What do you want, to sell a lot or to write well?Speaking of the difficulty of living off what I write, a colleague posed this painful question to me.Let's be clear: publishing houses are not charity organizations, but businesses like any other, they have to pay salaries and survive in a complex cultural context: surrounded by two very powerful cultures, the authors of this small country insist on writing in Catalan, without any powerful state to support us, with Portuguese institutions that don't quite believe in it, with booksellers who have limited space and receive new releases every week with the support of large groups with a powerful promotional machinery that usually prioritizes non-literary criteria.I suppose the goal would be to make culture in Catalan profitable. And this is where consumers have a lot to say. What books do you buy? Are you aware that we hold in our hands the most effective way to make Catalan culture profitable? Well, buy a lot of books, and buy books written in Catalan.To make an impact, I'll give you four and a half recommendations for books written by Balearic authors that, if we had a normal country, would be among the bestsellers.– Winter Sun. Dora Muñoz. Edicions Xandri. July 1939: a group of Majorcans heading to the popular Olympics in Barcelona found themselves caught between two worlds, quite literally: Republican Catalonia and Francoist Mallorca. They left for three days, which ended up being three years.Muñoz shows us her great versatility (have you read Errada de comptes, her latest crime novel? It's also fantastic!). Here she changes register and hooks us with a great command of narrative tension, which is not easy at all. Sol d’hivern is a story based on a real event, and life very often doesn't fit literary tempos, but Muñoz knows how to keep us hooked on the story.– How do you want, brothers, for me to sing? Joan Pons Bover is doing fantastic promotion for this novel, with a piercing lyricism, a tribute to lost loves, to the grief of what never was. Published by Illa Edicions, with two temporal arcs, from the desolate routine of a nursing home to the despair of losing one's first love in post-war Formentera. A breathtaking book, written with a careful and precious language that you won't be able to stop reading.

The Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Sobrasada de Mallorca closed 2025 with 5.6 million pieces and over two million kilos sold, according to a statement from the regulatory board. The organization describes these figures as "remarkable results due to their stability" and emphasizes that consumption trends are consolidating sobrasada as a benchmark product. Last year, the Balearic Islands accounted for 36.7% of the market, representing a 3% increase compared to 2024, thus confirming the product's recognition in its region of origin. The rest of Spain remains the main driver of sales, representing 59.3% of the total, despite a relative decrease of 2.7%, as production increased by 0.5%.

The president of Pimeco, Carolina Domingo, presented the results of the recent winter sales this Thursday, data that confirms the loss of revenue and the reduction in the average transaction value for small and medium-sized businesses in Mallorca. Given this situation, Domingo highlighted the limitations of the current sales model. According to data collected by the business association, more than half of retailers (55.4%) have seen their revenue decrease compared to 2015. 37.5% have maintained stable revenue, and only 7.1% have managed to increase it. "These figures are not just statistics; they reflect the reality for many families and entrepreneurs who sustain the commercial fabric of Mallorca," Domingo emphasized.

Black Friday has already passed in the Balearic Islands, and the opinions of small businesses and large retailers there couldn't be more different. While local shops describe it as a "disaster" and a "negative campaign," large chains maintain that sales are going well and they have "good prospects" for the start of the Christmas season.

Mallorcan merchants have raised the alarm and are asking for aid to revitalize the sector during a sales period that is "much weaker than usual." During the memories of human pressure and ofarrival of touristsRetail sales continue to fall, and they are looking for solutions to encourage younger consumers to start shopping.