Shpak, Viktor (2021). INNOVATIVE ASPECTS OF THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS OF THE LATE XX - EARLY XXI CENTURIES. Social and Human Sciences. Polish-Ukrainian scientific journal (https://issn2391-4165.webnode.com.ua/), 04 (32)

 

INNOVATIVE ASPECTS OF THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS OF THE LATE XX - EARLY XXI CENTURIES

УДК 94(477): 334.722 [1990/2010]

Shpak, Viktor, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Borys Grinchenko University of Kyiv (Ukraine, Kyiv), Institute of Journalism, Department of Publishing, Professor, victorshpak@ukr.net

SUMMARY

Publishing business usually belongs to the sphere of small business, the innovative nature of which is the key to success. This article is devoted to the study of the innovative component of editorial and publishing activities in the context of small business development. The technical and technological innovations of the restructuring of the publishing business of the end of the XX – beginning of the XXI century are shown. The main trends in the transition of printed products to digital format and the advantages of the latest technologies in publishing are clarified. It is concluded that the publishing scientific and technological revolution of this period gave a powerful impetus to the creation of small editorial and publishing and printing companies in Ukraine, the introduction of the latest equipment and technologies.

Key words: innovation, publisher, editors, scientific and technological revolution, the Internet.

 

ІННОВАЦІЙНІ АСПЕКТИ ПЕРЕБУДОВИ ВИДАВНИЧОЇ СПРАВИ КІНЦЯ ХХ - ПОЧАТКУ ХХІ СТ.

Шпак, Віктор, доктор історичних наук, Київський університет імені Бориса Грінченка (Україна, Київ), Інститут журналістики, кафедра видавничої справи, професор, victorshpak@ukr.net

АНОТАЦІЯ

Видавниче підприємництво як правило належить до сфери малого бізнесу, інноваційний характер якого є запорукою успішності. Ця стаття присвячена дослідженню інноваційної складової редакційно-видавничої діяльності в контексті розвитку малого підприємництва галузі. Показано технічні та технологічні новації перебудови видавничої справи кінця ХХ – початку ХХІ ст. З’ясовано основні тенденції переходу друкованої продукції в цифровий формат та переваги новітніх технологій у видавничій справі. Зроблено висновок, що видавнича науково-технічна революція кінця означеного періоду дала потужний поштовх до створення в Україні малих редакційно-видавничих та поліграфічних підприємств, запровадження новітньої техніки та технологій.

Ключові слова: інновація, видавництво, редакція, науково-технічна революція, Інтернет.

 

Raising the task of creating favorable conditions for the development of small innovative entrepreneurship in the rank of public policy priorities has been successfully passed by developed countries, including Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Such actions have become a powerful impetus for the explosive growth of innovation activity in Israel, China and India. Thus, at the beginning of the millennium, more than 60% of small industrial enterprises in Germany were innovative. [1, p. 115].

O. Afonin, E. Voloshanenko, K. Indutna, G. Glotova, O. Dobrovolsky, V. Bebyk, V. Bazyliuk, V. Teremko, M. Tymoshyk, I. Kovba, L. Shvaika, B. Durnyak, M. Senchenko, V. Tkachenko, A. Shtangret, Z. Partiko and others joined the study of the publishing industry of independent Ukraine from the point of view of entrepreneurial activity.

The purpose of the article is to study the innovative component of editorial and publishing activities in the context of small business development.

One of the main features of entrepreneurship is the presence of an innovative component. In Europe, the development of small enterprises follows a unified approach in accordance with the European Charter for Small Enterprises, which was adopted in 2000. This has enabled the member states of the European Union to form a unified approach to the development of small businesses. The countries that have joined this document consider small and medium-sized businesses as a key element of innovation and job creation. [2, p. 369]

And this is understandable, freedom of search, encouragement of initiative, lack of bureaucracy in resolving issues, willingness to take risks, rapid verification in practice of the proposed original solutions are inherent in small businesses.

Small publishing companies clearly demonstrate this. At the beginning of the 1990s, when the country underwent transformational changes related to the transition to market relations, there were also revolutionary changes in the technical equipment of the publishing industry and, accordingly, the technology of the editorial and publishing process. The main elements of such changes were: the emergence of computer publishing systems; use of offset printing, technology CTF and CTP  during the preparation of printing plates, the use of digital printing, electronic means of information transmission, Internet sales technologies, etc.

Each element of publishing technology has become focused on obtaining a financial result. This is the main difference between the publishing house in market conditions. No one gives publishers instructions on which products or authors to publish, and in the presence of a state order, there is an inter-publishing competition for it.

