Estonian Postimees book publisher reduces operations
The Postimees Group’s book publishing house, Postimees Kirjastus, is planning to lay off staff and reduce its size. As a result of declining book readership and general price increases.
Ingrid Saar, Postimees Group’s HR manager, said that from January 2023, “Postimees Kirjastus” will cut down on publishing fiction and primarily publish selected popular science works, including the “Postimehe Raamat” series.
“This decision (has been made) due to changes in the book publishing market, and a number of unfavorable factors – a decline in reading, a decline in consumer purchasing power and a rapid increase in input costs, especially the price of paper and printing. Publishing the current volume of books is no longer sustainable,” Saar said.
Saar did not specify how many people would be affected by the layoffs, but confirmed that the publishing house would continue to operate on a smaller scale and with a reduced staff.
Postimehe Kirjastus OÜ was founded in 2021. In its annual report for the last financial year, which ended on April 30, 2022, the company stated that the publishing industry faces a number of challenges. These mainly relate to rapid growth in cost of materials and staffing, as well as a paper shortage, which occurred during the winter period in 2021.
A total of 70 books were published by the publishing house in 2021-2022, including four reprints. Last year, the publishing house lost €102,000 on a turnover of just under €400,000.
Source: Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR)