An Analysis of the Impact of Covid-19 in the Publishing World in Argentina: Social Networks, Digitalization and Digital Activism

Abstract

Since March 2020, the effects of the mandatory quarantine promoted by governments to face the pandemic by covid-19, generated an unprecedented impact on the characteristics that the global and national book industry had so far. The present work is part of a project based in the Gino Germani Research Institute of the University of Buenos Aires called “The Argentine edition, between the State and the market”, and its objective is to reflect analytically on the current moment in the publishing world, considering the conjunctural transformations suffered by publishers in terms of economic impact, reprogramming of publishing plans, the initiatives undertaken by publishers and digital activism put into practice in this context. To carry out this objective, we present the results of a survey carried out among 131 publishers in Argentina in May 2020. The results allow us to describe the importance of the digital environment, social networks and digital activism in this new scene. As an example of digital initiatives, we will describe the collective projects “¡Sálvese quien lea!” and Feria del Libro en Casa.