The pandemic did not kill the taste for paper books
The traditional book, the one that is printed on paper, is still in good health, far from the disappearance ruled several times since the birth of the Internet. The Incarnates, for example, are going to celebrate their 18th fair in the next few days, following a tradition that began in 1994 in Asunción and would later spread throughout the country. These fairs are not only exhibition and sale of books but also talks, conferences and specific possibilities for regular readers to ask questions of their favorite national and foreign writers.
The pandemic caused a vacuum in calls of this type on a global scale. The publishing industry, which has also been impacted by a drop in sales, is realigning itself after the devastating fallout from COVID.
To get an idea of how the publishing world moves, let’s take three of the countries with the highest publishing production in Spanish.
In 2019, Spain produced 82,347 new titles, of which 60,740 were printed and 21,607 digital. The total number of paper books reached 229 million.
Mexico, the next largest publisher, produced 99 million copies, followed that same year 2019 by Argentine publishers with 23,200 print news and 11,000 digital. The presses delivered a total of 43 million copies.
Although paper books have been losing ground to the Internet, it is far from disappearing. And that the digital offer is increasing enormously. The Google Books project, for example, has already digitized around 130 million titles. In 2019 alone, while the publishers were throwing all the meat on the grill, Google uploaded almost 40 million new titles, with which the immense virtual library already scratches 170 million titles.
Finally, the bookstores gain ground and surprise. In Buenos Aires, El Ateneo works in an old theater. The Selexyz bookstore in Maastricht, Holland, was installed in an old Gothic temple whose stained glass windows illuminate the shelves. In El Péndulo, Mexico City, books share space with plants and flowers. And the Lello bookstore, in Porto, is located in an amazing neo-Gothic style building, with a spectacular central spiral staircase, receiving up to 3,000 visitors a day.
Books live. The bookstores too.
