11 tags
Saturday, Oct 24, 2026
Managers make decisions without ever having complete information. If a candidate performs well in an interview, does that mean they will definitely be a good employee? If the first print run of a new book sells out in two weeks, is that a sign of sustained demand or just launch hype? If sales rise by 15% after an advertising campaign, will increasing the budget lead to further growth?
Monday, Sep 28, 2026
Most of my small projects don’t start with me wanting to code something. They start with a recurring task at work. In the case of deck-builder, that task was a monthly presentation of upcoming book releases that we used to put together manually.
I decided to automate it. In this post, I’ll explain why I needed deck-builder, how it grew from a Google Colab script into a service my team can use, and why its architecture is the way it is today.
Wednesday, Sep 23, 2026
The average print run has decreased, but that does not mean every publisher is printing fewer copies. I look at the distribution of publishing output by print-run size in the first half of 2026 and show how a small number of high-volume editions can affect the overall picture.
Thursday, Sep 17, 2026
RBC published its “Must Read” ranking of the most in-demand business books, based on revenue data from Chitai-Gorod and LitRes.1 I opened the top ten and fairly quickly found myself with an odd impression: there were hardly any books about business in it.
Tuesday, Sep 15, 2026
Revenue is holding steady, but fewer copies are selling. I look at how to separate volume and price effects, and why reprint decisions also depend on sales rates and stock levels.
Friday, Sep 11, 2026
It sounds a little extreme, but in this day and age, if your work isn’t online, it doesn’t exist.
Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!
I’ve worked in publishing for more than a decade, progressing from editor to business unit leader.
Today, I’m responsible for the strategic and operational management of a business unit, developing its product portfolio, launching new product lines, and scaling established categories.
I’m particularly interested in problems at the intersection of product, business, and data. I work with large product portfolios and build my own Python tools to analyze and manage them.
I currently lead a business unit at AST Publishing Group, with full P&L responsibility and ownership of product strategy and portfolio development.
I oversee a portfolio of more than 5,000 SKUs, lead a team of 28, and manage a business generating over RUB 800 million in annual revenue.
My work focuses on portfolio strategy, demand and inventory turnover analysis, unit economics, and margin management. I also develop international licensing and partnerships across Asia, the United States, and Europe.
Between 2021 and 2025, the unit’s revenue grew by 146%, profit by 168%, and return on sales by 8 percentage points. Market share in one of our key categories increased from 26% to 55%.
LTI Korea Translation Academy (Seoul, Republic of Korea), mentor for Russian-language translators, 2021–2026
KPIPA Overseas Publishing Market Report 2021 (Seoul, Republic of Korea), author of the report on the Russian book market, 2022
KPIPA Overseas Publishing Market Report 2018 (Seoul, Republic of Korea), author of the report on the Russian book market, 2019
Korean Literature Showcase 2019 (Seoul, Republic of Korea), speaker, 2019
International Translation & Publication Workshop (Seoul, Republic of Korea), mentor for Russian-language translators, 2019