Germán Esparza, from Catakrak, from Pamplona/Iruña, believes that for a bookstore to maintain independence it is essential that it works with many distributors. “The basis is economic capacity. Having a single dealer is more comfortable – many small shops have it – making infrastructure easier, you have to work less, and sometimes you leave the books in better economic condition. But you’re totally dependent: from the management program to any other negotiation.” In Katakrak, for example, they work with twelve large distributors, twelve medium-sized and 300 small, both collective and self-publishing.

At Donostia's Kaxilda, they also think the same thing. Distributor 511 has recently been registered in the management program. A total of 1,251 publishers are listed in their database. Darío Malventi explained that they have chosen to make the alternative distribution visible against the commercial distribution. “Among the seven thousand books in the store there is not a single best-seller. The limitation of our fund has allowed us to avoid the commercial industry of the book. Now it’s time to create the conditions to strengthen the independent distribution network.” The key to deepening this independence was the commission that came to them a few years ago. In the Arteleku library, they were asked to recover some of their background from the floods. So they delved into a “microcosm” of discataloged and exhausted books, and met collectors, galleries, museums and speculators from the Amazon. “Thanks to that genealogy of book power we learned not to fall into the tricks of commercial distributors and that’s why we didn’t end up drowned or sold, like other bookstores, not to stop overproduction in time that overflows the shelves every week.” In June, the Fagor Household Appliances Partner Recruitment Campaign will be launched. The objective is to maintain the expenditure they make in the alternative distribution by paying an annual fee. “If we get enough partners, we will be able to expand and stabilise the fund. In addition, we want the people who support Kaxilda to also protect the distributors who supply us.”

Two and a half years ago he opened the bookstore Deborahlibros in Pamplona/Iruña Katixa Castellano. So far, he has worked with seven distributors, with six from Spain and one international. “Some dealers have trouble me asking for books in the warehouse, saying they don’t do it until the store turns two. I’ve also realized that there are distributors who don’t do the same with large and small bookstores, for economic reasons.” However, the distributors’ view is complex. “They have to upgrade to deal with monsters like Amazon that take a book to your home portal in 24 hours. Some have already begun to speed up delivery times and to function efficiently, but I can also imagine that this effort will be at the expense of the workers. It's not an easy subject. As in many other areas, the law of the jungle prevails, the strongest predator wins.”

Esparza de Katakrak has more experience in the world of books than Castellano. It started ten years ago and it seems to him that in the last three or four years a cycle ending is taking place. “So far, the media distributors were possible. They have had a very different relationship with bookshops: they have made deposits, they have relied on trust. But I get the impression that they are going to fade in a not-too-long time and that big changes are coming.”

Done by Bitarte

One of these medium-sized dealers was Bitarte, recently missing. Elkar has bought it now. The closure of the Auzolan library also has much to do with this operation, as the store was part of the Bitarte distributor. In this way, Elkar has taken a little more cake from him and has established himself as a distributor in the south of the country. In Esparza ' s view, this movement will mainly affect the smaller and medium-sized bookshops in the Biscay capital. For his part, Castellanos, asked about the influence this will produce, says: “It’s like asking a local hardware store about Leroy Merlin. We are two different business models.”

Since Kaxilda, they have also criticized “the monopoly of the distribution of books in Euskera”. In Malventi’s view, Elkarri jokaldia responds to the logic of the company and must be understood within its current market competition, not forgetting the Casa del Libro which has been opened in Donostia. “We have debated many times with Elkar about its impact on the editorial ecology here. We cannot give up their distribution because the total production in Euskera, and not only that, depends on their network. But in no case have we joined Elkarrekin as other projects that, although seemingly independent, have agreements with them to obtain books in special conditions”. Bitarte’s disappearance is a big problem for Malventi, “because it increases the mutual monopoly and submits to its conditions some nearby projects, such as Katakrak”. On the contrary, it considers that Kaxilda will not be affected if they continue along the same path as before: by moving away the books they do not want and fleeing the way large companies operate through a network of partners.

Amazon Times

Castellanos lacks a subsidy for small bookshops. “For example, they are in Barcelona and here they are not.” Esparza, meanwhile, sees two other main threats: on the one hand, the big corporations that make the online sale. On the other hand, the changes that are taking place in the distribution model. In his opinion, unlike what happens with music, the book has not undergone any change of model due to the technological theme. “The future of books and libraries is more related to distribution: perhaps in ten years there will be no bookstores or distributors”. For him, Amazon is not a dealer. “It doesn’t have a warehouse. The ones we see in the photos are the logistics center. The warehouses have others, and Amazon asks those warehouses for books." That is precisely the key to understanding Amazon’s success: it has good conditions for the buyer, at the expense of home shops or distributors. “For example, you can buy a headset to listen to music. Amazon asks the dealer and sends it to you. You can use them for 15 days. Then, wax stained, you can return them for free. The original dealer must eat these helmets. He cannot sell again, he has spent the money in handling and shipping, and he has earned nothing. It totally precarizes distribution and collection by selling that it can get everything, although it is not – as was clearly seen in the book Fariña –”.

In Malventi’s view, Amazon’s times are characterized by unjust control of workers’ everyday lives. “It’s not just Amazon, Carrefour, Eroski, Mercadona, Zara, Ryanair and many other companies are daily attacking the working conditions of their workers. In the book industry, large companies also work in the logic of saving and customer loyalty. But every power has its resistance, and in this case, we are independent bookstores. In addition, every day we do something: we exist. And a lot of people, when they have to decide where to buy a book, choose sites like Kaxilda.” On 2 June, the feast of its sixth anniversary was celebrated at the Guardetxe de Donostia. The motto of the festival was: “Even if it seems impossible, we’re still here.”