An overview of the

digital publishing market

in Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)

ARŪNAS GUDINAVIČIUS

VILNIUS UNIVERSITY

LITHUANIA

International conference Publishing – trends and contexts Pula, Croatia, 6th and 7th of December 2013

Baltic countries

and CroatiaCountry Area,

sq. km

Population,

mln.

Estonia 45 227 1,4

Latvia 64 589 2,0

Lithuania 65 200 3,0

Croatia 56 594 4,3

Pula

Books reading time (minutes per day; Eurostat data):

Estonia – 39 min.

Latvia – 28 min.

Lithuania – 23 min.

What we have to read in digital?

Research questions:

What are main ebook sellers in Baltic countries?

What are main ebook publishers in Baltic

countires?

How many ebooks in Estonian, Latvian and

Lithuanian languages available on sale?

What are prices of ebooks?

What are most popular ebook formats?

Lithuania

Four main Lithuanian

ebook stores

skaitykle.lt

knygute.lt

knygos.lt / eknygos.lrytas.lt

pegasas.ekps.lt /

eknygos.delfi.lt (Alma

Littera)

Number of titles

(Lithuania)

skaitykle.lt

778

knygute.lt

554

knygos.lt

665

pegasas.

ekps.lt

578

Unique titles: ~1300(on 1st July 2013)

Ebook prices in Lithuania

Price ranges: (see chart)

Average price: 4,2 EUR

Highest price: 12,1 EUR

Antony Beevor, Stalingradas.

EPUB, Alma littera, 2012

Free titles: 2% of all titiles

2%

55%

23%

20%

0 EUR >0-3 EUR >3-6 EUR > 6 EUR

Latvia

Three main Latvian

ebook stores

zvaigzne.lv

e-gramatas.lv

egramata.lv

Number of titles (Latvia)egramata.lv

30

e-gramatas.lv

82

zvaigzne.lv

595

Unique titles: ~700(on 1st September 2013)

Ebook prices in Latvia

Price ranges: (see chart)

Average price: 5,0 EUR

Highest price: 20,0 EUR

Elisa Šrēdere. Sniega bumba.

Vorens Bafets un dzīves

bizness (Zvaigzne ABC)

Free titles: 3% of all titles

3%

31%

31%

35%

0 EUR >0-3 EUR >3-6 EUR > 6 EUR

Estonia

Five main Estonian

e-book stores

kriso.ee (Krisostomus)

apollo.ee (Apollo)

rahvaraamat.ee (Rahva

Raamat)

edrkpood.live.edrk.ee (Eesti

Digiraamatute Keskuse)

ebooks.ee (Ersen, Harlequin)

Number of titles (Estonia)

kriso.ee

1829

apollo.ee

1741

rahvaraamat.ee

1735

edrkpood.live.

edrk.ee

1112

ebooks.ee

580Unique titles: ~3200(on 1st September 2013)

Ebook prices in Estonia

Price ranges: (see chart)

Average price: 6,7 EUR

Highest price: 66,0 EUR

Karistusseadustik:

Kommenteeritud väljaanne,

Juura, 2011

Free titles: 8% of all titles

8%

18%

24%

50%

0 EUR >0-3 EUR >3-6 EUR > 6 EUR

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

Number of titles on saleOn July-September 2013

3200

1300

700

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

Estonia Lithuania Latvia

Academic publishers ebooks not included (mainly with print ready PDF’s)

Average ebooks pricesOn July-September 2013

6,7

4,2

5,0

0,0

1,0

2,0

3,0

4,0

5,0

6,0

7,0

8,0

EU

R

Estonia Lithuania Latvia

Average wages (before taxes):

Estonia – 976 EUR (can purchase 145 ebooks)

Latvia – 716 EUR (can purchase 143 ebooks)

Lithuania – 653 EUR (can purchase 155 ebooks)

1628 16541557

1965

2291

2635 2628

3317

30903265

3466 3506 3458

3727

3994 4060 4040

4310

46854551

3760 3716

3971

398

353

625

914

15641387

15091614 1677

1968 1965

2320

2596 26522546 2530

2326

2605 2591

2371 2427

27672855

2244

20352128 2083

6 5121 149

248

2499 24822361

2224

2885

3164

36423827

4109 4097

3709

4790 4859

4559

4226 4223

4548 4567 4580

3972

31763278

3449

36 54 61 117

384

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Estonia (printed books and brochures)

Estonia (e-books)

Latvia (printed books and brochures)

Latvia (e-books)

Lithuania (printed books and brochures)

Lithuania (e-books)

Publishing dynamics

• Academic publishers ebooks not included (mainly with print ready PDF’s)

• Printed books and ebooks (except Lithuanian ebooks) statistical data from Lithuanian National bibliographic database, National Library of Estonia E-catalogue ESTER, National bibliography database of Latvia.

Ebooks

Printed books

Titles

Publishers

100

120

180

210

260

340

370

600

0 200 400 600 800

KULTUURILEHT (ESTONIA)

HEA LUGU (ESTONIA)

SVAJONIŲ KNYGOS (LITHUANIA)

FUTU PRINT (ESTONIA)

VARRAK (ESTONIA)

ALMA LITTERA (LITHUANIA)

ERIDANAS (LITHUANIA)

ZVAIGZNE ABC (LATVIA)

Publishers with 20 and more titles

Books reading time (minutes per day; Eurostat data):

Estonia – 39 min.

Latvia – 28 min.

Lithuania – 23 min.

What we have to read in digital?

Estonia 3200 titles

Latvia 700 titles

Lithuania 1300 titles

Conclusions

Estonians have 5 mayor ebook stores and approximately 3200 titles.

Lithuanians have 4 mayor ebook stores and approximately 1300 titles.

Latvians have 1 mayor ebook store and approximately 700 titles.

Cheapest ebooks are in Lithuania (average 4,2 EUR), then Latvia (5

EUR) and most expencive in Estonia (6,7 EUR).

Biggest (by titles) e-books publishers in Baltic countries are Zvaigzne

ABC, Alma littera, Eridanas and Varrak. The biggest competition

between publisher is in Estonia.

Almost all e-books available in EPUB format. PDF and MOBI ebooks

occupy just few percents of all ebook population.

There are no reliable market data about income share. Likely ebook

publishing could be up to 1% of mayor publishers income.

An overview of the digital publishing

market in Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)

Thank you.

Arūnas Gudinavičius

VILNIUS UNIVERSITY

LITHUANIA

International conference Publishing – trends and contexts Pula, Croatia, 6th and 7th of December 2013