Euromedia Group (hereinafter EMG), Corp., Bertelsmann AG subsidiary, belongs among the strongest and largest companies within the Czech Republic book market. The company owns the publishing brands Knižní klub (Book Club, since 1992), Odeon (since 1999), Ikar, (since 2000) and Universum (since 2000).

The Book Club has been well accepted since the very beginning as the number of members – 230 thousand – proves. The Book Club belongs among the largest publishing houses in the Czech Republic. The annual offer comprises about 400 new titles. The Book Club publishes a catalogue five times a year, which is free for the members and contains the latest book offer. Thus the members can make their choice suiting their taste and interests.

The titles can also be viewed and purchased in twelve club shops all over the country.

Through the Knizniweb.cz e-shop, offering over 20,000 book titles. The webpage Knizniklub.cz is run for the use of the Book Club members. There is also an e-wholesaler Knizniweb.cz intended for booksellers and organizations.

An advantage of the Book Club is its offer of discount prices which make the books cheaper by fifteen to fifty per cent than in average bookshops, and a 5% discount in the Neoluxor network shops. Other benefits are sending a colour catalogue free of charge, a top customer service, loyalty programmes, competitions, lotteries, and gift items, special events in the stores (e.g. book-signings) or regular information about novelties in your e-mail.

The Book Club supports Czech authors whose position is commonly uneasy (placing manuscripts with a publisher, low impression, etc.). Therefore the Book Club started organizing the Literary Awards in 1995. The first year was in 1996. Works are evaluated by a jury of five experts, whose composition is slightly different each year. The winning author is rewarded with a financial prize of CZ 50,000 and the book is published in the autumn of the respective year. This activity of the Book Club is unique – it enables publishing an original work, guarantees the issuance and rewards the author with a prize. The Book Club Literary Award has become prestigious in the last twelve years, which is acknowledged by nominations and awards of its winners in the Magnesia Litera competition in the category Break-through of the Year (2002 Hana Andronikova: Zvuk slunečních hodin (The Sound of Sundial), 2005 Václav Křístek: Cesta na poledne (Travel to the Noon) – nomination, 2006 Martin Šmaus: Děvčátko, rozdělej ohníček (Girl, Light the Fire). The prize went to the novel Dva proti Říši (Two Against the Empire) by Jiří Šulc in 2007, which became a Czech bestseller thank to the 27,000 sold copies.

The Czech translation of the Dorling Kindersley publishing house (Great Britain) encyclopedia Animal in 2002 meant a great success. The sale of the book accompanied the campaign promoting the restoration of the Prague Zoo affected by a great flood. The encyclopedia became a bestseller with its sale exceeding 100,000 copies. Such a sale is absolutely unique on our book market, and moreover, it earned CZE 1,000,000 used for restoring the Prague Zoo. It also introduced a new phenomenon to the Czech book industry – a TV book-promoting campaign. Other publications from the Dorling Kindersley publishing house followed: The Earth, The Human, Plants, The Universe, The Ocean, Birds, History and Animal Life.

EMG introduced a tradition of publishing general encyclopedia in 2000. They are published under the heading Universum, e.g. Universum A-Ž, DVD Universum 5, The Czech Republic, etc.).

The individual publishing brand names of EMG make one’s orienting in the direction easier. The Book Club offers mainly Czech literature, detective stories, crime stories, thrillers, military books, historical novels and children’s literature. Odeon continues the tradition of publishing books of the renowned publishing house: Nobel Prize winners works, contemporary world and Czech prose, poetry. Ikar aims at women readers: romance, community novels, memoirs, cookery books, guides. Universum covers encyclopedias, atlases, travel guides, books of travels.

In the Czech Republic, EMG owns exclusive rights of publishing a number of top world-famous authors, such as Agatha Christie, John Irving, Robin Cook, Gabriel García Márquez, and Johannes Mario Simmel etc. The Czech authors are for example Arnošt Lustig, Tereza Boučková, Tereza Brdečková, Miloslav Stingl, Pavel Šrut etc. A proof of an exclusive position of EMG on the Czech book market is publishing and book-signing of the Czech President Václav Klaus in the Book Club (Year One, Year Two, Year Three, Year Four, Year Five, Year Six and Year Seven). Klaus, well-known for his demands and accuracy, chose his publisher himself.

EMG reached a dominant position on the market when it bought the Slovanský dům – the top national distribution, in the same year. EMG – Book Distribution is the most powerful book wholesaler. There are over 20,000 titles from 250 publisher in the portfolio, almost all Czech booksellers, e-shops, bookstore network Neoluxor, Kanzelsberger, Beta – Dobrovský, the international Tesco network, Kaufland, Globus, Bauhaus, Baumax, Hornbach etc. belong among the company’s customers. A team of sales representatives looks after the customers all over the country.