Javier Celaya, vice president of the Spanish Digital Magazines Association, has an editorial in Publishing Perspectives that is well worth reading. Here’s a snippet::
A dramatic shift is happening in the Spanish-language publishing sector. In the last few months, the three largest publishing houses — Random House Mondadori, Grupo Planeta and Santillana — have taken a series of decisions (i.e competitive e-book pricing offers, launch of digital first collections, greater investments in e-marketing campaigns, etc.) that, when viewed collectively, signal the end of the first stage of the digital era in Spanish-language publishing.
Following an initial phase, known in the sector as the Libranda Era, which attempted to slow down changes in the sector by maintaining the current ecosystem in the book world, many book professionals in Spain believe that we will be entering a much more dynamic second phase, one I’ll dub the Internationalization Era. This new era is characterized by increasing interest by the main international players — Amazon, Google, Apple, Barnes & Noble, TheCopia.com, Kobo, Yudu, among other — to enhance their platforms with content in Spanish from Spain and Latin America.
