Brand Strategies for Book Publishing Houses

The author's research of this master's thesis is aimed at revealing the main main differences between branding strategies of book publishers in Russia and the United States in order to determine the possibilities for subsequent adaptation of US practices in the domestic market. To realize this goal, the author carried out theoretical and empirical studies. At the first stage the author considers the basic theory of branding and conducts comparative analysis of theoretical concepts. Further the author conducts a three-stage research that included a desk analysis of the Russian and US book markets based on data from the Russian Book Chamber and the American Publising Association, the study of web-sites and social networks of leading Russian and American publishers, a consumer survey of two groups of respondents, and in-depth interviews with Russian and American experts. The paper presents the results obtained and formulates some recommendations for developing an effective branding strategy for a competitive Russian publishing house in order to increase its recognition in the domestic b2c market.