Russian publishers reportedly cut print runs after Ukrainian strikes on Wildberries warehouses

Several Russian book publishers have stopped printing new titles or reduced print runs following Ukrainian drone strikes on warehouses belonging to online retailer Wildberries, where their stock was stored, two sources at major retail chains told the business daily Kommersant.

Rosman general director Boris Kuznetsov confirmed the cuts, saying the print runs meant to be sold to cover costs had burned up, forcing publishing houses to reduce both new titles and planned projects.

Publisher Eksmo-AST said it is seeing a slight decline in its release plans for August compared with the same month last year, and will continue adjusting based on demand and the capacity of distribution channels, particularly Wildberries. Publisher Alpina said it is now more often choosing smaller print runs for reprints to optimize warehouse storage, though it has no plans to stop releasing new titles.

A source at one company said storing goods in marketplace warehouses is now dangerous, but not all publishers have enough space to store their entire print runs themselves.

Earlier reports

In early August, Kommersant reported that Russian publishers were suspending sales on Wildberries because of the strikes. At the time, Wildberries said it was not seeing publishers leave the platform.

The Russian Book Union, the Association of Book Publishers of Russia, and the Association of Book Distributors estimated that more than 11 million books — mostly fiction, children's literature, and popular science titles — burned in the Wildberries warehouses hit by Ukrainian strikes.

Ukraine has been regularly striking Wildberries' largest warehouses across Russia since mid-July, with damage to the marketplace and its sellers already estimated at hundreds of billions of rubles.