Czech, Hungarian and Polish Publishing in Transition

LOGOS The pain of market forces: Czech, Hungarian and Polish publishing in transition

The transformation of the book industries of the jAgnes Gulyas Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, following the collapse of communism, has been unprecedent- edly rapid and profound. All of the publishing industries of the former Soviet Bloc countries shared roughly the same centralized structure and strict controls. The book markets of these three countries, however, have made more progress in the A native Hungarian, Agnes transition from a command to a market economy Gulyas is a postgraduate student than in the other post-communist societies. In the bookshops of Prague, Budapest and in the Department of Print Warsaw there is today a wide range of books with Media, Publishing and no political or ideological restriction. The physical Communication at Napier quality of the books is mostly good, but prices have University in Edinburgh, risen substantially and the markets have been Scotland. She is engaged in flooded with horror fiction, pornography and the like. The once financially well-protected monopo research into the developments in listic publishing companies now compete with each the book publishing and print other and with the new private publishing houses. media industries in Central and There was much disarray and distortion in Eastern European countries since the book markets in the first place. Even the now emerging free markets still carry legacies of the the end of communism. communist past and problems generated by the tur moil of the early 1990s. While the three markets differ in size and style, they share broadly similar cultural backgrounds. Under communism, each country had only a handful of specialized publishing houses, all owned by the state or the communist party. There was only one publisher for children's books, one for medical books, and so on. The Ministry of Culture exercised both censorship and financial control. No title could be published without the consent and knowledge of the authorities. Annual publishing plans had to be approved. For books within these plans, budgets, including paper and printing facilities, were relatively generous. Most losses were covered by the state. Pub lishers, however, were not permitted to own printing facilities or distribution networks. All stock was sup plied directly to the national wholesaler.

Little attention was given to market ber of private publishers mushroomed. In the for demand. The book lists of publishets were mostly mer Czechoslovakia, for instance, 800 private pub decided by ideological, political and cultural con lishers were licensed in the first nine months of siderations. Books widi little real demand were pub 1990 (Igor Hajek Czech Culture in the Cauldron, lished in print runs of up to 100,000 copies. For Europe-Asia Studies Vol.46 No 1, 1994 page 129). In example, the complete works of Lenin or of the Hungary, the number of titles published by new pri local communist hero had to be in every library and vate houses doubled from 1988 to 1989 (see Bart on the shelves of many organizations. LOGOS 2/2). In the first two years of transition, But there were some positive aspects 1989 and 1990, the book market was particularly despite such interference. Because books were seen attractive to new entrepreneurs. There was a great as channels for propaganda, sale prices were fixed at demand for books, relatively low costs and high low levels. Books were cheap in relation to wages expected profits. By 1993, the number of publishers and other consumer products. The library systems of in each of the three countries reached a new high the former socialist countries were quite well devel level - 2,000 each in the Czech republic and Hun oped, and so was the penetration of the distribution gary and 4,000 in Poland. However, many of the system. People were able to get hold of books in vil registered companies published only one or two lages as well as in big towns. The number of book books. Some did not publish even one book. There shops and library collections on a per capita basis were effectively only a few hundred publishers in compared favourably with democratic countries. each country. When communism ended, the publishing industries of the three countries did not cross the starting line together By the mid-1980s, Poland had both a substantial underground press and a rel By 1991, the boom was over. Formerly atively liberal official publishing industry. By 1986, banned books and topics had lost their novelty. there were 400 underground publishers in Poland Both publishers and readers had to face the grim who produced 3,000 titles in editions running from realities of market forces. All three book industries hundreds up to 7,000 copies (see Kostecki LOGOS sank into crisis, one of the main factors in which 2/4). In Hungary, political control and censorship was the collapse of the distribution system. Most of had been gradually relaxed in the late '70s and '80s the state distribution companies went bankrupt due and here too - although to a lesser extent than in to lack of capital, bad debts, unmarketable stocks Poland - samizdat publishing flourished. In and competition from private distributors and street Czechoslovakia, on the other hand, while there was traders. The fate of the Czech Kniha, Polish Sklad- some underground publishing, the market was lib nica Ksiegarska and the Hungarian Allami eralized more slowly. Konyvterjeszto Vallalat was the same: collapse. Pub The end of communist control and cen lishers had to find new ways of reaching their read sorship generated a huge interest in books and top ers. The retailing system had also collapsed. ics previously banned. History, politics, suppressed Villages, and even some cities, were left without manuscripts, secret memoirs and banned novels bookshops. In Czechoslovakia, the number of book were the basis of a publishing boom in 1989 and shops and outlets fell from 1,800 in 1989 to fewer 1990. The number of titles did not increase, but than 700 in 1991. In Hungary, there were 600 their topics changed overnight and print runs bookshops in 1989, but fewer than 300 by 1993 soared. In Hungary, for example, the number of (Richard Davy Freedom for Publishing, Publishing for copies of books published increased from 99.3 mil Freedom, edited by Timothy Carton Ash, Central lion in 1986 to 108 million in 1989 and peaked at European University Press, Budapest, 1995). 125.7 million in 1990. This high demand was bol Meanwhile, street traders mushroomed stered by the fact that book ptices and material and and inevitably creamed off the profitable business. production costs remained low. In the early '90s in Hungary, it is estimated that half Since publishers did not have to be of the retailing was done through street vendors. By licensed after the collapse of communism, the num 1996, private distribution companies had emerged