hasta lo que viene
“The book in Spanish is the second largest publishing market in the world and one of the most dynamic in translations. Each year, FIL Guadalajara brings together the most important book-publishing offer in this language through 1,900 participating publishing houses from 40 countries.” FIL
I am just back from the International Book Fair in Guadalajara. This is an annual exposition of Spanish language publishers. This entire publishing sector is still print based. Various factors other than outright conservatism are at work.
As regards infrastructure agility electrostatic printing is growing and extending the reach of printing in general. This print-on-demand is extending to retail installations with Espresso and similar gear. Here the Hispanic world is different as banks, corporations and restaurant chains are significant publishers. There is also a very modern Mexican paper making industry specializing in copier papers.
I did encounter e-book developments with dedicated devices and utilities. These and Spanish e-listings elsewhere may also have a backside with walk-in print-out.
As a generalization, Hispanic culture is intensively visual and book work is dominated by high design and color printing. There is a grounding of the book as a physical work. It is unclear how such traditions will convey to the screen.
gringo
For the gringo the Mexican book arts scene feels like cartels without violence. Famous organizers and their disciples manage markets and cultivate elite addictions. Behind it all a working class of street printers and crafts people survives. Behind the salons, diplomatic concourses and captitolism presumption a small garage, with a quiet, immaculate Intertype keeps the socialist revolution alive.
The gringo can suspect that both enclaves need each other. Haunting melodies of piano cascade as the player reads the obituaries or the gaunt architecture of vaults and a dome with streaming sun stands up before a visual furnace of “admiration and horror” of Orozco frescos. It is scary; the swirling man of fire.
Where are the weaknesses? Much too much elite book art is just work of graphic design folded. Complexity of codex format is circumvented. Calligraphic line brings motion to design but no mobility to reading. There is no link to the legacy and presence of bookbinding.
meanwhile
US mass market paperbacks fell 54% in September and trade paperbacks were flat. Hardcover sales were down 18%. Ebook sales doubled and were up 137% for the first nine months of 2011.
publishing discovery
“If we believe that convenience reading is moving at light speed over to e,” Mr. Schnittman said, using the industry shorthand for e-books, “then we need to think about what the physical qualities of a book might be that makes someone stop and say, ‘well there’s convenience reading, and then there’s book owning and reading.’ We realized what we wanted to create was a value package that would last.” NYT