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We carry out mesoeconomic and mesoanalytical analyses of the structure and economic dimension of the book production process in Spain. For this report, the following have been carried out: (1) 43 in-depth interviews with experts have been conducted; (2) the information provided by Panorámica de la edición española from 1996 to 2019 has been systematized; (3) financial information from 2,683 companies for the period 2019-2021 has been obtained through the Sistema de Análisis de Balances Ibéricos. The report contains: (1) an original and rigorous way of analyzing the book production process in Spain; (2) novel quantitative and qualitative information about publishing companies, as well as their suppliers of goods and services: editorial services, packagers, graphic arts divisions, the paper industry, and software providers; (3) relevant information about the context in which book production takes place in Spain and the national and international institutions involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For years, the large publishing groups have been raising a growth strategy based on their territorial and linguistic expansion. For this they have resorted to the absorption of all types of companies, linked or not with their main business area, and the elimination of those less economically profitable divisions. The disappearance of Círculo de Lectores, belonging to the Planet Group, is part of these strategies. Victim of the lack of adaptation to the new digital context, he suffered from a system based on an obsolete model, designed for the paper environment and highly effective in it, but incompatible with the new practices of a society deeply digitized in cultural consumption. Also its editorial side, embodied in the Galaxia Gutenberg seal, and in the excellence of collections such as the one of Complete Works, has been affected by these movements, far from what Einaudi considered as the Yes edition: this is, the one that sought excellence, quality and innovation, and not necessaritly profitability. This article discusses the fundamentals of Círculo de Lectores and carries out an analysis of the circumstances of their disappearance in line with the strategies developed by the large publishing groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]