Bibliodiversity - Supporting Small Independent Book Publishers

„Working together for a green, competitive and inclusive Europe.“

Bibliodiversity is cultural diversity applied to the world of books. Echoing biodiversity, it refers to the critical diversity of products (books, scripts, eBooks, apps, and oral literature) made available to readers. Bibliodiversity is a complex, self-sustaining system of storytelling, writing, publishing, and other kinds of production of oral and written literature. The writers and producers are comparable to the inhabitants of an ecosystem. Bibliodiversity contributes to a thriving life of culture and a healthy eco-social system. While large publishers do contribute to publishing diversity through the quantitative importance of their production, it is not enough to guarantee bibliodiversity, which is not only measured by the number of titles available.

Independent publishers’ books bring a different outlook and voice, as opposed to the more standardised publications offered by major groups. Independent publishers’ books and other products and their preferred diffusion channels (independent booksellers, among others) are therefore essential to preserve and strengthen plurality and the diffusion of ideas.

BRAK perceives itself as a small independent publishing house and in that respect we fully agree with the above stated definition of bibliodiversity. Even if there is an Association of Publishers and Booksellers in Slovakia, it mainly represents the interests of the large "players," and many small publishers and bookstores are not members. However, we believe that particularly the small “players'' contribute significantly to the diversity of the market and to the quality of the book industry.

Based on our previous experiences with organising a unique book festival, we would like to follow-up with further and more complex activities with the aim to support and promote the concept of bibliodiversity in Slovakia and to empower small publishers.

The goals of our project are:
- to continue with the tradition of a unique festival of small book publishers
- to establish a cooperation with the Norwegian publishing house(s) and exchange experiences in the field of business and advocacy strategies
- to strengthen cooperation between small, independent publishing houses
- to reach new types of audiences