Press

 

STRATEGIC WORK AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2020–2023.

 

About us

TIM press d.o.o. for publishing and marketing from Zagreb has more than twenty years of experience in publishing (publishing books and magazines), marketing and business consulting. The company was founded in 1994, but the more intensive period of work on publishing projects began in the second half of 2003. Since then, TIM press has published several hundred titles in various fields, from journalistic-essay, scientific to significant literary works. Journalistic titles mainly refer to the field of political history, political science, sociology, anthropology and philosophy (the most famous authors are Zygmunt Bauman, Tzvetan Todorov, Hannah Arendt, Umberto Eco, Jan-Werner Müller, Jean-Claude Monod, Pierre-André Taguieff, André Comte -Sponville, Rob Riemen, Paul Veyne, Frédéric Lenoir, etc).

In addition to translating and publishing the works of a large number of relevant and current European and world intellectuals, we also encourage the publication of domestic nonfiction works and works created after research in the field of humanities. We mention the studies of Dragan Bagić, Tijana Trako Poljak, Boris Kozjak, Snježana Vasiljević and Željka Kulenović. There are also essay publications by authors Emil Heršak and Maja Adžija and Boris Perić and Tomislav Pletenac, which we certainly consider organized promotion of Croatian cultural heritage and cultural identity.

One of our most prominent titles is The Nobility of the Spirit – the Forgotten Ideal by Rob Riemen in its third edition, and we are also proud of the first Croatian verse translation of the play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen, as well as the novel Alphabet for the Disobedient by Venko Andonovski and a series of popular-scientific studies by Carlo Rovelli (Reality is not what it seems, What if time does not exist? and Anaximander's revolution – or how scientific thought was born). There are also philosophical studies such as Dying for Ideas – philosophy as a dangerous vocation by Costica Bradatan, a collection of anthropological essays The Others by Ryszard Kapuściński, and numerous other works and works in a wide range of socio-humanistic and scientific fields.

For many years, TIM press has been participating in promotional campaigns, fairs and festivals that encourage the sale and exchange of books and reading.

 

Vision

The global pandemic weakened the Croatian and world economy and had a negative impact on all industries, including the publishing industry. We are trying to find innovative ways to adapt the business to the new conditions and return it to the level it was at before the pandemic, adapt it to the circumstances and continue further improvements. In the near future, we recognize two key factors for successful work: the uncertain further development of the pandemic, during which the world turns to the virtual domain, which requires the maximization of business on our digital platform and social networks. Secondly, we plan to implement the announced currency exchange from the Croatian kuna to the euro in 2023 in our own business, so we consider the timely introduction of a double price list as a much-needed introduction to the final exchange in the near future.

At this time, colleagues and customers are increasingly turning to virtual life for security reasons, which is in line with our experience in the past period, where we notice that the undiminished demand of readers is focused on digital access to contents, which is visible in the sales indicators, but also in our virtual Reading Room that enjoys high attendance. However, the websites themselves were set up in 2019 and, according to today's standards, are already largely outdated in terms of their user interface and mutual communication with users, which threatens the company's business in the newly emerging circumstances of the pandemic, in which the entire production and sales processes are massively moved to digital platforms.

For many years, we have been participating in promotional campaigns, fairs and festivals throughout Croatia, which encourage the sale and exchange of books and the culture of reading. We regularly accompany online sales and distribution of books with promotional programs that increase the presence of books and literature in the media, especially interactive new media and social networks. By implementing the goals of this project, we would give a chance to new technologies, the use of which can not only increase the value of our product, but also establish the status of TIM Press in the spectrum of Croatian publishers that produce high-quality literature, which will contribute to the overall quality of Croatian publishing production. Since the beginning of the pandemic, which changed the business models of all economic sectors, including the publishing one, TIM press has successfully continued its work by moving almost the entire business to digital platforms. The same pandemic caused the postponement and cancellation of publishing fairs and festivals, which greatly reduced the possibility of direct contact with readers as the final client whose interests and wishes we want to follow for TIM press, as a majority wholesale publisher whose clients are mostly bookstores and libraries. Although "small", individual clients have the possibility to order our products directly through our webshop, that mechanism and the website platform that carries it are unfortunately outdated and not up to the increased scope of business in the digital domain, as well as our ambitions. Since among the long-term goals we want to significantly expand the demographics of the readership, digital advertising and communication through social media would encourage people to read books, but also to exchange information about novelties, which the introduction of a newsletter would greatly help. We also want to attract as many readers/followers/users as possible to our web-shop, as well as to the pages of social networks, especially those of the younger age group, to make a small contribution to the return of reading culture to Croatia, but also to keep up with trends, focusing on digital forms of business and promotion, necessary in the upcoming uncertain pandemic circumstances. Our ambitions are to continue enriching Croatian libraries, bookshops and the readership itself with quality works from the social-humanistic and popular-scientific spheres, suitable for both expert eyes and lay enthusiasts.

