Traditions of Advertising and Promotional Activity of "Veselka" (the Rainbow) Publishing House

The article deals with the analysis of promotional experience of National Specialized Publishing house of literature for children “Veselka”(“Rainbow”) in the comparative-historic aspect, what is important for contemporary development of publishing activities in Ukraine. Soviet system of book trading solved many problems of publishers concerning sale of finished products, as book-trade was not among the functions of publishing houses. The principal activity of publishing houses consisted in preparation for and printing books, that allowed the workers not to distract attention to third-party things, but to concentrate on making good quality product. But with the aim of attracting a wide circle of readers for propaganda of principles of party ideology and soviet mode of life with the help of book, publishing houses were entrusted with multiform culture-and-mass work: holding meetings with writers, members of editorial staff, organizing competitions among readers, travelling exhibitions and so on. Besides publishing houses were to print some advertising products. With the destruction of this system and restoration of Ukrainian independence in 1991, publishers faced the problem of absence of any book-trade experience, absence of any intermediaries who would be interested in book-trade, sudden changes of readers’ taste and of their purchasing capacity. Notwithstanding the difficulties, “Veselka”, step by step, worked out a number of actions, which would facilitate sales of printed products. At the same time, the staff retained positive experience of advertising and educational activities, obtained in Soviet times. The study of both positive and negative experience of promotional activity of centers, which have existed in publishing space of Ukraine for a long time, publishing house “Veselka” as an example is topical for putting a lot of newformed publishing houses into successful working order