On a bookshelf, the eyes are drawn to the most striking ones. Whether it's the color of the spine, the typography of the letters, or a very interesting headline, the popular advice of "don't judge a book by its cover" is usually not followed. At least, not at first sight. After appearances, the eyes will seek more references in the author. And there the inspections end.
However, the symbol located at the bottom of the volume is precisely responsible for the review, correction, and translation of the manuscript, as well as its presentation, promotion, and distribution. In other words, ensuring that it reaches the shelf after the writer has set aside the pen. Has the reader noticed that the person responsible for the Harry Potter series in Spain is a salamander (Ediciones Salamandra)? Or that, behind the titles of acclaimed authors like the recently deceased Mario Vargas Llosa, but also newly discovered ones like Joël Dicker, lies the intricate symbol of Alfaguara? Suma de Letras also handles best-sellers in recent years, including editions by Elisabet Benavent. On the other hand, Debolsillo has a more varied catalog, reducing the size of all types of copies, even the longest ones by Ken Follett.
Behind a book, there is a team that starts with the author and continues with the publisher. "In a world oversaturated with content, the figure of an editor is more important than ever. It is necessary to somehow make a recommendation of which stories are worth it, curate those manuscripts, and support the author so that the text really improves," values Núria Cabutí. And this is what the company where she has been CEO since 2013 does: Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial (PRHGE) publishes a catalog of 24,000 books in Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese in Spain. A list of books that are for Cabutí "the main source of pride" since she became CEO of the company, and she likes to highlight that "we are the Spanish-language publisher with the most Nobel Prizes in the catalog." This is the case of Hang Kang, Nobel Prize in Literature 2024, who finds shelter under the roof of Random House (whose logo is, precisely, a house).
The aforementioned publishers (or imprints) are part of the publishing group. The company's origin is international, with the merger of Random House (Bertelsmann Group) with Penguin (Pearson Group) in 2013. In Spain, the Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial has risen to become, by market share, the second-largest publisher at the national level. And all this, expansion after expansion, since 2014: "The publishers that at one point considered selling their legacy, we have incorporated it into our catalogs. We currently have 61 editorial imprints targeting very different audiences," explains Cabutí. The businesswoman, who speaks to Actualidad Económica at the inauguration of their new logistics center in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona), clarifies that from the publishing group, they try to preserve, once acquired, the personality of the catalogs: "We are creating this new logistics center to support all those editorial imprints that have that creativity, that innovation, those new voices and the already established ones, so that they can reach all points of sale as quickly as possible."
A warehouse with robotic systems to distribute throughout Spain, explains Cabutí, but also towards Latin America, despite having another warehouse in Portugal and in each of the countries where they operate: Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay... "The one in Barcelona will serve all of Spain, and from here we will send 160,000 copies daily. With some demand peaks, we can reach up to 340,000 in a day, and the idea is to have the capacity to distribute 40 million copies per year," explains Cabutí. They previously had different distribution points, now obsolete to achieve their goal of faster shipping.
The book market in Spain is very "diversified," according to Cabutí: "50% of sales still come through traditional bookstores, spread throughout our geography. Precisely, what we want is to provide excellent service to these businesses where sometimes it is difficult to have the entire catalog available due to space constraints. We want to guarantee them a good level of service so that they can be competitive and continue in some way the great cultural work they do. At the same time, of course, we serve large surfaces, large clients, online clients... Our goal is to provide the same service to everyone."
Rumors of disappearance due to large distribution chains have long haunted traditional bookstores, which remain an essential element for cultural enrichment according to Cabutí: "In Spain, things have been done very well because traditional bookstores have managed, in a way, to reinvent themselves. And above all, to become a cultural hub. There are many bookstores today that hold book presentations, have book clubs, have a truly dynamic website... All of this makes the bookstore the place where novelties are discovered."
"We are in a good moment as a sector. In Spain, it grew by 9% in 2024, which is a very, very positive indicator," values Cabutí. But she does not ignore that hers is a market with a recurring threat, in addition to the struggle to maintain readers' attention amidst a wide variety of entertainment products. The new challenge lies in the latest technologies, which are already capable of performing tasks typical of an editor, and even an author, considering that there are books written with AI. But the issue is not to go against technologies, Cabutí opines, but to go in the same direction. "You have seen how we adapt," she jokes at the new logistics center in Cerdanyola del Vallès, with a robotic system to assist in loading and transporting books. "We can be more efficient, especially in the distribution part, and in leveraging AI to improve our editorial processes. We believe in human creativity and therefore, for us, the main thing is to continue promoting the development of literary works. However, we do think that AI can support processes within the company, from demand forecasting, or what print runs we should do, where to distribute better... and be truly much more efficient." An optimism she defends, despite the threat to her own industry: "What we have to do is find the formulas to make this a real added value in our sector."
Another challenge: protecting the product itself and combating piracy, which also occurs in the film or luxury fashion brands. "We need this to be linked to laws and culture. By this, I mean educating the new generations in schools and in the family, to be able to respect what intellectual property is. Sometimes there is a lack of sensitivity towards what a work is, an intellectual property, and knowing that it has the same value as any other product," values Cabutí. And she adds: "This issue is related to the progress of society; therefore, from a young age, we must educate children to understand what intellectual property is, and then, there must be good laws that help in some way to prevent and stop piracy."
"As a result of the pandemic, there has been a resurgence in the world of books. Reading habits in Spain this year show that 65% of people read books for entertainment. This is the highest figure we have had throughout history. So there is a greater demand for books, and also for sales," explains Cabutí. The Spanish division of Penguin Random House closed 2024 with a turnover of 410 million euros and 57 million copies sold during the year 2024.
There are also solid figures for the paper book, despite the digital environment: 90% of sales of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial are in physical format. "People somehow also want moments without technology and to be able to focus on a story. And that is why the physical book format continues to be the preferred format among our readers," opines Cabutí, who recalls predictions that all reading would be digital... 10 years ago.
Not contradictorily, but in parallel, technologies walk alongside the traditional business: for the past 10 years, Penguin Random House in Spain has been producing audiobooks, a growing format according to Cabutí, which also "allows in some way to listen to a story, which is ultimately the origin, as stories were told thousands of years ago."
From this format, the United States is its destination, within the Spanish-speaking market, the most widespread, although they also appreciate an increase in demand in Mexico and Spain. "Right now we have a catalog available of 6,000 titles," explains Cabutí. "This is a format in which we want to invest and continue developing: we take great care of the quality of the recordings, with good directors, with good actors, and this is a formula for success for us. A high quality that somehow allows us to ensure the success of these recordings." And in the process, the publisher thus challenges multitasking.
With all this, Cabutí looks optimistically towards the future of the book in all its formats, and sets the goal of reaching the 600 million Spanish speakers. "In the end, each book is discovering a story, taking you to entertainment, to knowledge, and this is the main function of the publisher, right? To awaken that passion for reading and to ensure that through books, in some way, we can all together build a better society."