An interview with Alex Bobl, founder of MDB
Dear Alex,
It's been almost ten years since Magic Dome Books came into being thanks to your efforts. What an incredible journey it has been! At the beginning, we thought the world was quite firmly established and that all the mechanisms were more or less clear. How wrong we were— the number of challenges we faced was off the charts. Epidemics, wars, damn it, we've been through so much. Many ships sank in this storm, but you always held the helm firmly. And now—ten years! And the voyage is a success. With the experience we have now, it feels like soon the sea will be no obstacle. But of course, there are still many interesting things ahead! Damn it, but now we know for sure that we can count on each other within our small but tenacious team. And if that's the case—what do we have to fear? Adventures await!
Happy birthday, our seasoned helmsman! Fair winds!
And here, by the way, is a little interview we prepared especially for this occasion!
It’s been ten years now since Magic Dome Books emerged on the scene, and the man behind it is author and literary producer Alex Bobl who saw the market for fantastic Russian fiction in translation. Today MDB translates fiction into a dozen languages and has published hundreds of bestsellers while still expanding its portfolio. Read about MDB’s key role in popularizing LitRPG in both Russia and the West, about the challenges this pioneering publishing house has faced in the past half-decade due to a string of crises, and much more!
MDB is almost ten years old. Looking back, what would you regard as your biggest achievement?
Wow! That’s a hard one to start with. I can point to a few of those. First, sometime after 2018, after our success in establishing a global market for LitRPG, we had to grapple with serious competition that arose in the USA. Second, we faced the no less daunting task in 2022 of restructuring the company, recruiting new talent, and launching our branch of audio books and resources. Both of these achievements pushed MDB into seriously expanding its reach, and ultimately strengthening its position in the market. Really, challenges and innovation are important to anyone operating a business.
How has MDB weathered the global crisis? After all, most of MDB’s authors are native speakers of Russian.
To me, what we do at Magic Dome, popularizing contemporary fiction originating in Russian, well, it's a mission. I know that's a big word, but it fits. It’s the driving force behind MDB, fundamental to my master plan. And time has shown that it’s paid off, one hundred percent. Crises are par for the course, past, present and future. The impact of global events, for example, will at one and the same time increase interest in our authors and put some people out there off. I’m deliberately not mentioning which events in particular impact our market — they could be political in nature, or something occurring in popular culture, but, whatever the case, the result could be a boon for our authors, or a bane.
But, back to your question, we are fortunate in our readership, which is both loyal and expanding. We see how much our writers are appreciated, and the enthusiastic response every time we release new books. I think that the recent crisis has brought people together. Maybe that’s the case whenever times are troubled, or it should be.
Tell us about the advent of LitRPG in Russia. Where did it all start? They say that LitRPG came from Asia, but where exactly? What were the original sources, and how did they make their way to Russia?
To me, LitRPG began in 2012 with the samizdat version of the Play to Live series by Dmitry Rus. Then came Vasily Mahanenko, Dem Mikhailov and many other big names in LitRPG. I would say that, in Russia, as a genre, LitRPG originated precisely with this trinity: Rus, Mahanenko, and Mikhailov. They created a market trend and generated a buzz out there. As for the genre as a whole, as you noted, it had originated in Asia when Heesung Nam released The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor. Fans of the book were so enthralled that they translated it on the Internet. This era was the heyday of pirated “neterature,” where amateurs would download books from foreign platforms, translate them, and then post their translations online. This is how we ended up on RuNet. Subsequently, being the producer of the series, I, along with Dmitry Malkin (EKSMO’s Science Fiction Editor-in-Chief) and Vasily Mahanenko, decided to call the genre LitRPG. In no time, LitRPG as a phenomenon was firmly entrenched in the minds of readers, and it was only natural, given the inclinations of fans of science fiction, that it would end up on the Internet.
What is the contribution of Russian-speaking writers to the LitRPG genre? How have they shaped it?
First of all, it was the Russian-speaking writers who set up a clear framework for the genre: the inclusion of system messages, the in-game worldbuilding, character leveling and so on. Russian-speaking writers managed in a short time not only to establish the framework of LitRPG, but also to develop a number of LitRPG subgenres currently known as RealRPG and GameLit.
