By Andrew Richard Albanese, Editor-in-Chief
Digital distributor Bookwire this week announced the release of its Annual Report 2025, a comprehensive overview of the Spanish-language digital publishing sector that points to growth in both ebooks and audiobooks across the global marketplace, and offers key insights into market trends.“In 2025, Bookwire distributed more than 1,600 publishing imprints from Spain, Mexico, and Latin America, totaling 222,000 titles: 200,000 ebooks and 22,000 audiobooks,” states the report, the company’s 10th, going on to estimate that in 2026 the Spanish-language ebook market will exceed 279,000 (not counting Amazon self-publishing) while the total number of audiobooks is expected to surpass 46,000.
“In 2025, Spanish-speaking readers had access to 8.94% more ebook titles than in 2024,” the report adds, with Spain topping the list with a 16.32% increase in the number of titles offered, followed closely by Latin America (16.3%); and Mexico (15.78%). “Meanwhile, publishers in the United States have also expanded their digital catalog, with an increase of 11.79%.”
In terms of revenue, the report found that the Spanish-language ebook market grew by a modest 1.5% in revenue in 2025, reflecting a “stabilization” of the marketplace after several years significant growth following the pandemic.
Notably, Spanish language ebook sales in non-Spanish-speaking territories posted a 5% increase, “primarily driven by European countries.”
In contrast, the ebook market in Mexico experienced a 1% decline in 2025, and the U.S. market dropped by 5%, which the report pins on two factors: “a slight drop in sales in dollars, exacerbated by the unfavorable dollar-to-euro exchange rate during 2025,” and “a reduction in library acquisitions of titles in non-English languages, within a political context marked by the policies of the Trump administration.”
Meanwhile, the audiobook sector continues to be the fastest growing market, once again posting double-digit growth. “The audiobook market grew by 11.5% in revenue in 2025,” the report finds. But that growth also comes with a note of caution, as the report points out that the pace of growth in 2025 slowed considerably from the 37.5% spike reported in 2024.
“In a market dominated by a single platform and a business model centered on unlimited subscription plans, growth depends largely on attracting new listeners. If that acquisition slows down, the market tends to stabilize even if current users consume more,” the report observes. Still, the audiobook market “remains the most dynamic format,” with growth “more than triple that of ebooks” and far exceeding print.
Trends
In addition to the overall numbers, the Bookwire Report 2025 offers insights on a host of trends, representing both opportunities and challenges.
In terms of challenges, the report points to currency fluctuations. “Throughout 2025, exchange rate volatility has put pressure on the profitability of the digital market from two fronts,” the report states: In Latin America and Mexico, “the depreciation of local currencies against the U.S dollar has made platform subscriptions and content purchases more expensive,” and, conversely, “the weakness of the U.S. dollar against the euro.”
Among the opportunities, the report finds that independent publishers especially are benefiting from subscription models. “Small and medium-sized publishers which participate more actively in subscription platforms have found their readership through these channels. We’re talking about platforms like Nextory or Kobo Plus, where genres such as romance and thriller are among the most popular,” the report finds. It goes on to dispute the “myth” that subscriptions cannibalize single-copy sales.
“The profile of the subscription reader and that of the ebook buyer are not the same,” the report states. “In fact, in environments that combine both models, such as Kobo (Kobo Plus) or Amazon (Kindle Unlimited), single-copy sales can be boosted when a title achieves high readership levels in their subscription programs.”
The report also points to the development of AI, pointing to two major trends to watch in the publishing space, which includes the developing marketplace for licensing content for large language models (LLMs), as well as models that “integrate AI natively” to “enrich and scale” publishers’ offerings.
“This is the case with companies like ElevenLabs, which has placed AI-powered voice synthesis at the center of their business model, enabling the generation of audiobooks and audio content with unprecedented levels of quality, speed, and voice diversity,” the report notes. “This approach not only expands the offerings available to the end user but also democratizes access to audio content production and redefines the creative and commercial possibilities of the entire publishing chain.”
The full report is available for download in Spanish and English.