One of the great protagonistsThe main participants in the International Book Fair, Filbo, which is taking place in Corferias, are the publishers, those companies in charge of making that ideas, thoughts, postures or ways of seeing life become a literary work.
For this reason, in the middle of the International Book Fair, Fernando Rojas, general manager of Panamericana Editorial, spoke about how the industry is going and the company’s figures.
How did they do in 2023?
2023 was a good year, with a powerful first semester and a slightly more relaxed second, with a 4% drop in book consumption. What we cannot lose sight of is that every year we have more readers and that is important for the industry, which usually has several ups and downs. So this year we are betting that the new developments will keep the market active.
What is that type of reader that grows the most?
The number of voters between 24 and 40 years old is growing; This is an economically active population with purchasing power and a desire to participate in this industry.
Tell us, what did you bring for this version of Filbo?
We are presenting around 35 novelties between national and foreign authors. I can say that the main foreign author we have is the teacher Satoshi Kitamura. We have a catalog of 4,000 references.
How much does the Fair represent in your sales?
This event for any publisher is equivalent to 20 days of sales. This year’s budget is to grow 6%, because there is resentment in the economy and that affects all sectors.
In company figures, how many books do they sell in a year?
We are more or less marketing a million books annually.
Do you think there should be more best sellers in the industry to energize it?
I think that to energize the publishing sector, not only books are needed, the reader base must grow; because if we have many publications for the same readers, then the market is simply not going to grow.
What growth projection do you have for this year?
“We project growth of around 4.5%”
In editorial terms, how important is the Colombian market compared to other countries?
In Colombia we have to work on that 97.7% of people who read little to develop the sector. What is certain is that today people read more, there is real growth. Within Latin countries, we are third in book consumption.
How do you curate to decide what to publish or what not to publish?
An interesting figure is that, of every 100 books that come to be published, one or two go to the second phase, that is the reality.
