Graph of books registered with ISBN by type of medium
The number of books registered in ISBN was 92,616, of which 66.2% are in paper format and the remaining 33.8% in other formats.
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Spanish Book Publishing Statistics
By subsectors, 34.9% of the books registered were dedicated to ‘social sciences and humanities’, followed by ‘literary creation’, which accounted for 24.7%; ‘scientific and technical’ books, with 12%; those dedicated to ‘children and young people’, with 11.4%; ‘textbooks’, with 7.8%; and those dedicated to ‘leisure time’, with 7.2%.
The Ministry of Culture and Sport has today published the Spanish Book Publishing Statistics with ISBN 2022, part of the National Statistical Plan, which provides information on book publishing according to different characteristics. The document is now available in the online database CULTURABaseExternal link, which opens in a new window on the website.
According to the data, the number of books registered with ISBN in 2022 was 92,616, of which 61,324 were on paper, which represents 66.2% of the total, and 31,292 on other media, which represents the remaining 33.8%. The number of books registered in 2022 is therefore the same as in the previous year. If we compare the data with 2019 and 2020, we observe an increase of 2.8% and 18.1%, respectively, thus surpassing the pre-pandemic data.
By type of medium, the number of books on paper in 2022 has decreased by 5.12% compared to the previous year, while those registered on other media have increased by 11.45%.
By sub-sectors, 34.9% of the books registered in ISBN were dedicated to ‘social sciences and humanities’, followed by ‘literary creation’, which accounted for 24.7%; ‘scientific and technical’ books, with 12%; those dedicated to ‘children and young people’, with 11.4%; and ‘textbooks’ and those dedicated to ‘leisure time’, with 7.8% and 7.2%, respectively.
By type of publication, first editions accounted for 97.8% of the total number of books registered with ISBN. By publisher ownership, 92.3% corresponded to private publishing.
Increase in books in other formats
With regard to the publication format, it is booked in other formats that show the greatest increases with respect to 2019, 2020 and 2021. Thus, while in 2019 the number of books registered in other formats stood at 24,770, in 2022 there were 31,292.
By sub-sector, the most favourable performance was observed in textbooks, which increased in both paper and other formats compared to 2021.
By publisher characteristics, the most favourable figure is observed in medium-sized publishers, which have gone from registering 27,120 books in 2021 to 29,039 in 2022.
About the statistics
The Statistics on Spanish Book Publishing with ISBN, belonging to the National Statistical Plan, are compiled by the Subdirectorate General for the Promotion of Books, Reading and Spanish Literature of the Directorate General for Books, Comics and Reading, together with the Statistics and Studies Division of the General Technical Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture and Sport.
In the interpretation of the results for the year 2020 onwards, the effect of the COVID-19 crisis must be taken into account.