The Retail Explosion

By Carmen Ospina -- Críticas, 5/15/2006

The debate over immigration reform has given immigration hard-liners an opportunity to voice their polarizing views, some of them involving libraries’ services to Spanish speakers. In Colorado, for instance, Rep. David Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs) is asking the state legislature to put an English-only resolution before voters in November that would bar public libraries from “purchasing any printed or electronic documents, publications, or other materials in a language other than English.” Even as such anti-immigrant proposals have gained new momentum, the most important legacy of the immigration debate is that Hispanics, legal or not, have emerged as a unified and politically vocal segment of the American population.

When it comes to their potential as consumers, however, Hispanics have long been regarded as a powerful group. Their purchasing power has surged to nearly $700 billion, according to estimates by HispanTelligence, the research arm of Hispanic Business magazine, and is growing at a much faster pace than the buying power of any other racial or ethnic population. Thus, for retailers (and for those of us serving the Spanish speaking), the issue at hand is not so much about law—Is the patron legal or illegal?—as it is about language—Is he a Spanish speaker or an English speaker? Bookstores are expanding their Spanish sections and, recently, so are drugstores, supermarkets, price clubs, and even record stores. Publishers have a great opportunity to capitalize on the media coverage Hispanics are getting these days by encouraging retailers to keep investing in their Spanish catalogs.

Grupo Nelson’s VP and publisher, Larry Downs, is working on a plan to do just that. He has been busy talking to other publishers about an initiative that could significantly grow the Spanish category in bookstores and nontraditional chain stores across the country. Random House is also stepping up distribution of Spanish titles. This issue’s leading news story introduces the publisher’s Random House Spanish (RHS) division, which handles the sales and distribution of Spanish-language books published by all Random House imprints. RHS is actively importing titles in mass-market format, including a comprehensive library of works by Gabriel García Márquez.

In this issue’s feature, PW’s New England correspondent, Judith Rosen, talks to key industry heads about their latest initiatives aimed at breaking into the Wal-Marts, Targets, and other mass-market channels. Given that the library market continues to grow, but at a significantly slower pace, says Rosen, the biggest trend in Hispanic publishing today may well be exponential retail growth. If you want to learn more about the topic and are heading to BookExpo America this year, make sure to attend the Críticas seminar, “Latino Publishing 2.0: Where the Market is Headed” (May 19; 1–2 p.m.; Room 202B).

Perhaps the best example of how Hispanics are breaking into the American mainstream is our cover story author, Javier Sierra. The best-selling Spanish novelist made his U.S. debut last April with Atria’s English translation of La cena secreta (The Last Supper), a historical saga about the hidden messages in Da Vinci’s acclaimed painting “The Last Supper.” The half-million-dollar advance and the unprecedented marketing campaign for a foreign author—featuring tie-in screen ads of the book set to run with trailers of Da Vinci Code, the movie—have turned the novel into Atria’s first national best seller. At Críticas, we are keeping up with these trends. It’s been almost a year since we launched our award-winning website and we are eager to hear what you think.

On another note, and as we announced in the last issue, I will be leaving my post to take on a new challenge at Random House Mondadori in Barcelona, Spain. It’s been great working with all of you for the past five years. Stay tuned to hear about the new editor.

Carmen Ospina