Rights trading meetings at a previous evocation of the Liber series of trade-show events in Spain. Image: Liber
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘The Challenges and Opportunities’
As our regular Publishing Perspectives readers know, Liber is a trade show—Feria international del Libro—not a public-facing book fair. It moves annually between Madrid one year and Barcelona the next.
The 2025 edition, set for October 7 to 9, returns to the IFEMA Madrid Trade Fair Center, and is again staged by the Federación de Gremios de Editores de España, this time organized around themes of innovation; professional training; marketing; and sustainability. More than 70 events are reportedly planned, and it seems that—as in many markets—the approach-avoidance regard for artificial intelligence and related technologies is a key factor.
The FGEE, in approaching various news media on this, for example, talks of “the challenges and opportunities that technology poses for the sector in developing subscription models or the development of AI-based tools for activities such as contract and rights management and promotion.”
This runs parallel to a new study from the United States’ Book Industry Study Group (BISG), something about which we’ll have coverage for you soon. The point to be made now is that the FGEE programming for Liber is tapping into a deeply conflicted context for artificial intelligence among many in the book publishing industry—including questions about how it’s being used, or may be used, in back-office chores involving marketing and bookkeeping.
The other three focal areas that FGEE has designated for Liber are explicated this way:
Innovation—which of course is such an overused concept and term that it can mean almost anything, and yet in this programmatic structure refers to “the latest trends shaping the current state of the book industry, especially with regard to the use of technology and its application in the creation, production, publishing, and marketing of books.” It’s a chance to look, again, at “the challenges and opportunities that technology poses for the sector in developing subscription models or the development of AI-based tools for activities such as contract and rights management and promotion,” according to the information provided to members of the news media.
Marketing and training, which organizers say is a second main area of interest, will include panels and round tables looking at “the search for models to improve distribution and sales in the current market context and the skills industry professionals need to address the current situation.” This area of inquiry is to include the analysis of emerging audiences, new marketing tools, and the use, of course, of AI.
Lastly, the emphasis on sustainability in economy, environment, and society, makes reference to the European Union’s definition of sustainability as “the ability to meet current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The content in this area is built around FGEE’s assertion that “To achieve this goal, it is necessary to find a balance between the economic, environmental, and social dimensions, and this is precisely what this block focuses on. It will analyze the contribution of the publishing industry to the economy, the effects of piracy, and the impact of the European Green Deal beyond the EUDR. It will also address the importance of education, the promotion of reading, and bibliodiversity as pillars of a democratic society.”
Guest of Honor Chile
The Chilean market—scheduled to be guest of honor at Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 15 to 19) in 2027—is Liber’s guest of honor this year, and is expected to feature “Chilean creators of poetry, fantasy fiction, and children’s literature, who will address issues such as publishing abroad and the creative capacity of regions like Valparaíso.
“Among the keynote speakers are poet and musician Mauricio Redolés and writer Cristian Geisse. Interviews and meetings with authors will also be presented, inviting readers to rediscover the passion and origins of Latin American literature, reaffirming Chile as a country of poets.”
Details of “the best commercial showcase for the book sector in Spain” are available at the show’s site.
More from us on book publication and development rights is here, more from Publishing Perspectives on Feria international del Libro is here, more on the Spanish market is here, while more on the international Spanish-language markets is here.
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