How did LitRPG published by MDB come to America? Readers want to know the real story.
It's simple. As a literary producer, I put together the COSMOS ONLINE series for EKSMO, where I invited various writers on board, one of whom was Andrei Livadny. I read his book after it was posted on our site and realized that it was a winner, that it needed to be translated. I called Andrei and right away he agreed to my proposal. I also called up Vasily Mahanenko, who also liked the idea of selling his books in translation. And that was the start of MDB. Our portfolio at the start also included Michael Atamanov, then Alexey Osadchuk, and a little later Dan Sugralinov.
So how big is the MDB network nowadays? Where is your market, for the most part? What are the formats you employ?
Looking back at it all, I realize how much we’ve accomplished, and what we put into making it happen. Independently, we’ve been publishing and continue to publish books in English, German, French, Spanish, and Japanese. And we have partners who translate our writers into Italian, Czech, Polish, and Korean. All of our books are published in three formats: digital, print, and audio.
How much will AI impact MDB’s market? What do you see changing, and how soon? Does your publishing house have an official position on the use of AI?
Technology has always changed markets. Given the swift development and the growing popularity of AI, we cannot avoid its impact. I’m not going to make any predictions, but already I see how difficult it is to be an artist, for example. We’ve always collaborated with four artists who create our covers as well as some of our promotional materials. They have our full support as well as our appreciation, and we do what we can to provide them with work. People have souls. AI, though, well, what it is, after all, is an artificial entity that thus far mines all of the content created by human beings, analyzes it, and then reproduces it, in so doing recycling this and that. And this is an issue for the lawyers, since AI violates copyrights for its creations. This has resulted in a huge black hole out there in the realm of what’s allowed under the law. Somehow, they have to study it all and bring order to the chaos. I think that it will take a decade or so before copyright protections are worked out and in place to manage interactions with AI. AI will also seriously impact the market for audio books. Already the audio book narrators have begun to grapple with the changes, and many may well lose their jobs in upcoming years. All of us have to yet again adapt to the new reality, and also reconfigure our business model as we closely monitor the development of AI. MDB is poised to employ technologies that could significantly speed up the overall production process, but we aren’t into creating art or books entirely through AI.
Tell us about some flagship MDB series. What should be read first if we want to get to know Magic Dome Books?
Right, that's a tricky question. I could ruffle some feathers among our writers if I’m not careful. In general, I suggest starting out with the new as well as long-established bestsellers. Our portfolio includes dozens of successful series. Interested readers should check out the “Books” page on our website and surf our offerings. They’ll see links to online stores where they can buy a book with one click. And they can read reviews and access rankings to help them make a selection. On the spot, that’s my best recommendation. We created our exhaustive website just for the readers.
How can someone become a MDB author? What kind of books are most likely to be published by MDB?
I won’t be original. As long as a story grabs the reader, it has every chance to be published. Any writer who can come up with one of those can get our attention. We’re always getting letters from hopeful authors who want us to consider their submissions. Interestingly, these are not only Russian-speaking writers, but also writers from the USA, Germany, the UK and many other corners of the planet. And it feels really good when writers turn to you, when they trust you and believe they can succeed with you.
Tell us what we can expect in 2024-25.
We have many new names. For some time now, we’ve been promoting not only LitRPG, but also other fascinating genres that fall in the realm of fantasy and science fiction. Personally, I find it very inspiring because I like it when MDB can offer readers something new and different. We’ll keep on expanding our portfolio, and we’ll try to publish new writers, which, of course, entails a risk - but so it is. Our website is the best venue for keeping up with the latest at MDB. We make it easy for anyone to find the newest offerings, check out publication dates, or read up on what this or that series is all about. We also produce a newsletter - and to subscribe, again, just go to our website. MDB also has a Facebook page. We’re working at developing the biggest LitRPG following on Facebook. There, you can find interviews, news, and other interesting content. I love it when new readers voice their thoughts about our books on these platforms.