Collaboration between publishers, distributors and booksellers: the Spanish case

Spain, the fourth largest publishing power in the world, had 83,000 new titles published in 2022, representing 206 million copies, with an average circulation of 3,610 copies per title, a books supply available of more than 8,40,000 titles, with sales in 2022 of 178 million copies and a return figure of 28 million copies.

These figures allow us to get a general idea of the complexity of the book market system, in terms of its main quantitative magnitudes. To this we must add the number of processes and flows (product, information and financial) that occur in this system, which are also duplicated in a round trip.

Likewise, each title is unique and cannot be replaced by another in the purchase desire of the reader. For example, in the case of Spain, we currently have more than 8,40,000 different titles considered as book supply available, although some bookstores claim that their available supply actually exceeds one million titles. This circumstance of publishing wealth and bibliodiversity represents a reference asset for the book sector, although it also generates important challenges for its treatment by the book supply chain.

The long tail effect…

Furthermore, in recent years, the “long tail” effect has been accentuated in the sector, with a small number of “bestsellers” compared to hundreds of thousands of titles with smaller sales, but which, added together, represent as much (or more), in terms of sales, than the reduced number of best selling titles. In this sense, in recent years there has been a very significant growth in the sales of backlist titles in relation to frontlist titles in all countries. In the case of the United States, as an example, but the data is practically replicable in most markets, it has been happening since 2004, in which the turnover between backlist and frontlist titles for a publisher was around 50% in each case, to the current 2/3 of the backlist compared to the 1/3 that represents the frontlist in turnover terms (the new titles released).

This reality generates opportunities, without a doubt, but also challenges for the entire sector. Issues such as curating the entire historical collection of publishers, digitizing processes, how to communicate and make available (and discoverable) all of this collection… are issues that should be on the agenda of all companies in the sector.

The metadata…

Given this reality, the availability of information, generated by the publisher, that is complete and updated in time and on each book that is marketed, is essential for its correct management by the channel (distributor and bookstore) and constitutes the basic pillar on which is build a supply chain that minimizes errors and costs and allows for an adequate response to the demands of the book buyer, both in the case of printed books and digital content. That means that every company of the book sector needs a digital strategy regarding the company workflow, independently if the final product of this workflow is a print or digital content.

In this regard, and delving into this question of the importance of metadata about each title, generated by each respective editor, it is essential to highlight some of the conclusions of the report on the use of complete metadata by publishers, carried out by the consulting company Nielsen in the United States and Great Britain, in which issues such as:

• Titles with complete basic metadata see their sales increase by 75% compared to those with incomplete metadata.
• Titles with a cover image see their sales increase by 51% compared to those with incomplete ones.
• The inclusion of three key rich metadata (description, reviews and author biography) can help increase sales by 72%.

Therefore, it is essential that distributors and bookstores should have detailed information on the reference data of each book, as a preliminary step so that it’s marketing is adequate. In this sense, the transmission of information by the publisher is the foundation for adapting many processes in the book supply chain, and should be considered by the publisher itself as an investment and never as an expense.

What a publisher should do?

The publisher must provide basic information (minimum data) and within a reasonable period of time, always before the book is put on the market. In this regard, progress has been made in recent years by establishing a Protocol on Communication of News, included in the CSL Standards, regarding minimum data and metadata communication deadlines.

It is important to highlight that this communication must be made to a single body, which will be the one who circulates the data. In this regard, in Spain we have a metadata management system (the database of titles for sale DILVE https://web.dilve.es/), which is a fundamental reference as an asset for the sector, since it constitutes centralized access to the metadata that the companies upload and update daily. By uploading the publisher’s catalogue to DILVE, the publisher can send the metadata of its books to distributors, bookstores, online stores or other agents in the book chain, without having to prepare the catalogue according to the requirements of each one of them every time they request it. In addition, DILVE allows the publisher to automate the sending of ISBN registration requests to the ISBN Agency by registering them in DILVE.

Likewise, distributors, bookstores, online stores, libraries or other agents that register with DILVE can obtain the metadata that interests them from the pubisher’s catalogue, whenever they need it and in the format they want (XML-ONIX, SINLI, CSV…).

On DLIVE…

DILVE, together with the rest of the sector initiatives, all of which are complementary (SINLI, CEGAL en RED, Librired…) constitute a system of technological tools available to companies that operate in the book sector, which brings them obvious cost savings, as well as opportunities to generate greater income, and that can be perfectly exportable to other countries where books published in Spain are sold.

Role of AI in book discovery…

As we have seen, book discovery is a constant challenge for readers and the publishing industry. With the vast number of books available on the market, finding those that suit personal tastes and preferences can be a daunting task. This is where artificial intelligence, as in so many other fields of business activity, has come into play, offering innovative solutions to increase the visibility of new titles.

In this regard, issues such as personalized recommendation, using AI algorithms to analyze the user’s reading history, preferences and behavior, allow that, with this information, AI can offer precise and relevant recommendations, increasing the probability that readers discover books that interest them.

The application of artificial intelligence in book discovery can transform the way readers find and enjoy new reads. Personalized recommendation, content analysis, assisted generation, and trend prediction are just some of the ways AI can boost the book industry. However, all these formulas for improving access to books start from the basic information about them, which constitutes the metadata. Without metadata in a timely manner, adequate marketing of the book cannot be developed.

On a concluding note…

Last, but not least, training of the book professionals as a tool for adaptation and change is a key factor. The implementation of projects or technological tools that the sector has been equipped with, and that have allowed, in the case of Spain with DILVE, SINLI, LIBRIRED or the CSL Standards, to be of no use, if they are not accompanied by a training and reskilling policy, both for current professionals in the sector and for young people who wish to develop their activity in this sector. It is essential to attract talent to our sector, and eliminate the image that it is a backward, outdated, uninnovative and unattractive sector. In this regard, the PARIX Spanish Book School (the first book school in Spain) must become the driving force of this change, and a key driving agent in the coming years, with the support of the entire sector as a whole.