The first experiments in digital publishing in Latin America date back to the late 1990s; that is to say, to the time of the first Internet bubble. Dozens of digital libraries sprang up throughout the region during that period. In 1999, in the framework of the Crecer Project, the Argentine rural libraries association founded the Universal Virtual Library, with the aim of digitizing texts by classic authors, particularly Latin American and Spanish ones. That same year, the portal Tiflolibros, the first Spanish-speaking digital repository for the blind, was also founded in Buenos Aires. Not long after that, in 2001, the Puerto Rican writer Luis López Nieves created the Ciudad Seva Digital Library, for the purpose of familiarizing readers with the universally classic short story. Around the same time the webpage Cholonautas (a project developed by the Institute of Peruvian Studies) was inaugurated in Peru, followed by its virtual library specializing in social sciences.

Around the same time, the first sales platforms for electronic books were inaugurated – some of which are still active –, such as Elaleph or Librosenred, both from Argentina.[1] The file formats most commonly used were EXE,[2] PDF and LIT.[3]

For various reasons, those pioneering platforms did not manage to become immediate commercial successes. No doubt the main ones were the fact that Latin American consumers were unaccustomed to reading from a screen and the limited number of online payment options.[4] This last reason also explains why the very first online stores selling paper books achieved a lower level of growth than expected.[5]

Similarly, one fundamental element contributed to the poor development of electronic books: in the early 2000s, in almost every Latin American country, traditional publishing showed signs of great dynamism, [6] which is why publishers viewed the digital option with less interest.[7] Moreover, the image of music stores closing down or traditional record companies in decline due to the unauthorized reproduction of CDs and MP3 files led most publishers to postpone any experiment with electronic formats.

However, since the mid-noughties, the appearance of certain actors, trends and digital tools has brought about a profound change in the publishing landscape.