“Book sales increased but not by as much as was hoped before the beginning of the fair. The 75th Madrid Book Fair closed this Sunday having been open for 17 days, and saw a 3.5% increase in book sales compared to last year.

In 2015 they rose by 6% compared to 2014. This is the fourth consecutive rise since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008. It represents a boost for the Spanish publishing industry, which has seen a 40% drop in sales over the past seven years (from 3.2 billion euros to 2.1 billion). (…)These statistics show that the Madrid Book Fair is an oxygen balloon for the sector. This is certainly a good thing but the downside is that, essentially, good sales come at seasonal times: Christmas, the Day of the Book, especially in Catalonia, and the Madrid Fair. This situation worries booksellers because the rest of the year lacks such promotional activities. (…)

The only sector in the Spanish book industry where sales have risen is exports. One of every five euros earned in the sector now comes from overseas. According to advance data from 2015, which will be published in full at the end of the month, sales rose by 3%, the same proportion as exports, which rose from 541 million in 2014 to 557 million last year.

Translation by The Spanish Bookstage - www.thespanishbookstage.com 

Read more here - El País