The physical book format continues to dominate sales, despite predictions of digital hegemony. Núria Cabutí, CEO of Penguin Random House, highlighted that 80% of sales remain in physical format, underscoring the book's resilience as a cultural object. The executive, overseeing around fifty imprints and a business volume exceeding 400 million euros, emphasized that AI has not yet demonstrated superiority over human creativity in literary creation.

Daniel Fernández, president of the Catalan Publishers' Guild and head of Edhasa, stressed the role of publishers in transforming manuscripts into cultural artifacts. He pointed out the difficulty in getting public administrations to recognize the sector's economic weight, which generates nearly 3 billion euros annually in Spain, compared to the 80-100 million from Spanish cinema. In 2024, the publishing sector invoiced 3,037.51 million euros, selling 194.50 million copies.

During a talk at Juno House, as part of the Inspired in Barcelona Creative Days, both industry leaders addressed current challenges. Cabutí emphasized the importance of authors as creative talent and the strategy of unifying the operational 'backoffice' while maintaining the independence of creative imprints.

Regarding artificial intelligence, Fernández expressed concern over its unreliability and notable biases, while Cabutí stated that AI is not introducing anything new and that human creativity remains unsurpassed. Both criticized the use of AI for creating promotional material for the event.

The discussion also focused on the reading gap. Fernández lamented that a third of the Spanish population lives 'detached from culture,' neither buying books nor attending cultural events. He advocated for the specialization of general bookstores to improve the positioning and visibility of titles in a market that publishes nearly 90,000 books annually. Social media platforms, such as TikTok and 'booktokers,' were highlighted as key tools for reaching segmented audiences.