Spain's Editorial Océano has raised its U.S. profile in the last few months by announcing its plans to distribute the Spanish-language Harry Potter audiobook from Salmandra and opening its first warehouse in the United States. After visiting several fulfillment houses and analyzing various options, Océano's Mexican division signed a contract with Mercedes Distribution in Brooklyn. "They offered us the best cost and experience, and access via the internet to process orders and track shipments," says export manager Roberto Rivas. Clients will continue to send their orders and payments to Mexico the same way as before, but Mercedes Distribution will process the orders and send the materials through courier or local freight. Customers will not only keep the discounts they had under the previous system but will avoid the burdensome customs-broker costs and delays. Océano has already stocked more than 20,000 copies of at least 300 titles in Brooklyn, and will replenish the stock twice a month with new releases and any new titles that customers request.

The audio for Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) is sure to be one of the most sought-after titles from Océano's U.S. warehouse. The audiobook was produced by Océano Mexico for Salamandra, which owns the Spanish rights to the series, and was released in January 2004. Although the audiobook's initial distribution has been small (it shipped just 25,000 copies to start, with 10,000 going to the United States) its reception could have big consequences for Océano and the audiobook market throughout Latin America.

"The audiobook as a product is not that well known in the rest of Latin America. It is something that is just starting now," says Rivas, artistic coordinator for the project. He hopes the intense interest in all things related to Harry Potter will translate into a greater awareness of audiobooks. One reason audiobooks haven't taken off among Spanish speakers, Rivas explains, is there aren't enough titles available to entice listeners to try them.

"I think the market right now is limited to just a few titles that have to do with self-help or professionals," Rivas says. "We're really thinking that this is going to pick up."

And what does Harry Potter sound like in Spanish? In Mexico, the voice is already widely recognized from Toyota and Disney commercials. But soon, Spanish speakers in the United States and Latin America will recognize the voice as that of Harry Potter himself. Christopher Smith, 44, a U.S.-born, Mexico-raised radio and television announcer, will narrate the first audio version of a Harry Potter book developed for a Spanish-speaking audience outside Spain. Smith landed the job of narrating Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone because of his ability to speak Spanish and English without the trace of a distracting accent in either language—a key quality for a narrator seeking to appeal to an audience that stretches from Canada to South America.

The eight-CD set is priced at $49.95 in the United States, the same as the English-language version (see review, p.65 of the print edition). Although this is Océano's first audiobook, it's not likely to be its last. Rivas says the company is looking at other projects but wants to see what happens with Harry Potter before it commits to making more audiobooks.

Even though it lacked experience in the audio format, Océano, as distributor of the printed version of Harry Potter Latin America, was a natural choice to produce this new product (Lectorum distributes the print series in the United States for Salamandra). Océano undertook the project with consumer research in hand. "The main feedback we got from our customers is they wanted the [Spanish] accent to be neutral," says Rivas. Mexico has plenty of narrators with voices that appeal to listeners throughout Latin America. What made the selection more complicated was the narrator also had to pronounce many English words—proper names like "Hermione" and "Snape," as well as words like "Quiddich," "Snitch," and "Bludger"—while sounding Anglo.

"We understand that in the United States, the children and young adults who will listen to this audio are also immersed in the environment of the English language and have been hearing these words for years, so it would sound funny if he said them with an accent," Rivas says.

In a sense, Smith was born to the role. His parents, an American mother and Mexican father, moved briefly to Columbus, Ohio, before his birth so that he could be born a U.S. citizen. But they raised him in Mexico, where he grew up speaking English and Spanish at home. He now lives near Houston and commutes each week to Mexico City, where he does voice overs for radio and television commercials.

Smith, whose only previous audiobook experience consisted of narrating a Spanish version of the self-help title Tus zonas erróneas (Your Erroneous Zones), sees this high-profile project as a way to expand his career. He'd like to not only narrate more audiobooks but to work in English.

"Of course, the Anglo market is one thing I'd like to pursue, the sooner the better," says Smith, who speaks English with the neutral accent of a national newscaster, maybe one born in the Midwest.