El 96% of the books sold in Spain are made of paper is a phrase pronounced by the general director of Grupo Planeta's editorial division, Jesús Badenes, at the press conference given after the Planeta Prize was awarded. It is clear from it the little success that digital books are having in our country, if for example we compare it with that of other countries where sales even exceed 20% of the total.
Of the total books that are sold in our country, 89% were purchased in bookstores and only 7% of the books in paper format that are sold for purchase through the network of networks. The remaining 4% is the small piece of cake that corresponds to digital books in Spain, although significant growth is expected for the next few years as we have been able to know.
In total 80 million books are sold in Spain every year and there are approximately 80.000 new titles annually, although only 30.000 are those that finally reach the commercial circuit so that any user can acquire it in a more or less simple way. In this sense, Badenes is optimistic and it is that if, as the CIS shows, 70% of Spaniards affirm that they read almost every day, the number of books both in physical and digital format should begin to grow in the near future.
The eBooks or digital books do not finish taking off in our country, and it is that the Spaniards continue to prefer by far the traditional books in paper format, although on a positive aspect we can say that the market share of eBooks remains stable at 4 %, and we hope that in the future it will start to grow significantly as it has done in other countries.
What do you think could be the reasons why Spaniards continue to prefer books in paper format?.