Q&A: Denise Silvestro, Executive Director of Berkley Books

by Carmen Ospina -- Críticas, 3/15/2006

U.S. publishers seeking to cash in on the Hispanic market without investing in the launch of whole new Spanish-language imprint have tried sporadically adding Spanish-language titles to their catalogs. Take Berkley Books, an imprint of the Penguin Group known for publishing such best-selling authors as Tom Clancy, Patricia Cornwell, and Nora Roberts. The imprint has been quietly publishing in Spanish since early 2001. Críticas spoke to Executive Director Denise Silvestro about Berkley’s Spanish program and plans for the near future.

When did Berkley start publishing in Spanish and why?

It wasn’t an official launch of a line, but by February 2001 we were publishing financial guru Julie Stav in Spanish. Julie is of Cuban descent, so she encouraged us to translate her best-selling women’s guide to the stock market, Get Your Share. And she was right; the Spanish version, Obtenga su porción, is still doing well, partly because Julie has a following with Latinos and still promotes the book. That’s when we realized that there was a large market for books in Spanish out there.

What kinds of books are you publishing for the Hispanic market?

We are publishing books by Latinos in both Spanish and English, sometimes simultaneously. For instance, Julie’s second book, Fund Your Future (Invierte en tu futuro), came out in both languages and so did Joachim de Posada’s Don’t Eat the Marshmallow Yet (No te comas el marshmallow todavía). This March, we are releasing Gordito Doesn’t Mean Healthy (Gordito no significa saludable), a health guide for Latino children, in both languages.

How do you choose what to publish in Spanish?

We just look for good books and incorporate them into our catalog, but we don’t have an official Latino line. This gives us the luxury of only publishing a book we feel strong about. There is always support behind the Spanish-language books we choose to publish.

How many do you plan to publish in 2006?

Because we don’t have a list, we don’t have a set amount. It’s on a book by book basis. This year we will release several books by Latino authors, including TV personality Jackie Guerra’s memoir, Under Construction: How I’ve Gained and Lost Millions of Dollars and Hundreds of Pounds, and the novels Becoming Latina in 10 Easy Steps and Sister Chicas. We’ll wait and see what kind of response there is for these titles, if there are any requests for Spanish versions, and then maybe translate them.

Did you hire a Spanish-speaking editor to take care of these books or is production for the most part outsourced?

It depends. We work with an outside translator and hire editorial services to copyedit and proofread the Spanish-language manuscript. This is only problematic when we are publishing the book simultaneously in both languages, because we have to first do the production in English, wait until we have final pages, and then translate from those pages. As you can imagine the process takes much longer.

How are you promoting the Spanish books?

We are advertising in Spanish publications and getting airtime on television and radio. One of our new authors, Father Alberto Cutié [Ama de verdad, vive de verdad (Real Life, Real Love)]  hosts his own TV show, Padre Alberto. The biggest challenge is making sure Latino readers can get our books. I don’t see a lot of shelve space for books in Spanish in the stores.