“It was a Sunday and no one wanted to come. It seemed like a horrendous plan to be selling books on a Sunday. There were 15 editorials in the FM La Tribu bar. Later, the Santa Rosa storm came and Lambare street was flooded. Until the water receded, no one came,” he describes. Victor Malumian the conditions in which the first edition of the Publishers Fairthe event that brings together independent publishers and has become one of the most important meetings in the world of books in Argentina.
Nine years after that first Fair, in the 2022 edition of the FED (such, the acronym with which everyone knows it) there will be 280 publishers. Among them, around 40 come from abroad and a similar number from inside the country. Last year they visited 16,500 people and this year even more are expected. Therefore, the meeting place will be the C Art Media Complex (Corrientes 6271), in three days (August 5, 6 and 7, from 2 pm to 9 pm) full of activities, visits and, of course, good books.
During these nine years, Malumián (41) became a very important figure in the publishing world. Along with his partner, Hernan Lopez Winne, with whom he also shares the direction of the Godot publishing house, knew how to promote the work of many small publishers, whose style of work sets trends here and in the world. Because it is these minimal companies, with very modest profits, that today install in the market the titles that best represent the time.
From this angle of marketFar from the operations of the large multinational publishing groups, Malumián is one of the actors in the sector that best explains the situation of the book today. How is the reading public, who writes and how the titles are spread, are some of the issues that he explained to NOTICIAS in this talk, a few days before the start of a new edition of FED.
Books, pandemic and readers
NEWS: In recent years there has been much talk about the book crisis, has the pandemic improved the situation?
Víctor Malumián: It improved but not that much. The big winners of the pandemic are streaming services, not books. Of the idle time of the readers and readers, we take a very small percentage. Decades ago the book has ceased to have a monopoly on cultural portability. Today you have unlimited hours of music on your cell phone. You can watch movies and series on public transport. Of the few official statistics that we have, an investigation by the Ministry of Culture of the Nation shows how reading fell, from 3 books per person per year in 2013-2014, to an average book and a half in 2019. The new generations increasingly see less to the book as the axis of transmission of culture and knowledge. But there are still remnants of what the book represented. Still a self-respecting politician or politician, when she starts her campaign, takes out a book.
NEWS: How do independent publishers deal with this scenario?
Malumián: Small and medium publishers have been able to better serve and listen to specific sectors. For example, those who are interested in crime fiction or contemporary Korean translation, etc. For a large publishing house, those segments are too small to put their machinery to work.
NEWS: How is that public (16,500 people in the last edition) that goes to the Fair?
Malumian: He is between 25 and 45 years old. With university studies, very reader. The average ticket of what they spend is two books. A very informed public, which follows specialized media. Most are from CABA. They have good purchasing power and a large proportion do not have children. An interesting fact is that 50 percent of the people who come to the FED do not go to the Book Fair, although many stamps are also there as a group.
NEWS: Everyone has the feeling that there are too many books. Is that amount good for the market or does it overwhelm it?
Malumián: The number of titles launched by the large publishing groups (N.de R.: Penguin Random House and Planeta are the largest multinational groups with subsidiaries in Argentina) is greater than the entire independent ecosystem. Most independent publishers put out one or two new releases a month. The smallest, no more than 4 or 5 in the year. The problem, in large companies, is the “invented” titles, such as “Fifty Shades of Grey”. The first volume hits it, the second sells well, the third more or less and the fourth goes backwards. These books do not contribute to bibliodiversity. The other problem is that many of these titles have to go out in print runs much higher than the actual sales to get a good display: stacks on the novelty tables, windows full of copies. Should I edit less? Yes, sure. And the role of an editor or editor is to heal. Small publishers curate very well the segment where they want to publish. The big ones make more numerous print runs and that consumes paper, energy, leaves a carbon footprint, takes up space in bookstores and in the trucks that come and go in the return. You have to publish less, you have to have more intelligent print runs, but this has been going on for a long time. In fact, Gabriel Zaid wrote a very important essay on the subject, “The Too Many Books,” in 1972.
NEWS: Why do so many people want to write? Maybe they are not good readers but want to be writers.
Malumián: I think there is a mixture of factors. A large part of the new literature is no longer passing through the printed book but through blogs or platforms such as Whattpad. In fact, what we most recommend to new authors is that they go to readings, tell what they are writing and look at the reaction of the public or people. Also start posting on social media. There is plenty of time to get a book out.
NEWS: How are books distributed, what are the best channels?
Malumián: Word of mouth is unbeatable, the big question is how to get there. There are a multitude of strategies. We are seeing that the note of a particular journalist is more important, even if he does not like everything, than the generic note without a signature. It is the same as the bookseller or the bookstore that knows you. Journalists are starting to have their own brand, so when you go out to genuinely recommend a book, it shows and multiplies.
NEWS: It must hurt a lot that the authors who discover the independents end up going to the big publishers.
Malumián: For now, this demolishes the idea that independents don’t have the capacity to publicize authors. And it is the opposite. The multinationals are going to look for what the independents are doing, and they don’t go that deep. They look for what was outstanding that year. In an independent publishing house you are going to have better distribution and your title is going to be reprinted, because you are going to be a “spearhead” author in that catalogue. In that catalog you will not be one more.
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