Three years of Librum: what I learned about publishing and why we built a new librum.rs

Updated: 23.10.2026. | Version 1.0

Two years ago I wrote about why I started the publishing house Librum. Back then we had a handful of books, one contest and a lot of plans. Librum turns three on 30 October, and on 22 October we launched a completely new website, librum.rs. A good moment to write down what has changed and what I have learned.

Where Librum is today

• 137 books in the catalogue, 127 authors
• more than 4,000 entries across five regional contests
• authors from six countries: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and North Macedonia
• books in the Vulkan, Makart and Ananas bookstores

All of it is in one place on the About Librum page, together with the history, the contests and the names of the juries.

What I learned in three years

1. An author does not need a printer, they need an editor

When I left Laguna and Delfi to start my own business, I thought the author’s biggest problem was the price of printing. It is not. The biggest problem is that nobody reads the manuscript seriously before it goes to print. That is why everything at Librum starts with an editorial analysis, not with a quote for a print run.

2. Self-publishing does not have to look self-published

Authors want to keep their rights and their earnings, and that is completely fair. With a traditional publisher an author usually gets about 10% of the book’s price. With us the sales revenue belongs to the author, but the book goes through the same path as at a big house: editing, proofreading, typesetting, cover, ISBN, printing, bookstores and promotion. I wrote about it in more detail on Trek: self-publishing in Serbia and why Librum is the best choice (in Serbian).

3. Contests are the best marketing we have done

112 authors entered our first manuscript contest. The anthology of the 100 best poems received more than 3,500 poems. “Otkud ja?” (“Where am I from?”) got 486 stories from six countries. No ad would have brought that many people who write. And when the jury includes Zvonko Karanović, Ana Ristović or Dejan Stojiljković, authors know the verdict is serious.

4. The region is one market

Authors from Sarajevo, Podgorica and Zagreb send manuscripts just like authors from Belgrade. Ijekavian, Ekavian, Latin, Cyrillic, it is all part of the job. None of them has to come to Belgrade; everything goes through email and phone.

5. The website is part of the service

The old site grew for three years and became hard to navigate. The new librum.rs was built from scratch. It has a catalogue with reader ratings, the Reading Room with more than 80 free articles for authors, a Forum, accounts with author profiles and public prices. In five minutes an author now sees everything they would otherwise ask on the first call. More on that in Trek’s story Librum launches a new website (in Serbian).

The Librum ecosystem

In three years several related projects grew around the publishing house: Librum PRINT for book printing, Librum CLUB as a social network for writers, Librum SHOP as an online bookstore, Librum QUIZ with knowledge games and Librum Publisher for English-language editions.

What comes next

The goal for next year is simple: every author in the region with a good manuscript should know there is a publisher who will read it seriously, without asking them to give up their book. If you have a manuscript, send it through the Send a manuscript page. An editor replies within 7 working days.

We collected Librum’s numbers and history in the article three years of Librum in numbers (in Serbian).

Frequently asked questions

Who founded Librum?

Nikolina Dabetić and I, Ivan Dabetić, founded Librum in Belgrade on 30 October 2023, after years of working at Laguna and Delfi bookstores.

Does the author keep the rights to the book at Librum?

Yes. The rights stay with the author, and the sales revenue belongs to them.

How long does it take to publish a book with Librum?

From submitting the manuscript to printing, between 30 and 50 working days, depending on the length of the book.