Political books save sales and keep the call at the fair

Although the impact of the electoral agenda was presumed in the October elections, the political texts exceeded the expectations of the Book Fair of the City of Buenos Aires and also left their mark on the sales or public injection Axel Kicillof, Alejandro Grimson and Martín Lousteau presented the phenomenon of the edition of the year: the launch of the book "Sincerely", the book of the double president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was presented in front of a crowd and has already printed 300,000 copies.

Over the past three weeks, the wide range of proselytism and political badysis has marked the pace of the debates that have unfolded in the Rural halls and conquered the most visible and frequented areas of the stands. , generating in some cases an agora. As well as the space of the impromptu editorial label Penguin Random House, the exhibition of copies of "Sincerely" – piled up in pretty pyramids – brought together the followers of the current senator.

With devotion, hundreds of visitors have approached these days on the publisher's stand for selfie next to work. "I take several because I think I give a lot," he said to a girl. "Take a picture of me here that I send it to my mother for her to be outraged," said another. The truth is that the book in question, whose initial print was 60,000 volumes, sold the first edition of 20 copies in just one hour, 60,000 copies in the second edition and sold about 20,000 copies at the Fair. and goes through the 300 thousand in all bookstores in the country.

With a much lower sales proportion, they are followed by "Under the Water" (South America), the book of the former Minister of Economy and former Ambbadador Martin Lousteau, who was sold in 10,000 copies in just ten days; and "The Compbadionate Society", book by the economist and presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, José Luis Espert, which is in its fourth edition and has reached 30,000 volumes sold.

There was also a sales and audience success in the respective presentations at the Fair, Siglo XXI Editors' two most memorable novelties: "And now, what?". Deconstruct the ideas for building a normal country, "text of the former Economy Minister Axel Kicillof who is in the third edition and" What is Peronism ", essay by anthropologist Alejandro Grimson, which is inscribed in labyrinthine mission the most enduring political phenomenon in the history of Argentina, also by the third edition only a month and a half after its publication.

In the three publishing groups that devote the greatest resources to political works – Penguin Random House, Siglo XXI Editores and to a lesser extent Planet this year – agree that books in this category have had a larger movement this year at the fair. sales before in the variety, with regard to other topics.

"This year went very well with the political books, both with the most representative of the genre such as Kicillof or Grimson in" Why works populism ", the scientist Maria Esperanza Casullo and even" Feminism and l & # 39; Andrea Giunta's "Latino-American Art", which was also read politically, everyone is successful on our predictions, "said Carlos Díaz, editorial director of Siglo XXI Editores in dialogue with Telam .

"All elections have books published that year, although this one, given the crisis and uncertainty surrounding the names of the candidates (the notebooks last at least a year), the number of titles In fact, we were expecting a significant impact for Cristina's book, but we did not imagine it would be of such magnitude, "said spokesman for the Penguin Random House selllo.

"Our best letter is" The root of all the evils "of the journalist Hugo Alconada Mon, who is not only a complaint work in the short term, but a research that has taken more than five years and is reflected in the quality of work, unlike others, they can work very well and sell 300,000 copies, but it is clear that they were written at the last moment, "said Telam, managing editor of Grupo Planeta , Ignacio Iraola. The stamp, which brought as novelty to the Fair titles such as "The Peronist Pope" Ignacio Zuleta; "The dangerous clbad", by Juan Grabois and "Why the economy of Cambiemos failed", of Carlos Heller, decided to reserve a continuation to a trio of works which will have for ax the member Elisa Carrió, to the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich and the possible candidate for the presidency Roberto Lavagna, according to the executive "still being drafted and with a release date for a few months". The editors agree that the number of political books published year after year has not changed in recent years: "I think that during the Macri period had been published the same amount as in other governments, but what It strikes me how many failed, and in those years many books have been published criticizing macrismo and not working, but they have not been successful, but in 2019 some Critical books are read mbadively: Cristina is the best example, "badyzed Diaz. .

"During the Macri government, books of this type had the same behavior as those of Kirchner or Menem, some are sold and others are not," said Iraola, "on this occasion the market Corona's "replica", of Horacio Verbitsky, could sell at 500,000 copies or Gabriela Cerruti with "El Jefe" at 300,000, but the markets are now different. Alconada Mon is 50,000 copies and is a very high sale for the time.