Kyiv-based bookseller, publisher and printer doesn't look for profit, but an opportunity to produce, feed his employees and to not waste his human and professional capital
Rostyslav Burlaka, CEO of RBP Publishing in Kyiv, talks about the horror that the Russian invasion is inflicting on the Ukrainian population, the fear of losing his company, and the risk of forever losing his human and professional capital.
On the 24th of February, Russia started a massive bombing of Ukraine. We woke at 5.00 am and our house was shaking. It was very frightening, as we have a little son. In the first days it was unclear where to go. The air raid alarm sounded many times a day, causing great stress for the children and my wife. They made the decision to move, and I stayed here.
The good thing is that we’re in a safe place physically, but emotionally I suppose we can say that you can get out from the place of war, but you cannot get the war out from your soul. We live 24 hours a day with thoughts about the war and people who are dying in different cities in Ukraine, who were killed by Russian troops.
I suppose we can say that you can get out from the place of war, but you cannot get the war out from your soul.
What we can notice on the one hand is it’s getting better since our army pushed the Russians from the North of our country. But on the other hand, Russia has powerful rockets which they can shoot from the Black Sea or other parts of Russia, and they can injure any of the Ukrainian cities. And you cannot feel yourself in a safe place.
We’re not safe because of rockets, as we haven’t received enough support in antimissile systems. So, the sky was not closed, and Russia can do many bad things with their jets and missiles. They’re destroying mostly civil targets. They’re trying to terrify and horrify people. They honestly say, “We want you to be afraid of us. Then, we will win.”
It all started ten years ago from an Internet bookstore, a niche bookstore of psychological literature. With time, it became clear that we can and we should publish books in Ukrainian. Six years ago in 2016, I founded RBP Publishing as a second branch. We bought rights in Europe, US, Great Britain. We have translators, editors, designers who prepare the books. We specialize in psychological literature.
At first, we were printing our books in different print houses, but in a few years, I understood we can do it by ourselves. We started with 40 sqm. There were digital printing machines for print-on-demand. We grew ten times, up to 400 sqm, and we created a print house with digital and offset printing, hard- and soft-cover machines. However, we remain a small company. We can produce up to 10-15.000 books per month, not long print runs.
Now we have three branches: Internet bookstore, publishing house and print house.
Now the situation is very poor. Income in the first month of war decreased ten times. We’re on the edge of survival. It’s not people’s first need to read books now, or to print anything. However, there’s a range of psychologists who work with people who get traumas during the war. They buy our books, which help them to work with these people.
We lost many of our clients who were printing books with us. We’re trying to get some invoices with some clients. It’s very hard. It’s enough only for one or two working days a week, just for food. To earn money for food.
It’s hard to predict what will happen next. If the war lasts for another half year, there’s a big risk we will lose everything. The people who stay at home now may also leave the country. We’ll lose our people. There will be no customers and no workers. I’m very anxious about this.
We can produce and deliver, as the major roads that connects Kyiv to the west are free from the occupants. That would be helpful. We don’t earn as a company now. We try to set our prices only to buy paper and pay people for their food.
We don't earn as a company now. We try to set our prices only to buy paper and pay people for their food.
We created everything for ten years. Many people did their best to make something, to live and to work. It’s very painful now to realize that everything can end.
Now it’s even unclear how we can find orders in Europe. On the one hand, we can find the market. We can offer our prices and our quality. On the other hand, it’s quite hard to prove that you can trust us. Because if you haven’t seen us, it’s hard to trust us in a time of war.
I have to say that without support from European countries, we would already be occupied. Here, many people are grateful for all the money sent, all the weapons, all the houses shared with our refugees.
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