1. The Ukrainian book market is working, although almost ten months of war have seriously affected it. He will never be the same again. Of course, we can expect the state to remember the unfinished yes-support that helped the industry to meet the war in a more or less decent condition, without which everything would have been much worse. Such new assistance after a victory will make it possible to recover at least partially what was lost.

2. Let's start with the state of the market. No one counted its volume. The main factors of the market this year:
⁃ completion of Russian expansion, I hope, forever. In the first two months of the year, when yes-support was emptying the shelves of bookstores, the Russians managed to transfer to Ukraine a huge surplus of goods, which still occupy space on our market. There are no bans, except domestic ones, many bookstores have restricted themselves from books originating from the Russian Federation and Belarus;
⁃ a large part of the readers who bought books in Russian do not do so in principle;
⁃ millions of those who bought books are outside of Ukraine, and delivery abroad is often more expensive than the actual ordered books;
⁃ the cost of a new book increased by approximately 2.3 times over the course of a year. This is caused, first of all, by the increase in the price of energy carriers on the world market and the shortage of paper in Europe. The rise in prices in the industry has slowed, but not ended;
⁃ part of the bookstores and buyers remained in the occupied territories and in the zones of active hostilities, part of the buyers lost their homes or changed their place of residence. This has not improved the state of payments within the market, but most of those who sell books pay on time;
⁃ New bookstores are opening, which indicates not only the prospects of the market but also the expectation on the part of the publishers that the state will fulfill its obligations to return part of the rent expenses in accordance with the new law;
⁃ For almost half a year, the President has not signed the law that prohibits the publication and sale in Ukraine of everything related to Russia and Belarus - publishing products, works, etc. The law does not apply to everything Soviet, pre-Soviet and written in Russian in other countries, including Ukraine;
⁃ Ukrainian pirates, who publish here and openly sell books published in the Russian Federation after February 24, raised their heads. The state ignores requests to stop the sale of such publications;

⁃ Ukrainian publishers failed to significantly increase the sale of copyrights for Ukrainian literature to other countries, their presence at book fairs and in bookstores of other countries, but there are factors that give reason to look at the future with some optimism.

3. Regarding the prospects of the Ukrainian book market. Everything that market participants could do to maintain the level of sales has been done. The future state of book publishing depends not only on the successes of the Armed Forces at the front but also on several factors that already determine the position of our state today:
⁃ urgent replacement of books of Soviet and Russian origin in the funds of public and school libraries;
⁃ carrying out, finally, the reform of the library network with a mandatory definition of who specifically (state or community) is responsible for replenishing and replacing public library funds;
⁃ new standards that will require the availability of books not only in Ukrainian but also in the languages of EU countries in the libraries of universities and schools;
⁃ The final ousting of branches of Russian publishing houses from the Ukrainian market, of course, in a legal way;
⁃ Implementation of legislation on book certificates;
⁃ Attracting foreign sponsorship funds through MKIP to replenish library funds already in 2023.

4. The big problem of the industry, or the growth area - as you prefer, is personnel. The outflow of specialists for preparing books for printing abroad, including forever, will make it impossible to increase the volume of book production after the war, when the question of quickly replacing publications from the Russian Federation in libraries and meeting the high demand of bookstores will arise.

5. I am sure that the war and the victorious actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will give birth to a whole galaxy of new authors for the industry, who have something to say to readers, and thus influence the development of society.

6. Wrote about the plan to publish a book of memoirs of the former Chancellor of Germany Frau Merkel in 2024 - received the expected dose of curses and insults on the Internet, including in book Telegram channels.
This time I consider it necessary to answer. Yes, Europe's policy towards Ukraine and Russia was not in our favor for many years in a row. Yes, Angela Merkel was one of those who personifies this policy. However, have Ukrainian politicians always been models of resistance to Russia? They were definitely worthy of a dialogue with Europe about universal values? Since 1991, Ukrainian politicians have not sold Ukrainian independence to Russia?

7. Dear critics, You do not trust your fellow citizens so much that you believe that they will not be able to adequately and critically perceive first-hand information in their native language from a person who knows everything about how European politics was created in the years that preceded the beginning of the war in 2014, how was the actual permission of Russia to occupy Crimea? Are you sure that we should not know about her vision of the Minsk agreements? Do you know better?
And the people who embody Ukrainian politics today, their analysts and assistants, and employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, should not also see this publication in Ukrainian?
If the prospect of picking up this book bothers you personally, maybe you won't mind if someone else does?

8. Should the book market in Ukraine offer readers exclusively publications by Ukrainian authors who have never "lost" in your eyes? Do all foreigners need to be checked for loyalty?
Perhaps, to clear the market, it will be enough to remove from it books by modern authors from the Russian Federation and Belarus and translations published there, and everything else will be regulated by the market?
Are you sure that constant pressure on publishers helps the book market, increases the supply, and develops the intelligence and artistic taste of readers?