Approximately 400 international publishers from 60 countries took part in the 32nd International Spanish Book Fair (LIBER 2014) last week in Barcelona against a backdrop of a struggling national economy and declining publishing sales. Still, there were some bright spots, including the rise of e-books.

Michael Gordon, a literary agent and an American who has lived in Barcelona for more than 20 years, says that while there is an impediment to the growth of digital books, a tax of 21% initiated around five years ago just as digital was beginning to gain traction (by comparison print is taxed 4%), e-books are driving Spanish publishing. According to Antonio Avilia, the executive director of the Federation of Spanish Publishers, digital books accounted for over 80 million euros in 2013, 36% of the total revenue.

The federation represents 823 Spanish publishers in the four languages of Spain and is an organization that takes on the cause of publishers with the government, works to protect them from taxes, to develop the international market and to conduct studies with statistics about the industry at home and also outside of Spain. Avila explained that the market for classic Spainsh books is solid in both the U.S. and Mexico and there is a vigorous market in Europe for books about learning Spanish, with England, France and Germany leading the pack.

Ainhoa Sánchez Mateo, of Acción Cultural Esapnola, which promotes Spanish culture, hosted a breakfast for the international invitees where she said that among the great challenges of spanish publishing is the lack of English translation of contempotrary fiction. People always ask me, she says, "What have you done since Cervantes?" She adds that there are so many good Spanish writers but no one knows about them because they are not translated into English. In Spain, 30% of all books are translated from English into Spanish, but only 3% of English books are translated into Spanish. Her organization is seeking funding in 2015 to target translation, from a new EU program that will provide funds for exporting EU culture. She also expects that the many native Spanish speaking people in the U.S. will begin to actively promote the language and culture among their American born children.