Argentina’s main editorial chamber has presented its annual report, which carries some warning signs for the domestic publishing market.
Last year’s Informe de Producción del Libro Argentino, produced by the Cámara Argentina del Libro (CAL) and professionals from the Núcleo de Innovación Social (NIS), digs down into book registration numbers from the Agencia Argentina de ISBN in 2024
The report highlights the work of key players in the print book ecosystem: the Sector Editorial Comercial (SEC), which publishes works intended for the bookshop channel and whose main economic function is publishing; the Circuito Editorial Institucional (CEI), made up of publishing companies whose output is intended for free distribution or institutional sale; and the Circuito Editorial en Kioscos (CEK).
Other notable sectors include self-publishing services and companies that provide publishing services to authors, who are their main clients.
The report shows that overall production of new titles in 2024 dropped eight percent year-on-year, with a total of 31,574 new titles recorded. Of those titles, 22,777 were published in print with a total print run of 52,635,858 copies – nine more than in 2023. Public educational institutions account for around 15 million of these copies.
In 2024, the SEC sector registered 10,104 publications, seven percent less than in 2023 and equating to 11.1 million books. The drop in print book production is also reflected in the average print run per title, which fell from 1,891 copies in 2023 to 1,646 in 2024.
Considering publications based on the geographical location of the publisher, the trend of the past eight years is confirmed: 75 percent are produced in Buenos Aires City and Province (57 percent in the capital, with 18 percent in province). Eight percent of titles are produced in Córdoba and four percent in Santa Fe. The rest of the country accounts for just 13 percent.
Based on the 2022 Census, the combined output of Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Santa Fe – responsible for 87 percent of titles – corresponds to a population of 28 million, or 61 percent of Argentina’s total population of 45.9 million.
It is worth noting that the majority of printing firms and key retail outlets are located in and around the capital.
The CEK focuses largely on the sale of children's and young adult books, with average print runs of 4,000 copies. Meanwhile, the CEI has increased its declared number of copies, particularly for children's and young adult books, as well as for philosophy and religion titles.
Looking at self-published titles and self-publishing services, the former has experienced a slight decline, while the latter, with authors as its primary clients, remains steady.
According to the updated Monitor Interactivo SEC from CAL, the first quarter of this year saw 1,822 titles published in print (1,398 from SME publishers and 424 from large publishing groups), amounting to 2.68 million copies destined for distributors and bookshops. Of that total, SME publishers contributed 1.38 million copies, and large groups 1.3 million.
Given that the average print run was 1,891 in 2023 and 1,646 in 2024, projections for 2025 suggest that figure could drop to 1,473. This clearly illustrates the contractions of Argentina’s publishing market, especially when considering that SME publishers average just 987 copies per title, compared to 3,073 for large, often foreign-owned publishing groups.
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