In 1990-1992, the practice was constant, when small business structures were created for new technological processes. They were called to quickly master new equipment and technologies, gain a competitive advantage and, subsequently, bring it into basic production. An example is the popular and one of the largest newspapers in Ukraine – "Vechirnii Kyiv".

At that time, the technology of manufacturing products by high printing was widely practiced in the newspaper business. It provided for a set, layout of columns in the printing house. The technology of making printing plates was harmful to the health of workers because it used molten lead. He was replaced by offset printing, which required new technological solutions for the preparation of printing plates.

The pioneer of the introduction of new technology was the publishing house "Molod" (now - "Ukraine"). Here, back in the 1980s, domestic phototypesetting devices  began to be used instead of a linotype set. It was progressive, but they were cumbersome and required an initial set of textual information on special punched tapes or punch cards. In addition, they were difficult to maintain and often failed.

Foreign personal computer equipment was unavailable due to foreign policy restrictions. Gorbachev's "democratization" of the USSR and the corresponding political and economic easing on the part of the West have somewhat opened the borders for the latest machinery and technology.

In 1990-1991, the young business structures of the western regions of the country established the supply of personal computers from abroad and began to adapt them to different needs, primarily small businesses. It was the young people of Ternopil who introduced to the market the first publishing computer complexes that were able to make original publishing layouts in the office without the use of letterpress technology.

To master and implement the new technology, the editorial board of "Vechirky" decided to create a small enterprise. It was named - Information and Commercial Enterprise "Vechirnii Kyiv". The main purpose of the company was to prepare supplements to the newspaper. And a month later the first issue of the new weekly "Dobryvechir" was published using the new technology, and a month later the second issue – "Fazenda". Very quickly the company became famous in Kiev and began to provide services for the production of original publishing layouts for third-party editorial office and publishers.

On the computer was typing text, illustrating material was prepared, from which the electronic layout of the newspaper, magazine or book was formed. After printing it on a printer, we received a paper version of the original layout, which was sent to the printing house.  There it was re-photographed with the help of special cameras and received a film version of the original layout, from which the printing plate was made. Then it was a technical revolution. In addition, printing has virtually ceased to be a harmful production. The need for technologies using lead has disappeared.

The publishing scientific and technological revolution gave impetus to the creation of small printing companies built on the use of offset printing technologies. They bought used typewriters and, in fact, began the formation of domestic private printing.

The vast majority of printing companies in Ukraine did not have a complete technological cycle of publishing, so they practiced technological and subject cooperation. The most common examples of technological cooperation are the production of printing forms from the original layout of the publication, prepared at another company; stitching or finishing services. Examples of subject cooperation are the production at the partner company of the components of the publication (binding, color insert , bookmarks, etc.). It is clear that the editorial process has changed significantly. If earlier it actually ended at the stage of editing and proofreading (other processes, including typing, took place in the printing house), now a completely overlaid original layout is being prepared for the printing house: in addition to editing and proofreading and preparation and processing of illustrative material, there is a process of creating a so-called modular grid and compiling (layout) of the publication with the production of the original  publishing layout. The introduction of computer technology in publishing has made it possible to significantly automate processes and minimize production costs. The use of the latest technologies has eliminated the need to keep in the publishing house such a unit as  typing departments.

The latest technology has significantly expanded the possibilities of the publication in terms of choice of format and font, their compliance with the purpose, content, aesthetic and hygienic requirements, reading comfort.

The next innovative step was the exclusion from the process of making a paper version of the original layout. This is made possible by the use of special film and new printers capable of working with it. Thanks to this technology, the cost of preparing the original has significantly decreased, promptness  has increased.

The need to improve the quality, especially of color products led to the use of new technology built on the basis of special reprographic techniques, which allowed to perform rasterization (halftone image is translated into a microstrip [raster] image), color separation, output of films with original layouts at a fundamentally higher level quality. The film is exposed to a laser beam. The classic color separation based on analog electronic (color dividers-color correctors) or optical (reproduction cameras) systems is a thing of the past. It was replaced by computer color separation, which significantly improved the quality of the process.

This innovation has virtually stopped the mass printing of domestic high-quality printing products abroad. Hardware and software were not cheap , so very quickly small enterprises were created on its basis, which provided services to both publishers and printing houses.

The electronic version of the publication can also be the basis for publications in electronic media, for example, on publishing pages on the Internet or in the form of a CD ROM. In turn, printing is increasingly becoming a computerized production, which is managed via the Internet.

