all.

It is worth remembering that the survey has focused on general publishers, and has not sought out electronic publishers, nor does it include software houses who may have an electronic publishing agenda.

Slovene publishers are marginally less likely to prioritise electronic publishing than other publishers in other countries.

1.34 ATTITUDES OF PUBLISHERS

It was important for the project to assess the extent to which publishers in the region perceived their businesses in the light of change. To this end publishers were asked to state their opinions towards various statements.

1.35 ATTITUDES OF PUBLISHERS – KEY PLAYER

When asked if they are a key player in their market, the mean score on a scale of 1-3 was 2.00, indicating some agreement.

1.36 ATTITUDES OF PUBLISHERS - VULNERABILITY

71% of publishers say that they are not at all vulnerable to foreign involvement in their market, and the mean score is 1.28, indicating that most Slovene publishers are confident that they are not vulnerable. This reinforces the strong positive sentiment in the publishing sector in CEEC as a whole.

1.37 ATTITUDES OF PUBLISHERS – NEED TRAINING

When asked whether they believe that they need training for some skills, the mean is 2.39, indicating some agreement that training is needed for some skills.

Slovene publishers are typical of CEEC publishers in this regard.

1.38 ATTITUDES OF PUBLISHERS – GROWTH

Slovene publishers are not as confident that they will grow next year as publishers in other countries. The mean in Slovenia is 1.97, compared to a CEEC average of 2.13.

1.39 ATTITUDES OF PUBLISHERS – REFLECTOR OF COUNTRY’S ECONOMY

Publishers agree to some extent that they are an accurate reflector of their countries economy. The mean is 1.97, indicating general agreement that publishers are an accurate reflection of the countries economy, but this is lower than the regional average (2.22).

1.40 CLASSIFICATION

8.41 LENGTH OF TIME IN PUBLISHING

47%, of publishers have worked in publishing for between 5 and 10 years. 21% have worked in publishing for less than 5 years. Most of the others have worked in publishing for over 10 years.

This indicates that on the whole, the decision makers in the publishing industry in Slovenia are relatively inexperienced compared to publishers in other countries.

1.42 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

61% of publishers have less than 10 staff, 18% of publishers have between 11 and 30 staff, and 22% over 30 staff. A good proportion of these (11% in total), work for large publishers with over 100 employees.

1.43 NUMBER OF COMPUTERS

58% of publishers have less than 10 computers, while 16% have between 11 and 20.

1.44 OWNERSHIP

61% of publishers are independent, with 8% part of a national group. 8% are state owned but ‘independent.’

3% of publishers are part of an international group, and a significant minority are unable to answer the question.

1.45 GENDER OF RESPONDENT

66% of the respondents are male, and 34% female.

1.46 AGE OF RESPONDENTS

71% of the respondents are aged between 35 and 54, with 21% under 34 and 8% over 55. Slovene respondents are therefore slightly younger than the average of respondents in the survey.

1.47 EXPENDITURE ON TRAINING

11% of publishers say that they spent nothing on training last year, whilst another 5% spent less than Euro250.

16% of publishers spent between Euro250 and Euro1000, and 37% spent between Euro1000 and Euro5000.22% spent over Euro5000.

Slovene publishers are therefore significantly more likely to spend more money on training than other publishers in the region.

1.48 LOCATION OF EXPENDITURE

47% say that none of this expenditure was spent outside their country, although this includes those publishers that spend nothing on training (11%).

26% say that they spent up to 25% of their expenditure abroad, 13% spent between 26% and 50% of their training expenditure abroad. 11% of publishers say that they spent between 51% and 75% of their training expenditure abroad, and none say that they spend over 75% of their training expenditure abroad.

This is not typical of publishers in the region, indeed Slovene publishers are the most likely to spend money on training abroad.

1.49 ANNUAL TURNOVER

There was a wide distribution of turnover for publishers in the last year.

11% had a turnover of less than Euro10,000, and a further 11% had a turnover between Euro10,000 and Euro30,000.

5% had a turnover between Euro31,000 and Euro50,000, 16% between Euro51,000 and Euro100,000.

11% had a turnover between Euro100,000 and Euro300,000, 5% between Euro300,000 and Euro500,000. 5% have a turnover between Euro500,000 and Euro1m.

30% have a turnover above Euro1m, and most of these (21%) between Euro1m and Euro5m.

Slovene publishers have a significantly higher turnover than those of other countries. This is likely to be a reflection of the relatively high per capita GDP in Slovenia, when measured in US$ terms.

1.50 LOCATION OF PUBLISHER

Publishers are located in 9 countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

1.51 OWNERSHIP OF PUBLISHER

47% of publishers have none of their company owned by the state.

Most of the other respondents did not answer this question.

1.52 PROPORTION FOREIGN OWNED

68% did not answer this question, asking about the proportion of the company which is foreign owned. Most of those publishers that did answer the question stated that none of their company was foreign owned.

This may reflect lack of knowledge about the financial ownership of the company, and this may be exacerbated by the difficulties caused by transition to the free market, or it may simply be due to the sensitivity of the information that publishers are reluctant to divulge it.

1.53 NUMBER OF TITLES PUBLISHED A YEAR

39% of publishers publish less than 10 titles a year, 29% between and 11 and 30 titles, and 16% between 31 and 60.

8% publish between 60 and 100 titles, and a further 8% publish over a 100 titles a year.

Executive summary

• Bulgaria
• Czech Republic
• Hungary
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Poland
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia

policy resources