The 48th edition of the International Book Fair began on April 23 and will have its doors open until May 13. The event, which takes place annually in La Rural, in the City of Buenos Aires, always generates expectations and, for many, works as a space for dissemination and an opportunity to learn about different books, authors and editors.
Now, independent bookstores experience these dates from a particular perspective. The fair can be both a vehicle to expand and benefit the actors in the literary industry as well as generate consequences and limitations for ventures.
On the one hand, Valentina Zelaya, owner and bookseller of Mandolina Libros, points out in dialogue with RED/ACCION that the Book Fair harms her economically. In Argentina there is a Book Law which establishes that there is a single sales price to the public, which is what publishers propose, she explains. The regulations also contemplate that some discounts can be made during the literary event. “When there are discounts at the fair that violate the Law, that is unfair competition,” says Zelaya.
In addition, he comments that generally the catalog offered at the fair stands has many (or almost all) of the books sold at his premises. This means direct competition from a place that has a lot of diffusion, leaving independent bookstores behind from the starting point.
Concerns are growing especially this year, where the economic context generates even more uncertainty. Milagros Pérez Morales, a bookseller from Notanpuan, explains to RED/ACCION that fairs, in general, what they do is run from the middle to the bookstore. That is, removing the point of sale and mediator between the reader and the publisher. “If this lasts a week it doesn’t affect that much. In Buenos Aires it is almost a month. It centralizes the reading public for a long time,” she asserts.
Zelaya details that the Book Fair is a massive space and for some it can be a little overwhelming. “Faced with that, the bookstore offers a much more intimate space, a place for personalized recommendations, for chatting, to ask what reading moment each person is in. Much more artisanal work is done,” he says.
In this sense, Pérez Morales assures that at the fair many times one can talk to editors who know what they are selling. However, on several occasions they are just employees hired for that event. “It is less personalized attention since it is such a large and crowded event. The bookseller, unlike, gives you a space so you can tell him what you are looking for as a reader,” he concludes.
The positive thing about the call for the fair, according to Zelaya, is the possibility that people who are not so used to books can come, meet someone who can recommend something they read, and thus start their journey. “They are totally different consumption circuits,” she says.
The bookseller also identifies the fair as a key space for most publishers, even those she works with from her bookstore. “Generally they are at the fair and can have that one-on-one contact with their readers, have returns for the growth of their catalog. That is something that we also do as intermediaries of that link,” she says.
Furthermore, along these lines, he adds that “it is a moment where editors, who are our allies, manage to raise funds to continue publishing their proposal.” And he states: “We must focus on how the book circuit and our industry work.” , which is very collaborative in general. The tree should not cover the forest for us.”
Pérez Morales understands that there are certain benefits, but he also proposes that more transparent and simple agreements be considered with independent bookstores. Thus, he concludes: “Generate collective actions that enable spaces and networks of another logic as developed, for example, in the Independent Publishers Fair where the gearing of the book world takes place.”