Recently, more and more printing houses are switching to the technology of making printing plates directly from a computer, bypassing the process of making photoforms. This process was restrained for some time due to the need for special, rather expensive, printing forms. Now this obstacle has been overcome. The latest Chinese devices allow the use of conventional offset printing plates. This innovation allowed not only to reduce the cost of production, but also gave impetus to the creation of small businesses in this area of business.

Popular in the last century, letterpress printing in a relatively short time was replaced by offset printing. In the late 80's he still tried to resist, replacing lead printing plates with photopolymer plates, however, to overcome its main disadvantages (high cost of printing plates, complexity of the device, limited printing quality and low production speeds), this method of printing failed. [3, p. 57]

Competition has forced entrepreneurs to look for the most optimal, primarily by the algorithm: price - quality, printing methods for various printing products.

Recently, many business structures have been created that build their business on the use of digital printing, when the image from the file is transferred directly to paper through the technology of obtaining prints using a variable printing form. The technology is based on inkjet or laser printing, which is controlled by a special computer system.However, having high efficiency, the ability to increase the color of the product, low cost for small runs, the ability to print even one copy, the ability to make changes and adjust colors after printing a test sheet; the ability to personalize data, digital printing does not replace traditional offset, but complements it, occupying a niche of small editions [4, p. 78.] Operational digital printing is now developing dynamically, and as a business it is becoming more and more attractive.

An innovative feature of modern printing is interactive printing or remote printing. There is a tendency to move from mass production to mass personalization of products according to customer needs, ie individual choice of publication, its individual sections, tracking and printing from electronic media or databases on request, the ability to make changes to the publication immediately before printing, periodical reprint , printing on demand, regardless of product circulation, etc. The use of such technologies removes the dependence of unit cost on circulation.

Modern communication systems allow the customer to create their own archives of files on the sites of printing houses, which significantly speeds up the process of ordering, reprinting, making the necessary changes.

Digital print management via the Internet creates a fundamentally new form of interaction between the owner of information, the manufacturer of printed products and the consumer. In printing, a new environment is emerging - network digital printing houses, in which printers provide communication between the owner of information and its consumer.

The low profitability of the publishing industry in its traditional forms forces entrepreneurs-editors to look for new innovative areas of activity. In recent years, electronic content has been rapidly introduced to the market – that is, work with electronic, interactive and audio publications. Readers' interest in this innovation is also growing. This is caused not only by a change in the psychology of the younger generation, but also, above all, the decline in the material capabilities of readers.

"One can evaluate the benefits, risks and threats of digital culture in different ways, but there is nowhere to go from its reality," says V. Teremko. – It would be too frivolous and professionally incompetent to take an e-book as a new-fangled and fast-paced banality. It is more rational to recognize that it is one of the most characteristic artifacts of the globalized information world. It is connected with the view of the content of the book as electronic content and the corresponding creation of its elements, as well as the new specifics of reading. In it, some experts see the prerequisites for raising the publishing business to the level of the needs of modern civilization, others - degradation trends and a source of as yet unknown psychocultural problems. On this basis, there is a growing belief that the gradual narrowing of the sphere of functioning, the status transformation of traditional (printed, paper) books, the restructuring of publishing, the focus of authors, publishers, distributors and the latest media - the civilizational reality of the present . And the shallowness, the exhaustion of some, until recently, capital-intensive sources is an incentive for authors and publishers to search for innovative ways of working” [5, p. 14].

Within the framework of the XVIII International Publishers' Forum in Lviv, a business forum "Presentation of Survival and Prosperity in the Digital Revolution: Publishing in the XXI Century" was held. Digital media expert Joseph Galarno (USA) presented to the Ukrainian public the benefits of the latest technologies in publishing. It was about dot-comas in the publishing business.

Dot-coms (.com) are companies whose business models are based entirely on the Internet. The technologies of dot-com companies include:

• higher risk tolerance;

  • easy process;

  • general goals and strategies;

  • fewer internal secrets;

  • technology as a creative art;

  • more serious treatment of hiring, firing and promotion [6].

J. Gallarno also highlighted the advantages of using technology in the context of simplifying production. For example, in a traditional publishing house, it all starts with signing a contract with the author, going through many stages of prepress and the printing process, and the product appears in about a year. In dot insects, it all starts with the idea of ​​the publisher (general manager) and ends with the creation of the site. This process takes from a few weeks to several months. In a traditional publishing house, there are various people who are responsible for research, development, and commercialization. In dot insects, the product manager is the actual director of the whole process. Thus, technologies speed up and simplify the product release process [6].

