The president of the National Chamber of the Mexican Publishing Industry (CAMIEN), Hugo Setzer, has high expectations with the new Education and Culture authorities after the previous Government slammed the door on the book industry in the country, when it decided to remove the production of school textbooks to private companies in the sector. It was a hard blow, says Setzer in an interview during his visit to the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), the great book event in Mexico and Latin America, where they organize a great conference of editors. At least 30 companies were affected by that decision, but the president of CAMIEN believes that there is openness to dialogue. The industry is coming off the blow caused by the pandemic, when 30% of profits were lost, but 2024 has been a good year, although the numbers have not grown as expected. The publishers’ profits are at 2019 levels, with more than 20 million copies sold in 2023 and a turnover that exceeded 5,000 million pesos in 2022.
Ask. Where is the publishing industry in Mexico?
Answer. We are not definitively recovered from the pandemic. The industry overall is doing well, but has been affected by the decline in distribution of high school textbooks.
P. A controversy generated by the previous Government. How did it affect them?
R. Very importantly, because it generated a decrease in the growth of the industry. The issue of the decline in the production of secondary educational books was so marked that it stopped from one year to the next. It affected the entire sector. We have 30 publishers, including large, medium and small, that participated in the State program to supply books to secondary education.
P. In addition to this blow, how is the publishing industry in terms of book sales?
R. Pretty good. We are recovering in other sectors, mainly in those of general interest, children and youth. The industry is recovering. We saw that during the pandemic the reading index reported by the INEGI rose, but after the pandemic it fell. However, book sales in general terms have recovered a lot, except for educational books. One of the challenges we have going forward is to try to send the message to the educational authorities that we can and want to contribute to the educational development of Mexico and that we have all the elements to do so, because the current books have been highly criticized. We are dedicated to that, we have all the knowledge to make the textbooks and we want you to allow us to participate.
P. Has there been closeness with the authorities of the Ministry of Public Education?
R. We have looked for them, but we are waiting for them to settle down. I have the expectation and I am very optimistic that with the change in Administration the new authorities will be more open to dialogue. Maybe we don’t agree on some things, but with the last six-year term we couldn’t even talk, they were completely closed. We requested hearings with the Secretariats of Culture and Education throughout the last Administration and we were not received. I think that now there is a greater willingness to dialogue, which is what we want: to contrast points of view and collaborate.
P. Did they give you any explanation for the abrupt cut in textbook production?
R. It was a communication with many setbacks. We received a very brief statement, but there was never an official response to the statements we sent to the Secretary of Education. We received some emails from people from the head of I don’t know what from the office of I don’t know what, who said that based on the powers that the Secretariat itself had, they were making the books.
P. Do you feel it as a disregard for the book industry sector?
R. Yes, it must be said very clearly: it was a no-no. An official even mentioned that we were doing irregular, corrupt business, but the contracts are very clear.
P. Do you then see the possibility of an openness of the new administrations?
R. We hope so, because what we have seen around the world, and we are in contact with publishers from other countries, is that the best educational results occur when there is greater openness and a diversity of materials to learn.
P. Another controversial issue has been the promotion of the book in Mexico. Are there enough public policies to promote reading?
R. That’s a great topic. I think that one of the main problems we have is that despite isolated efforts for many years we have not had a comprehensive public policy that sees books and reading from different fronts as drivers of the cultural, educational and economic development of the country, which without doubt they can be. Why is Spain, which is a country with a third of the population of Mexico, one of the main publishing centers in the world and Mexico is not? It has to do with public policies, the intervention of the Culture authorities, in terms of seeing books and reading as an engine of development.
P. And doesn’t it also have to do with the high prices of books in Mexico?
R. Yes, but that depends on how we interpret the fact that they are very expensive. I frequently mention it with colleagues that a 400 peso book may be expensive for a student, but we also have to consider that on a Friday night outing they spend more than that. A book seems expensive, but I think it has more to do with the feeling that unfortunately has permeated that books should be free or that information should be free. But what we do has value. The authors with their intellectual creation and then the publishers with the entire process of curation, production, and publication.
P. Is it read in Mexico?
R. Yes, but we have a long way to go. A lot goes on about the issue of bookstores, which have been forgotten in Mexico for a long time. We are seeing if we can carry out the changes to the VAT law, which has forgotten the book trade sector. Yes, it is read and that is why we have a vigorous publishing industry, but there is impressive potential: we could read much more.
P. Is there a specific proposal to the State on VAT?
R. We have been talking about creating working groups to create these public policies. The zero tax rate on books is one of the proposals, but that alone cannot solve the problem. We are looking at other ways to encourage there to be more bookstores and that if someone wants to open one, perhaps in the first two years they will not pay income taxes, or have incentives to purchase initial inventory.