In Madrid. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Leicarras
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Variations in Adoption, Growth
There seem to be few book and publishing markets more frequently surveyed or otherwise reported on than the Spanish and/or Spanish-language book and publishing countries.
In a read-out released today (May 13) by Bookwire, the company announces, “We want to acknowledge our leadership” and “celebrate our consolidation as leaders in the Spanish digital sector.”
The company reports that its assessment covers both major and smaller independent publishing forces in the market. “For the first time,” the text reads, its information “represents almost the entire market, as it includes data from the universe of independent publishers as well as from the two major Spanish-language publishing groups, which have chosen Bookwire as their exclusive digital distributor: Grupo Planeta and Penguin Random House.”
Bookwire says that it has distributed content from “more than 1,400 publishing imprints in Spain and Latin America, totaling 174,000 titles.” Of those, the company reports, 160,000 distributed titles are in ebook format and 14,000 are audiobooks.
With an emphasis on 2023 figures in this report, Bookwire says that in its 2024 report, it estimates that Spanish-language ebooks will come to 210,000 titles and audiobooks to 22,000. That means, of course, that it’s important to remember that the below graphic is estimating 2024 performance.
Image: Bookwire Spanish Market Report 2023
The information in this piece is useful as one company’s view of a linguistically-defined market—the big footprint of the Spanish language, other words, as seen by one digital distributor operating in that footprint.
On May 31, Bookwire will be making a daylong presentation at Madrid’s Readmagine, the annual invitational conference on publishing innovation and development organized and staged by Luis González, managing director of the Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez (FGSR), and José Manuel Anta, the managing director of the Spanish Federation of Book, Print Media, and Digital Contents Distributors, called FANDE, and the International Publishing Distribution Association.
We’ll have more about the overall Readmagine program ahead, and today’s commentary from Bookwire can be seen as a prelude to its program on May 31.
Some Topline Observations From Bookwire
Unless specified, these observations are offered for all Spanish-language content Bookwire handles. In instances of specific markets or regions, that’s stated.
- According to Bookwire, Spanish-language readers had 19.63 percent more titles available to them in 2023 than in 2022. This appears to encompass both ebooks and audiobooks and is based on Bookwire’s work in Spain and Latin American markets.
- United States publishers that publish in Spanish are in the lead, the company says, in increasing their digital catalogues by a rate of 44.08 percent.
- Digital catalogues of publishers based in Latin America, Bookwire says, have grown (until 2023) by 12.22 percent.
- Mexican publishers, Bookwire says, have published 11.62 more ebooks.
- Spanish publishers, the company says, published 10.61 percent more ebooks than in 2022.
Bookwire sees the United States ’emerging as the region where the consumption of Spanish-language audiobooks has grown the most.’ The company does offer the caveat that the States is ‘an established market, where listening in this format is fully consolidated. Spain and Latin America, on the other hand, are emerging markets.’ Bookwire Spanish Market Report 2023
Some of Bookwire’s assessments of what’s driving growth in Spanish-language ebook inventory include:
- Investment in Spanish libraries: “The state[in Spain] allocated €3 million (US$3.23 million) to the acquisition of content for the eBiblio platform in 2023.”
- This investment has enabled it to provide a diverse and competitive range of services, which has led to a steady growth in the number of users.
- Mexico and Latin America led 2023’s growth with increases of 12 percent and 9 percent respectively.
- The growth of the United States’ market is driven by the increasing demand for this type of content on library platforms.
- Publishers with the highest turnover and growth potential in this category are those specializing in romance literature and technical books.
- Consumption of literary fiction rose on these platforms in 2023.
Elevated pricing came into play in 2023.
- In 2023, the average price of an ebook stood at €7.66 (US$8.20) above the average price in 2022, per Bookwire’s figures.
- “Latin American publishers have raised their prices the most over the past year,” the report says.
In ebooks and genres:
- “Fiction ebooks are the bestsellers in all markets,” Bookwire reports, “especially in Spain, where they account for three-quarters of total turnover. We forecast that in 2024, fiction will continue to gain market share in all regions.”
In audiobooks, specifically:
- “The audiobook market increased by 45.7 percent in 2023,” Bookwire says, “and by 52.81 percent in 2022.”
- The company adds that the audiobook market is developing—”attracting an increasing number of readers and offering the greatest opportunities for growth.”
- The introduction in 2023 by Spotify of audiobooks in a limited-consumption model in English-speaking markets “has enabled new catalogues to enter the distribution channel,” according to Bookwire’s information.
An interesting point running counter to the previously mentioned fiction interest. In Latin America, as well as in Mexico and the United States, Bookwire says, more nonfiction audiobooks are listened to than fiction audiobooks—”the opposite of what happens in Spain.”
And in the graphic below, it’s interesting to see book growth outstripping other areas. Mexico, of course, is the country with the most Spanish-speakers in the world, and yet it also is a place of a great many dialectical specialities in its Spanish, which may mean that acceptance of audiobooks could run behind other markets. A Publishing Perspectives story recently looked at the question of localization in this regard, from the standpoint of the Bogotá International Book Fair.
Image: Bookwire Spanish Market Report 2023
More guidance and information will be offered during Bookwire’s presentation in Madrid at Readmagine on May 31, but there are several bullets worth mentioning at this point.
From the context of its own business, Bookwire sees:
- The United States as the market with the greatest audiobook growth opportunity, both because of major publishing groups working n the space and because of hybrid and limited subscriptions plans on offer.
- Literary narrative is shows special potential in audiobooks.
- Simultaneous book launches in print, ebook, and audiobook formats is important.
More from Publishing Perspectives on audio in international publishing is here, more on Spotify and its relatively recent foray into audiobook streaming is here, more on digital publishing is here, more on Bookwire is here, more on distribution is here, and more on Spanish-language publishing is here, more on industry statistics is here.
About the Author
