EKSMO-AST is the largest general interest publishing company in Russia. The house publishes fiction, nonfiction, children’s, YA, reference and educational books.

EKSMO-AST is home to many authors from outside Russia, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Stephen King, Paulo Coelho, Dan Brown, Anna Gavalda, Neil Gaiman, Suzanne Collins, Lauren Weisberger, Candace Bushnell, Stephenie Meyer, Wilbur Smith, James Patterson, Harlan Coben, Matt Haig, and George R.R..Martin. Bestselling Russian authors include Boris Akunin, Edward Radzinsky, Dmitri Glukhovskiy, Sergei Lukjanenko, Ludmila Ulitskaya, Viktor Pelevin, Tatyana Tolstaya, Marina Stepnova, Evgeny Vodolazkin, Zakhar Prilepin, Pavel Sanaev, Darya Dontsova, Alexandra Marinina, Yuri Nikitin, Vasily Golovachev, Nick Perumov, Vera Kamsha, Vadim Panov and Alexey Pekhov.

EKSMO consists of 3 main divisions: Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Children's. The Fiction division publishes crime novels, fantasy and science fiction, modern prose and lyrics, classics, romance, and other genre fiction. Nonfiction is focused on DIY titles related to health, cooking, esoteric, sport, and beauty. The Children's division publishes all genres aimed at the readers aged 0 to 18.

AST publishes educational books, general books, practical books, books for children, with several imprints under each division. Corpus publishes contemporary literary fiction and non-fiction; Neoclassic features internationally bestselling works of literature from the 20th century along with nonfiction. Elena Shubina publishes contemporary Russian fiction, Russian book award winners, cultural studies, and genre fiction including romance novels, detective stories and thrillers, fantasy and science fiction. Other imprints include Astrel SPb, Vremena, Kladez, OGIZ, PROlingua, Malysh and Planeta znaniy.

The Moscow-based publishing house holds more than 40% of the Russian book market. EKSMO-AST is also active in distribution, with nine regional distribution centers in Russia

Analysis & Key Developments

Financial

In the challenging and declining Russian book market, EKSMO-AST showed a remarkably steady performance both in revenues and in profits.

Despite the difficult market environment, total publishing revenues of EKSMO-AST account for 11.26 billion RUB.

EKSMO-AST also controls various retail businesses, notably Novy Knizhniy and Bukvoed, as well as the leading Russian ebook platform Litres, which is a separate business. Altogether, revenues for all these activities amounted to 467 million USD m in 2012.

Internal organization

In 2013, EKSMO integrated the publishing house AST after announcing in mid-2012 that it gained control of several commercial divisions of AST, excluding the Bukva bookstore chain.

EKSMO acquired the Mann-Ivanov-Ferber publishing house and Alpina Business Books in 2012.

Digital

EKSMO-AST controls Litres, the leading Russian ebook platform and a forerunner in Russian e-books with total sales of more than 10 million USD in 2013. EKSMO-AST reported a 2.1% profit from digital.

International

EKSMO–AST is dedicated to broadening its international presence by acquiring translation rights as well as remaining the lead legitimate e-books retailer in Russia.

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