Since the position of publishing companies is unfavorable in the current pandemic circumstances, we believe that financing a project like this would give a small publisher much-needed help to remain competitive in the market and continue its mission. We think that our example of a small but stable publisher that has respectable titles/authors and manages to resist the challenges and risks of the past can be an example for other publishers. We are particularly focused on concrete activities to maintain a high level of quality, professionalism and expertise in the implementation of our numerous projects and activities. Namely, TIM press has never entered into too risky projects until now. We decided on a gradual, stable and long-term sustainable development. Thus, with this program/project, we continue to strengthen the trend of gradual and stable development, which in its content is needed in the new digital society and without the uncertain circumstances of the global coronavirus pandemic.

 

Anticipated effects

In addition to social networks where we are present, which also needs to be intensified, we want to give our active and potential clients access to regular news via e-mail (newsletter), in accordance with the European GDPR standards for personal data processing. We want to monitor the limitations of holding events in physical form and their move to virtual domains by opening a streaming service on our online platform. Sale and lending (Reading Room) via websites needs improvement at the programming level (the current code is already far out of date) and especially in the user experience of the site - simple, visually attractive and clear access to old and newly introduced options. We want to conduct communication and cooperation with bookstores, libraries and other collaborators through our pages, which will facilitate the business of both parties.

In addition to the aforementioned adaptation of our website to the new pandemic conditions, the second major strategic item of the project is related to payment - namely the planned exchange of the Croatian kuna currency to the euro in 2023, which we want to welcome with a double price tag for all our past and future editions.

The main driving force behind the application of this project is the new extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, which have affected the global economy and all its areas, including the book industry, and which will continue in the future, indefinitely. The mass migration of businesses of economic workers to virtual spheres presupposes and requires adequate solutions that can monitor and even improve that business and efficient activity. In the context of this "new normal", digital economy, TIM press is faced with the challenges of an outdated system of websites, which do not meet the needs of virtual business and the virtual demand of our associates and clients. Therefore, all the listed items, steps and goals of the project prompted by these circumstances are:

  •     Ensuring the basic technical prerequisites for the safe normal continuation of work under the increased scope of business through digital means in the extraordinary circumstances of the global epidemic, which has affected all economic sectors and which will continue for an indefinite period of time. Specifically, by modernizing the virtual existence of TIM press on its own network domain, creating a new user interface, improving existing ones and introducing new possibilities.
  •     Improving the business through improving the visual identity and intensifying the presence of TIM press in the public space, as well as through the technical capabilities of the business itself (sales process and communication with colleagues and clients).
  •     The company is preparing and ready to welcome the new era of the Croatian economy - the imminent transition to the euro currency, which will permanently affect all areas of Croatian society.
  •     Long-term sustainability of the company in the digital society and continued participation in enriching the Croatian readership with quality literary and scientific works.

 

Term plan for the implementation of the program

Assuming the approval of the project and its start in November 2021, we indicate the following timeline for the implementation of the project through the years 2021 and 2022:

~ 2 months (November–December): initial survey and analysis of the current state of the web pages (extent of content that must be copied to the new page, page options that can also be copied, planning and design of new pages)

~ 2 months (January-February): site development process (code programming, graphic design); the process of filming a promotional video

~ 4 months (March–June): implementation and launch of the new system; implementation of the existing Reading Room system in the new web-shop, the full activation of which is expected in the month of September; post-production processing and video preparation

~ 4 months (July–October): complete implementation of new systems to the level of the established business process, intensive work on promotional methods, completion of entering the double price list and preparations for the complete transfer in 2023

The proposed project would in every sense represent the improvement of our work, i.e. the business model that includes promotion, modernization of the implementation of sales and communication with clients and colleagues, thus an extensive and much-needed adaptation to the epidemiological conditions of business that will continue indefinitely in the future.