Andrés Villena (Elx, 1980) has spent years investigating business lobbies, family sagas, banks, and institutions to be able to x-ray the structure and functioning of the Spanish elite. The result is Las élites que dominan España,a book that was to be published by Planeta, which finally backed out, and has ended up being published by Libros del K.O. 

The other day, at a book launch, I attended a conversation between three independent publishers who discussed with concern and helplessness the changes the Catalan publishing market has been undergoing recently. And perhaps global sales figures have indeed grown., but for whom have they grown? One of the editors explained that, in her case, for example, the supposedly glorious day of Sant Jordi sold half as many as last year. Not ten or twenty percent less, no: fifty percent. Another commented that the average sales figures for each title were around 400 copies. A third told me on the phone that their sales this year as a whole are thirty-five percent down. So when we say that Sant Jordi went very well, we should specify who it went well for.