According to UNESCO, approximately 2.2 million books are published worldwide each year. In Spain, 80,000 were published in 2022, report distributors. Digital publishing is on the rise. Such a vast number of titles might suggest a multitude of readers. However, looking at the income received by their authors - without which the product does not exist - the reality is disheartening: the vast majority do not even cover their costs. These figures do not presuppose the solidity of the publishing industry, which is largely composed of small publishers that barely survive with low print runs and the incessant rise in production costs. In the face of the recurrent crisis, both economic and of values, the potential reader forgoes 'luxury expenses' such as books; governments and institutions are slashing subsidies drastically, and the budget allocated to the Humanities in academic institutions is diminishing.
How can one then engage in a 'non-productive activity'? Why and for whom do we write? Universal questions that are even more pertinent in the case of authors from poor countries and societies burdened by illiteracy. Interpreting their motivations from stereotypical preconceived ideas, as well as a pompous Eurocentric bias, means ignoring the role of Literature in the evolution of the human race. It is not true that Asians, Africans, and Latin Americans write for developed societies, favoured by a higher purchasing power, a high cultural index, and the leisure they enjoy. Nor is it for pretentious vanity. Should we undermine the work of Miguel de Cervantes and invalidate Fyodor Dostoevsky because they wrote 'for the rich' in times dominated by widespread ignorance? How many contemporaries read their work? Yet it remains necessary.
There are not too many books, despite the vast number of titles that crowd libraries and bookstores; nor are their creators, even with such low reading rates. Writing is often a desperate cry, an idealistic bet to improve this existence. Perhaps nothing will change, but someone, far or near, will learn something or modify the perception imposed by the prevailing discourse. That implicit commitment between the solitary writer and the anonymous reader may be reason enough to tell a story that leads to uncovering the hidden intricacies. Hence the ongoing suspicion of established powers.♦
