A success story in Ivano-Frankivsk: Lileia-NV publishing house (08/27/00)

A success story in Ivano-Frankivsk: Lileia-NV publishing house

by Oksana Zakydalsky

IVANO-FRANKIVSK - The focal point of Plast activity in Ivano-Frankivsk, the employer of many Plast members and sponsor of various Plast activities, is the publishing firm Lileia-NV. The publisher of the works of Yuri Andrukhovych, a Ukrainian translation of Zbigniew Brzezinski's "The Grand Chessboard," as well as a new edition of Baden-Powell's "Scouting for Boys" in Ukrainian, winner of numerous prizes for its publications - Lileia-NV is a publisher known throughout Ukraine.

In the June issue of the magazine Krytyka, in an article on the design and look of books, author Luidmila Taran bemoans the fact that so many good books published in Ukraine look so boring. But she singles out some publishers as exceptions - among them Lileia-NV.

The director of Lileia-NV and Plast National Council member is Vasyl Ivanochko. Asked how he got into the publishing business he replied: "In 1995 I was the leader of a Plast patrol called Nichni Volotsiuhy (Night Vagabonds) here in Ivano-Frankivsk and my boys were graduating from school, going out into the world on their own. I was afraid that we would lose contact, that they would just disappear. So we decided to set up a company, some sort of enterprise, so that we would have a joint project that would keep us together. Because we knew that Plast needed printed materials both for its own use and to disseminate information about Plast and one of the boys was computer literate, we decided to set up a publishing enterprise.

"We wanted to do some good, but also to earn a little for ourselves. We had no money at all, so we turned to the Plast publishing firm in Ternopil - Lileia - which was then enjoying some degree of success. They gave us some seed money and, at first, we were their affiliate. In half a year, having gained some experience and earned a little money, we registered our own firm - Lileya-NV (the NV from Nichni Volotsiuhy). Lileya was a co-founder but within a short time we bought them out and became totally independent. That's how it all began."

At first, the company published booklets, leaflets and forms needed by Plast, but, as they gained more experience, it decided to expand and in 1997 Lileia-NV turned to publishing literary works. The publisher wanted to find interesting contemporary writers, to promote good literature written in Ukrainian. The firm was lucky as there are some two dozen good writers in Ivano Frankivsk - good enough to guarantee some measure of success with their books. But Lileia-NV was extremely lucky to get Yuri Andrukhovych's "Perversii" (Perversions) as its first book, as Mr. Andrukhovych was already a critically acclaimed novelist and poet and becoming more popular in Ukraine.

Mr. Ivanochko recalled that the company threw all its efforts into putting out the book. At that time Lileia-NV had no printing press, so the search for a suitable printer led Mr. Ivanochko to Petro Tyma in Poland (a Plast connection) who put him in touch with Tyrsa printers in Warsaw, where the book was printed. Other books followed and also were printed in Poland. When inflation hit in 1998, Poland became too expensive. So Lileia-NV bought its own printing press.

In 1997, with Andrukhovych's book enjoying success, the publisher decided to submit the book for competition at the annual Publishers' Forum. Mr. Ivanochko said, "We didn't feel very optimistic, knowing we were up against some publishing monsters, but we went ahead anyway. The book won first prize as 'best work of a contemporary Ukrainian author.' Since then, we have submitted our publications for competition every year and have always won some sort of first prize. I guess people like our books."

Today Lileia-NV has been reorganized into four separate firms: publishing and preparation for printing - Mr. Ivanochko heads this branch; a printing firm run by Roman Onufriv; a market research and marketing firm under Petro Avrish; and a service bureau headed by Anatolii Kochenko. There are 45 people employed in the four firms. Although not yet making much money, it is a sound company and is expanding. The 1998 inflation crisis hit the company hard - several big projects, into which the Lileia-NY had invested large sums expecting good returns, were in the works at the time, but the inflation ate up the earnings. However, Lileia-NV adapted and today is better prepared to react quickly to such vagaries of the marketplace. The new problem today is that the general population is becoming impoverished and fewer people are able to afford books.

Pointing to Krytyka's praise of Lileia-NV's books as attractive, I asked Mr. Ivanochko whether the look of a book was important to him. "I studied to be an artist and completed art studies at the Ivano-Frankivsk Pedagogical Institute. Hence the look of a book is something I understand. The design of our books is done by professionals, but I usually grill the potential designer to make sure he understands the book. I see myself as an intermediary between the author and the reader, and I want to make sure that the illustrations and the visual elements of the book supplement the text itself. Personally, I remember a book by the way it looked and I believe that a good text must also look good," he answered.

Other than serving its clients, Lileia-NV has projects of its own - one of which is the Plast Library. They produce publications needed by Plast in three areas: Plast history - memoirs, biographies, collections of writings; scouting materials - translations of contemporary scouting materials from Germany and Poland, as well translations of some works of Seton-Thompson are planned; and contemporary material produced by Plast members, both literary and scholarly. Some Plast members write their diploma theses on Plast topics - in history and methodology - and, if they need to have this published, Mr. Ivanochko says he is ready to help them.

A success story indeed: Lileia-NV evolved from a Plast project to engage teenage boys in a useful activity to a four-firm enterprise and designation by the premier intellectual magazine of Ukraine as an example of a publisher that produces first-class Ukrainian books.

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