Litnet

"Litnet" is a self-published literary online platform for writers and readers, in which registered users can post their fiction, short stories, novels and fan fiction. The site is also a platform for conducting literary competitions of publishing houses in various genres for new and experienced authors. The site allows authors to print their works. The audience of the portal in April 2022, according to its own data, amounted to more than 30 million people.

History

2024: Association with Litgorod

Two literary portals, Litnet and Litgorod, announced the merger. Litnet announced this on October 29, 2024. This strategic decision is aimed at strengthening the position of both companies, further forming a player in the market of independent authors, creating opportunities for writers, readers and the development of the book industry as a whole.

The total number of authors on both platforms will exceed 120 thousand people by October 2024, and in 2025 the Litnet and Litgorod sites plan to jointly double the amount of royalties paid to writers. And thanks to a significant increase in the number of books presented on each of the platforms, readers will have access to one of the most extensive libraries of independent authors in Runet.

The unification of Litnet and Lithgorod will provide authors and readers with more effective tools for work and communication. Our goal is the most comfortable conditions for authors so that they can fully devote themselves to the creation and promotion of their books, noted the general director of Litnet Boris Makarenkov.

The merger will significantly increase investment in the development of platforms and set as its goal to create the most comfortable environment for authors and readers when interacting with platforms. The increase in investments will make it possible to develop the book market and promote the positions of independent authors in the Russian-speaking segment of literature.

The Commonwealth of Literary Portals opens the way to high-tech opportunities in the Russian-speaking readership market. We plan to jointly develop a convenient service, functionality for sales growth, pay close attention to modern, constantly emerging genres. And of course, our goal is to attract even more book lovers. Readers will be able to purchase wonderful works at affordable prices, and the remuneration of authors for their work will constantly grow, said Svetlana Saturday, a shareholder of Lithgorod.

Both platforms will continue to exist and develop in parallel, offering users various opportunities.

2023: Co-owner of Eksmo-AST received 51% in the Litnet samizdat service

Co-owner of the largest publishing group in Russia "Eksmo-AST" (it includes the publishing houses "Eksmo," AST, "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber," etc., the group of companies "Litres," etc.) Oleg Novikov became the owner of 51% of the Litnet samizdat service. This became known in early April 2023.

As a representative of Litnet told Vedomosti, Novikov will be an independent investor, operational management will completely remain with the existing service team. The newspaper cites data from the SPRAK-Interfax system, according to which the general director and main owner (76%) of Litnet LLC is the former general director of the Swedish audiobook service Storytel, a shareholder of the T8 Publishing Technologies holding Boris Makarenkov. Prior to that, Litnet belonged to Ukrainian entrepreneur Sergei Grushko. The remaining 24% in the LLC is owned in equal share by Maxim Basov and Andris Kibields. After the deal with Novikov, Kibields went out of business, the shares of other co-owners will decrease, Makarenkov said to the publication. He did not name the distribution of shares.

Maxim Stulov

The amount of the transaction was also not disclosed. According to the interlocutor of the publication, familiar with the work of Litnet, the entire asset could be estimated at 1 billion rubles

The purchase of 51% of Litnet is a long-term investment in support of national authors, Oleg Novikov explained. Makarenkov confirmed that the deal will allow Litnet to move forward more actively, maintaining traffic growth amid digital development. According to him, in 2023 the service will focus on development in order to continue to develop the segment of independent authors.

Boris Kuznetsov, director of the Rosman publishing house, noted that by April 2023, samizdat as part of the publishing business is only being formed, but the trend is already obvious that readers are starting to spend more time reading samizdat instead of books in paper and "classic" digital books.^[1]

2022: Change of ownership

In early June 2022, it became known about the change of ownership of the Litnet platform. It was the shareholder of the holding "T8 Publishing Technologies," the founder of the publishing platform Rugram and the general director Storytel Russia Boris Makarenkov.

As the representative of Makarenkov told Kommersant, the entrepreneur bought 100% of Litnet from the co-founder of the service of the Ukrainian entrepreneur Sergei Grushko and received all the rights to the brand, platform and intellectual rights of Litnet in Russia. Its participants did not disclose the financial terms of the transaction.

Boris Makarenkov - the new owner of Litnet

As specified on the Litnet website, the transaction is the sale of one of its projects by the LitNet Group. Among the projects that remain in the group is the Buknet service.

After the completion of the transfer of the technical platform, our holding will no longer be related to Litnet. For 7 years we paid too much attention, invested our time and strength in the development of Russian literature, and this was a mistake. Now we will be focused on other languages. There are many plans, now you need to find time, and expand the team to achieve them, - said Sergey Grushko in early June 2022.

According to him, Boris Makarenkov does not plan to close the platforms - he will develop it.

He has more experience in the literary and digital markets than mine, and knowledge for the development of new areas of the literary business, especially, - said Grushko.[2]

2019: Launch of a new e-book distribution model in Russia - rent

December 23, 2019 it became known about the appearance in Russia of a new model of distribution of e-books. The Litnet service offers customers to rent digital content.

According to Kommersant, this model will apply to books in the samizdat segment, within its framework access to the book for five days will be sold at half price. According to the co-founder of the service, Sergei Grushko, the service worked in test mode for a year and accounted for about 10% of sales of all completed books.

It became known about the appearance in Russia of a new model of distribution of e-books

Book rentals in 2020 will be launched by other online bibiliotecs, according to Litnet. This distribution model will become one of the drivers of the samizdat market, the company said. The service is in talks with several Russian publishers to expand the rental model to other segments - sales from publishers have already been launched in the Spanish version of Litnet.

Publishers are accumulating books that have been on the market for one to two years. The sales potential at full price for such books is lower than through rental, - the representative of Litnet is sure.

The Bookmate service also began renting out e-books and for this it launched the Everybook service. By December 23, 2019, it is only available in Holland. Bookmate CEO Andrei Baev told the publication that the project has been tested for two months and has already received "the most powerful support from local publishers."

The Litres company (another library of e-books) believes that subscribing to books in chapters is more promising than renting, especially if you take into account the short rental period.

According to the general director of Litres, Sergei Anuriev, book rental is an interesting model, since it stimulates people to read. However, Litnet has rent available for only five days, while the user takes an average of 10-14 days to read one book, he said.^[3]

See also

• E-book readers (EBR) in Russia
• E-Books (Global Market)
• E-books (Russian market)

Notes