Annual Report 2025

It is a pleasure to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Bookwire Report with all of you with the launch of the 2025 edition. Once again, at Bookwire we have conducted a comprehensive study of the Spanish-language digital publishing sector with the aim of drawing conclusions from objective market data that will help boost the profitability and visibility of the thousands of ebook and audiobook catalogs we have distributed since 2010. The Bookwire Report 2025 covers virtually the entire Spanish-language digital publishing market, a core commitment of ours since the publication of the first edition a decade ago. Thanks to the support of our clients—ranging from the broad ecosystem of independent publishers to major groups operating on both sides of the Atlantic—we are able to continue publishing this industry-leading report. We invite you to consult, discuss, and share the most comprehensive and rigorous analysis to understand the Spanish-language digital book market.

Welcome to the Bookwire 2025 Report!

In 2025, Bookwire has distributed more than 1,600 publishing imprints from Spain, Mexico, and Latin America, totaling 222,000 titles: 200,000 ebooks and 22,000 audiobooks.

Our estimate for 2026 is that the Spanish-language ebook market will exceed 279,000* titles, while the total number of audiobooks will surpass 46,000.

*These figures do not include Amazon self-publishing (Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing), as data for this analysis is not available.

In 2025, Spanish-speaking readers had access to 8.94% more ebook titles than in 2024.

Publishers in Spain, Mexico, and Latin America have driven nearly uniform growth in their catalogs. Spain leads the ranking with a 16.32% increase in the number of titles, followed closely by Latin America (16.30%) and, in third place, Mexico, with a 15.78% growth in its ebook catalog. Meanwhile, publishers in the United States have also expanded their digital catalog, with an increase of 11.79%.

1. Subscription Models Gain Ground: Breathing New Life into Independent publisher’s Catalogs
Subscription channels—both hybrid models that combine subscription and pay-per-book sales, as well as pure subscription models—have slightly increased their market share, driven primarily by the catalogs of independent publishers, who have (re)discovered their readership on these platforms.

• Certain genres, such as romance and thriller, rank among the most popular in these environments.
• Subscribers do not typically purchase individual ebooks; if they cannot find the book they are looking for on their platform of choice, they will tend to opt for an alternative title that is available.
  
   

2. The Negative Impact of Currency Fluctuations
Throughout 2025, exchange rate volatility has put pressure on the profitability of the digital market from two fronts. In Latin America and Mexico, the depreciation of local currencies against the U.S dollar has made platform subscriptions and content purchases more expensive, reducing readers’ purchasing power and limiting the ability of publishers and distributors to maintain competitive prices in the face of high costs—licenses, production, technology—that are mostly denominated in dollars.

• Conversely, the weakness of the U.S. dollar against the euro has diminished the value of revenue generated in the United States when consolidated in euros, particularly affecting Spanish publishers with a presence in that market.
  
   

3. The Unresolved Issue of Pre-sales in the Independent Sector
While major publishing groups use pre-sales as a powerful marketing tool to expand their reach, the independent publishing sector continues, to a large extent, to fail to take advantage of this strategy, despite the many benefits it offers.

• Algorithmic benefits: Platforms prioritize titles that have metadata available prior to the publication date.

• Increased interest: allows the announcement of upcoming releases and offers the option to pre-order or purchase the ebook in advance.

• Inclusion in the new releases newsletter that Bookwire sends to major platforms: For a title to appear in this newsletter, which is aimed at content and marketing managers from these channels, it must be activated on Bookwire OS at least 45 days before its release.
  
   

4. New Business Models that Revive Tradition
By 2025, the Skeelo platform has established itself as a channel with a dual function: generating revenue and increasing the visibility of titles, reviving special sales—a business model that, until now, had been almost exclusive to the print market. This channel enters into agreements with telecommunications companies, as well as companies in other sectors, to provide users with custom curated selections of audiobooks.

• This strategy facilitates access to new audiences, including non-readers, and encourages their adoption of audiobook consumption.
  
   

5. The Two Main Types of Players in Artificial Intelligence
In the ecosystem of artificial intelligence within the publishing and digital content industry, there are two main types of market players:

• Large technology companies that have chosen to acquire content licenses from publishers and other entities to feed and train their large-scale language models (LLMs). In this context, editorial content becomes raw material for the development of artificial intelligence, which has given rise to a new and growing market for data rights with significant legal, economic, and ethical implications for the sector.

• Companies that do not compete in the development of foundational models, but rather integrate AI natively into their value chain to enrich and scale their offerings. This is the case with companies like ElevenLabs, which have placed AI-powered voice synthesis at the center of their business model, enabling the generation of audiobooks and audio content with unprecedented levels of quality, speed, and voice diversity. This approach not only expands the offerings available to the end user but also democratizes access to audio content production and redefines the creative and commercial possibilities of the entire publishing chain.
  
   

6. Simultaneous Listening and Reading
Major audiobook platforms, such as Spotify and Audible, have begun to incorporate hybrid reading models that allow users to switch between listening to and reading their titles.

• Spotify’s “Page Match” feature allows users to locate their reading position in both a printed book and an ebook and sync it with the audiobook version. This process is easily done by taking a screenshot of the page, though it is currently only available to Premium users in certain regions.

• Audible allows users to switch between reading the eBook and listening to the audiobook thanks to its Read & Listen” feature. If the user has the eBook in their Kindle account, they can switch formats without losing their reading position.
  
   

7. The Fastest-Growing Format: Audiobooks
Now is the time to invest in the only format that continues to see double-digit growth: audiobooks.

• It is key to connect with this new audience and build the community. The Fabely platform, dedicated exclusively to audiobooks, allows publishers to engage with this user segment.

• It is essential to boost the visibility of audiobook catalogs, and the “Premio Audiolibro Bookwire” represent an excellent opportunity to do so. Following a successful first edition, the number of awards will double this year, and the awards ceremony will take place during Liber in Barcelona.

• It is equally important for publishers to maintain control over their audio catalogs. Publishers should avoid licensing their key titles and long-sellers in order to exploit them directly and maximize their profitability.
  
   

8. Bookwire, the Leading Mediator Between the Industry and New Players
Bookwire has established itself as a key player in mediating between the publishing industry and the new players emerging from artificial intelligence and emerging business models. Through strategic agreements with companies such as ElevenLabs and Skeelo, Bookwire reinforces its commitment to protecting its clients’ interests, while enabling them to take full advantage of new monetization opportunities in the digital environment. In this way, it acts not only as a secure bridge between technological innovation and publishing tradition, but also as a fundamental driver of the sector’s sustainable growth.