International conference Publishing – trends and contexts Pula, Croatia, 6th and 7th of December 2013 An article published (http://ozk.unizd.hr/libellarium/index.php/libellarium/article/view/183): Gudinavičius, Arūnas. An overview of the digital publishing market in Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). Libellarium, VI, 1 – 2 (2013).

1. International conference Publishing – trends and contexts
Pula, Croatia, 6th and 7th of December 2013
An overview of the
digital publishing market
in Baltic countries
(Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)
ARŪNAS GUDINAVIČIUS
VILNIUS UNIVERSITY
LITHUANIA

2. Baltic countries
and Croatia
Country
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

3. Books reading time
(minutes per day; Eurostat data):
Estonia – 39 min.
Latvia – 28 min.
Lithuania – 23 min.
What we have to read in digital?

4. 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?

5. Lithuania

6. Four main Lithuanian
ebook stores

skaitykle.lt

knygute.lt

knygos.lt / eknygos.lrytas.lt

pegasas.ekps.lt /
eknygos.delfi.lt (Alma
Littera)

7. Number of titles
(Lithuania)
Unique titles: ~1300
(on 1st July 2013)
pegasas.
ekps.lt
578
knygos.lt
665
skaitykle.lt
778
knygute.lt
554

8. Ebook prices in Lithuania


Average price: 4,2 EUR

2%
Price ranges: (see chart)
Highest price: 12,1 EUR
Antony Beevor, Stalingradas.
EPUB, Alma littera, 2012

20%
Free titles: 2% of all titiles
55%
23%
0 EUR
>0-3 EUR
>3-6 EUR
> 6 EUR

9. Latvia

10. Three main Latvian
ebook stores

zvaigzne.lv

e-gramatas.lv

egramata.lv

11. Number of titles (Latvia)
Unique titles: ~700
egramata.lv
30
(on 1st September 2013)
e-gramatas.lv
82
zvaigzne.lv
595

12. Ebook prices in Latvia


Average price: 5,0 EUR

3%
Price ranges: (see chart)
Highest price: 20,0 EUR
Elisa Šrēdere. Sniega bumba.
Vorens Bafets un dzīves
bizness (Zvaigzne ABC)

31%
35%
Free titles: 3% of all titles
31%
0 EUR
>0-3 EUR
>3-6 EUR
> 6 EUR

13. Estonia

14. 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)

15. Number of titles (Estonia)
Unique titles: ~3200
(on 1st September 2013)
ebooks.ee
580
edrkpood.live.
edrk.ee
1112
rahvaraamat.ee
1735
kriso.ee
1829
apollo.ee
1741

16. Ebook prices in Estonia


Average price: 6,7 EUR

8%
Price ranges: (see chart)
Highest price: 66,0 EUR
Karistusseadustik:
Kommenteeritud väljaanne,
Juura, 2011

18%
Free titles: 8% of all titles
50%
24%
0 EUR
>0-3 EUR
>3-6 EUR
> 6 EUR

17. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

18. Number of titles on sale
On July-September 2013
3500
3200
3000
2500
2000
1500
1300
1000
700
500
0
Estonia
Lithuania
Academic publishers ebooks not included (mainly with print ready PDF’s)
Latvia

19. Average ebooks prices
On July-September 2013
8,0
7,0
6,7
6,0
5,0
5,0
EUR
4,2
4,0
3,0
Average wages (before taxes):
2,0
Estonia – 976 EUR (can purchase 145 ebooks)
1,0
Latvia – 716 EUR (can purchase 143 ebooks)
Lithuania – 653 EUR (can purchase 155 ebooks)
0,0
Estonia
Lithuania
Latvia

20. 6000
Publishing dynamics
4790 4859
5000
4559
4226 4223
3994 4060 4040
4109 4097
4000
3642
3164
3317
3090
3265
2499 2482
2361
2320
2224 2291
1965
1628 1654 1557 1614 1677
1564
1509
1387
3760 3716
3176
2605 2591
2326
2767
Printed books
2371 2427
2244
2035
Ebooks
Latvia (e-books)
0
2128 2083
Estonia (printed books and brochures)
Latvia (printed books and brochures)
Titles
3278
3449
2855
1968 1965
Estonia (e-books)
1000
3971
3466 3506 3458
2596 2652 2546 2530
2635 2628
3972
3727
3709
2885
3000
2000
3827
4685
4548 4567 4580 4551
4310
Lithuania (printed books and brochures)
Lithuania (e-books)
36
6
3
98
54
5
914
625
384
353
248
121 149
61 117
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
•
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.

21. Publishers
Publishers with 20 and more titles
ZVAIGZNE ABC (LATVIA)
600
ERIDANAS (LITHUANIA)
370
ALMA LITTERA (LITHUANIA)
340
VARRAK (ESTONIA)
260
FUTU PRINT (ESTONIA)
210
SVAJONIŲ KNYGOS (LITHUANIA)
180
HEA LUGU (ESTONIA)
120
KULTUURILEHT (ESTONIA)
100
0
200
400
600
800

22. Books reading time
(minutes per day; Eurostat data):
Estonia – 39 min.
Estonia 3200 titles
Latvia – 28 min.
Latvia 700 titles
Lithuania – 23 min.
Lithuania 1300 titles
What we have to read in digital?

23. 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.

24. International conference Publishing – trends and contexts
Pula, Croatia, 6th and 7th of December 2013
An overview of the digital publishing
market in Baltic countries
(Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)
Thank you.
Arūnas Gudinavičius
VILNIUS UNIVERSITY
LITHUANIA