Kazakhstani book world

By Alisher Sagadiev

Lazy one doesn’t strive to inexperienced

Chanakya Pandit

Periphery is the certain word which can characterize Kazakhstani book market best of all. There was no any essential step forward in book market for the years of independence. Book market become more differentiated and fragmented in addition to it, as for the culture of reading – it’s made great step back. State authority distanced itself from the sphere of bookish world and business appears to act passively or just even lazily.

The most large black book market was in the USSR. In the conditions of tough censorship and educated citizens as well as such phenomena as “samizdat” (the books created by the authors and written by hand) and “tamizdat” (manuscript was sent abroad and got back illegally in printed form) today’s situation was predetermined. Nowadays we could hardly see that the Republic was the part of “the most reading country in the world” some times ago, according to a number of book stores and their assortment.

Let’s compare publishing markets of USSR countries-neighbors for better understanding the situation in Kazakhstani book world. Generally speaking post-soviet bookish space is integrated into global world. The speciality of the world is that the top of book publish industry situated into two cities — New York and London (here is much less than in the first one). Besides the present state of things doesn’t deny the row of second rank publish industry centers. Russia could become such kind of publish industry center and today’s it takes the third place on number of publishing books and brochures after USA and China.

We see that in Russia the chain of “writer – publisher – book retailer – reader” has created already. Publishing houses initiated the practice of book retailers financing at the period of 2000 “zeroes” years. Publishers gave books for sale and took the money back only in 2-3 months. So book market was growing in 12-15% yearly. Even in 2009 year, the year of essential economical recession, book market has grown in 2-3%. Russian publishing houses are mostly of two types: big and small. Small ones seek for creative and interesting authors, and then big ones outbid them, so literature process circulation doesn’t stop.

Uzbekistan is the sample of bookish autarchy. Soviet Russian-language literature was liquidated physically from libraries (including school ones) in the country. The chain “writer – publisher – book retailer – reader” was created but in non-market conditions and within tough state control. Any book undesired by the authorities cannot appear on the book store shelves. Readers are buying offered books’ assortment in desperation and within poor Internet development. More over, Uzbek language transfer into Latin has divided readers by age. Young people generation simply couldn’t read Uzbek writers’ books of Soviet period or published in Cyrillic.

Kazakhstan is in-between Russia and Uzbekistan position, but significantly closer to Russian side. Already in nineties Kazakhstani book market could actually satisfy any readers’ interests. It’s necessary to divide local readers onto three types: Russian-language, Kazakh-language and English-language. Kazakh-language readers have less opportunities than Russian-language ones. When global literature bestsellers – such as Paolo Coelho, Haruki Murakami, and Joan Rowling — appear at the book stores’ shelves, they are exceptionally published in Russian language. English-language literature is presented mostly by scientific and studying books but World Wide Web is at service of English-speaking readers.

Aside of language differentiation, Kazakhstani severe problem is civilizational split “city-villages”. It’s very hard to buy new book in rural areas. Regional centers have better assortment. There are book stores of large book retailers. Although the better place to buy books is remain Almaty and Astana, but even there publish industry has simply periphery character. There are no great bookish fairs in Kazakhstan similar to oil and gas exhibitions such as KIOGE.

Neighboring Russia still has its mass public libraries reader, though it became substantially less after USSR dissolution. It’s about 3 million people in Russian Federation nowadays. Such readers are also breeding grounds for book market and its development. We couldn’t say the same thing about public libraries readers in Kazakhstan. It has negative influence not only on book market sizes but also at the very culture of reading. Mass reader is the one of the factors showing that it’s reading country at all.

Book market is very sensitive to quantitative measures. It’s considered that if country has less than 40 million populations speaking one language there wouldn’t be any commercial success of literature projects. So, Russian-speaking Kazakhstani reader is oriented at Russian book sphere as its periphery, and Kazakh-speaking reader is in stagnant state. Years of independence didn’t give us bright Kazakh-language writers who could attract mass reader. Though there is colossal massive of pseudo-historical literature represented by itself the mixture of fantasy and historical modeling substitute.

There is practically no phenomenon in Kazakhstan such as literature process. This is another unpleasant line of literature periphery of the Republic. Many publishing houses are in reality simply printing houses aimed not at readers’ satisfaction but at getting government contracts. Government contract allows to get profit and in the meantime to publish books which have no readers demand. If Russia shows though insignificant but growth of book market in 2009 year, Kazakhstan saw the recession. Usual publishing houses think of readers and writers Kazakhstani ones put at the top only profit.

One more global tendency of these years is – strengthen of differentiation at the book market. Romance novels, military history, automobiles, cooking receipts, detective stories, science fiction and other categories of literature often have non-crossing between each other readers. Quantities measures will play greater role when target audience become more sharply formed. So the buckle to Russian book market is objective and largely constrained issue for Kazakhstan. If we go under Uzbek way then it will bring us nothing except cultural, educational and civilizational regress.

Printing opportunities in Kazakhstan are notably in advance the potential content. Who needs bright pictures and glossy paper if you cannot draw upon books anything benefiting for your life? Authors must write interesting. While self-regulated system at local book market hasn’t work yet. Writer and author cannot find each other and there are no any professional agents between them. When the book market has no its own offer we have to reap the fruits of periphery strengthen. It’s not the worse alternative. When you have no opportunity to buckle to some full-featured intellectual sphere together with inability to create its own then it will lead to increasing the entropy and appreciation of alcohol.