Among the purely publishing innovative projects of recent times are: interactive editions for children of KyivSeaPirates publishing house (according to the founders of the publishing house the project is for them the quintessence of business and creativity, because for each of the project participants it is not only about money but also about creative realization. his previous experience in the field of Internet technologies, marketing, design and animation); creation of a multicultural publishing house, which was managed by JV "Komora" (the idea of ​​the publishing project was born during long and fruitful conversations of writer Oksana Zabuzhko, artist Rostislav Luzhetsky, sisters Gali and Lesya Telnyuk and head of JV "Komora" Oleg Repetsky); The Veranda Project is a Ukrainian-American publishing house founded in 2014 by American writer Kora Schwartz (USA) and Ukrainian poet and translator Iryna Vikirchak (Ukraine). in Ukraine, as well as establishing a dialogue between authors / readers of the two countries), etc. [7].

In the Western European market, the pace of introduction of e-books is slightly higher, but also not without certain problems. Among them: technical-technological and organizational problems with digitization of already printed books; compliance with copyright; development of a system for the promotion and sale of e-books, etc.

Audiobooks are gaining popularity. If in the last century they were used mainly for the visually impaired, now it is a separate publishing business project. There are numerous problems that hinder the development of the audiobook market, almost the same problems as e-books: the legal basis for the work, the lack of controls over compliance with copyright; lack of specialized places for sales; small assortment, etc.

However, the book will remain a book forever. The director of the Book Chamber of Ukraine M. Senchenko has a similar opinion:

-          book production not only does not decrease, but also steadily increases;

-          in the information market the main competitor of the book was not CDs, but periodicals, the press; its large number and versatility, ease of presentation of material, brevity and structure that facilitate the perception of modern man information; moreover, the most expensive newspaper is cheaper than a paperback book;

-          the book is the most effective means of transmitting knowledge and ideas, and reading the book - most actively contributes to the development of human beliefs, stimulating its participation in society; monographs and textbooks contribute to the transformation of information into fundamental scientific knowledge;

-          Innovations in the field of mass media cannot be interpreted as a potential threat to traditional media - they all exist in parallel and develop new opportunities for book publishing and book distribution [8, p. 5].

 

Conclusion. The publishing scientific and technological revolution of the end of the last century gave a powerful impetus to the creation of small editorial and publishing and printing enterprises in Ukraine, the introduction of the latest equipment and technologies. However, chronic lack of working capital and long-term lending do not contribute to the development of innovation processes. As a result, the national publishing industry lags behind the world's leading countries by decades.

 

REFERENCES:

1.    Kuznietsova, I.S. (2003). Problemy ta perspektyvy rozvytku maloho innovatsiinoho pidpryiemnytstva v Ukraini [Problems and prospects for the development of small innovative entrepreneurship in Ukraine]. Ekonomika i prohnozuvannia, 4. 115–122.

2.        Vatchenko, O.B. Svitovyi dosvid rozvytku maloho biznesu [World experience of small business development] Retrieved from: http://ena.lp.edu.ua

3.         Tymoshyk, M. (2007). Istoriia vydavnychoi spravy [History of publishing] (496 p.) K. : Nasha kultura i nauka.

4.         Shpak, V. (2012). Vydavnychyi biznes [Publishing business] (352 p.) K. : VPK «Ekspres-polihraf».

5.         Teremko, V. (2011). Stratehichni vyprobuvannia elektronnoiu knyzhnistiu [Strategic tests of e-books] Visnyk knyzhkovoi palaty, 4, 10–14.

6.         Baturevych, I. Maibutnie vydavnychoi spravy : tradytsii chy innovatsii? [The future of publishing: tradition or innovation?] Kulturno-vydavnychyi proekt «Chytomo». Retrieved from: http://www.chytomo.com/news/maybutnye-vydavnychoyi-spravy-tradytsiyi-chy-innovatsiyi.

7.      Nikolenko, D. (2014). 5 istorii molodykh vydavnytstv Ukrainy [5 stories of young publishing houses of Ukraine] Literaturnyi daidzhest. Retrieved from: http://bukvoid.com.ua/digest/2014/02/10/162911.html (04.12.14).

8.         Senchenko, M. (2003). Svitove knyhovydannia i vypusk tvoriv druku v Ukraini [World book publishing and publishing in Ukraine]. Visnyk Knyzhkovoi palaty, 4. 3–11.