When the presence of an writer generates economic system: the enterprise of e book signatures | Culture | EUROtoday

The agency is that idyllic second by which the writer and the reader are in the home and acknowledge themselves because the ends of the e book chain, and hug, metaphorically, via a ball and a web page. It’s pretty.

There have been at all times signatures on the Madrid Book Fair: in a latest column on this newspaper, the author Manuel Vicent remembers that within the late 60s it was not but custom that the writers signed: “It was a fashion that was imposed over the years until it became a horsepower race, an egos festival because there was a jury that in the end proclaimed who had been the king of the fair.” Some of these kings have been, remembers Vicent, Carmen Martín Gaite or Antonio Gala. Today, greater than unquestionable kings there are dietary literary aristocracy, and likewise extraliterary.

So the writers are there, uncovered as beasts within the zoo, and, just like the beasts within the zoo, it’s their presence that generates economic system. The signatures have grow to be the good declare of the occasion and an essential a part of its financial engine. Last 12 months, based on the GFK marketing consultant, the enterprise quantity was 13.4 million euros. For 42% of libraries, the truthful represents between 10% and greater than 20% of its annual turnover. And part of that turnover (it’s troublesome to know with precision) comes by corporations.

Javier Cercas attended this Saturday morning to a big tail signing God’s madman on the finish of the world (Random House) in the home of the very canonical Librería Méndez (Caseta 161), primarily based in the primary avenue of Madrid. “The signatures bring 40% of the revenue of the house,” says bookseller Antonio Méndez. His poster is enviable, as of the Music Festival: Julia Navarro, Fernando Aramburu, Manuela Carmena, Javier Sierra, Enrique Vila-Matas, Manuel Rivas, Héctor Abad Faciolince or Carlos del Amor; All names with nice capability to name. What is the key? “Well, take 40 years working and have a good relationship with the authors,” says Méndez.

There are authors who come to reside the expertise, to obtain family and friends, however the authors who generate actual signatures, that’s, appreciable gross sales (though generally readers include dwelling books) are very requested and the editorial teams and distributors need to determine to which bookstores are awarded, generally via negotiation promising Zutano, which has an excellent future.

In this enterprise the group of the truthful doesn’t paint an excessive amount of: bookstores are put in contact with the editors, which supply their authors. In addition, publishers and distributors even have their very own cubicles. “From the fair we just enable five external signature tents, so as not to collapse the Paseo de las Casetas, where the most media authors sign,” says sources from the group. They have tree names, resembling Boj or Magnolio. This Saturday they signed the influencer Tamara hat or the MEGAN MAXWELL ROMANTIC SUPERVENTS. The custom of exterior tents was born within the 80s, when Francisco Ibáñez, creator of Mortadelo and Filemón He summoned crowds. What the Fair has additionally executed is to put money into the development of the pc administration system, the place booksellers can add their signatures calendar to the community.

“When the Book Day ends, more or less, we are already talking with the commercials of the distributors to ask for the signatures,” says Laura Rodríguez, of the Sunflower bookstore (Caseta 356). It shouldn’t be the one means: you may as well contact an writer good friend immediately and invite you to seem. “Thus, you make your letter to the Magi, and then there are things that you get and things that do not,” says Rodríguez. In his sales space he likes to combine authors with loads of pull, extra media, extra industrial, with others that maybe don’t promote a lot however which can be his style. The billing of the truthful implies “a high percentage” of its annual turnover, and from that share, a great half comes from the signatures. “Don’t be estimated, but one day with a good firm is a joy,” he says. Last 12 months he was canceled eight corporations of about forty: they made a damaged one.

In the 2024 version, greater than 831,000 copies have been bought on the truthful with a median expenditure per reader of 32.4 euros. And, as soon as once more, a part of these gross sales are attributable to corporations. Organizing them is an additional work by way of switch and storage of e book bins, as a result of, a bookseller, along with every little thing else, is an individual who strikes from one facet to a different heavy paper prisms. Among the good Sunflower hits, final 12 months, have been Juan Manuel de Prada, Santiago Posteguillo or Andrés Trapiello. Also authors who don’t promise an excessive amount of after which 50 signed books are marked, as a result of they’ve moved nicely in networks or have many (and devoted) mates. “A good firm are 150 copies, invoices 3,000 euros in two hours,” says Rodríguez.

In the truthful, well-known writers, however extra signed the celebrities to dry (one thing that has historically raised ampoules). An paradigmatic instance of mass signature was Ana Obregón, a few years in the past, together with her e book THE BOY OF THE MUSARAÑAS (Harpercollins Iberian), signed in co -authorship together with his deceased son, Aless Lequio and in the midst of the beginning scandal of his granddaughter: he required a particular tent by which a whole bunch of followers congregated. The first within the row, from eight within the morning, Isabel and Sergio, a mom and a son who got here from San Sebastián: they have been blissful to fulfill Ana, of which they have been “Superfans” for the reason that time of the collection Ana and the Seven.

150 tickets have been distributed that secured 150 signatures, though, once they have been over, the Obregón needed to keep to signal, very kindly, to keep away from a riot. The truthful needed to lengthen its schedule. “The most media and known authors provide a high amount of income to publishers, libraries, the book sector, also through firms in the great events of the year, such as Sant Jordi in Barcelona or the Madrid Book Fair,” says Laura Torrado, head of Harpercollins Communication (Caseta 256).

The La Printa bookstore (Caseta 65) follows one other logic, say, sociocultural, which is summarized within the motto “Our house, your little house”. They carry a whopping 91 authors, occupying all potential shifts, which sign up specifically designed {couples}, in the hunt for rhymes and consonances. And they don’t pursue massive queues or revenue, however to make seen the literary cloth, particularly the poetic, who has such few readers (though, as they are saying, they’re the most effective).

“We try to democratize what a privilege space is,” says bookseller Miguel Ángel Vázquez, “and we also want to support small publishers who are doing exceptional job and sometimes do not get the support of the big media. This is what gives meaning to our booth.” In addition, they love to offer first alternatives: “It is very nice to welcome an author who signs for the first time, the emotion of entering the booth, nerves, seeing the people who love and clothe him … That for me is a gift,” says Vázquez.

If the printing home is a 3rd of the turnover of the 12 months, one third of that third (a ninth), comes from the corporations. They have an enormous botijo ​​to hydrate the authors and every signatory offers him a golden key: the important thing of the home, the important thing of their home.