The potential of ukrainian horror: state of the market and strategies of publishing communication

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Куца О. О., Lystvak H. B. № 2 (84) 130-142 Image Image

The state of Ukrainian horror literature on the modern publishing market is ana­lysed. The main players of the bookmarket are outlined, in whose repertoire there are positions of translated and original horror. A retrospective analysis of publishing statistic from 2005 to 2019 reveals that a wave-like trend of growth and decline is observed approximately every five years during this period. In 2019, the release of horror works was in a growth phase, the number of titles and circulation of publications have been steadily increasing since 2016. Translated literature is the undisputed leader both in terms of the number of titles and the size of circulation. Among the most notable publishers of translated horror are “Klub Simeynoho Dozvillya”, “Zhupansky Publishing House”, “KM-Books”, etc. The most notable original horror publishers include “Dim Khymer”, “Vivat”, “Folio”, “UA Comix”, etc. The readiness of universal and non-specialized publishers to release successful horror works that have already been published abroad can be traced. Genre-wise, Ukrainian works are represented by thrillers, dark fantasy, splatterpunk collections, etc. The Ukrainian horror community can be divided into two parts: formal (publishers) and informal (fanzines and self-publishers). The informal part is represented by fanzines “Babay” and “Pidval” — amateur initiatives of interested people who decide to fill in the niche on their own. Formal and informal parts of the community differ in their approaches to publishing communication and the search for authors. There is a trend towards cooperation rather than competition: representatives of publishing houses and fanzines join each other’s projects. The genre is gradually taking root in the book market, which has practical prospects for diversifying the publishing portfolio of Ukrainian publishers.

Keywords: horror, horror literature, book market, publishing communication, publishing repertoire.

doi: 10.32403/0554-4866-2022-2-84-130-142


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