Publishers Exhibit Plans for Spanish-speaking Market

By Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 6/15/2006

Last month, Washington, DC was home to BookExpo America (BEA), the largest book publishing event in the United States. The city witnessed the arrival of approximately 2000 exhibitors from all corners of the U.S. publishing industry. Participants displayed their latest books, invited their most prominent authors for signings, and talked about forthcoming publications with the 22,366 attendees, including some 2000 librarians. For the eighth year in a row, BEA highlighted the U.S. Spanish-language industry. This year, the Spanish Pavilion—sponsored by Críticas—was home to between 40-45 Latin American and Spanish publishers proudly displaying best selling and award-winning titles and enthusiastically sharing their plans for upcoming books. Off the floor, programs geared toward serving the Spanish-speaking population, indicating that publishers and retailers are paying close attention to this growing market.

Left to right: Marla Norman (Planeta), Carmen Ospina (Críticas), Larry Downs (Grupo Nelson), Adriana Domínguez (Rayo/HarperCollins Children's), and Aída Bardales (Críticas).

Spanish-language retail

Key industry players talked about the growth of the Spanish-language retail sector and discussed the latest trends in publishing at Críticas’s “Latino Publishing 2.0: Where the Market is Headed” seminar. The panel, which packed a room with some 200 participants, sparked discussion of demographic studies that show where the Spanish-speaking communities are mostly concentrated.

Grupo Nelson’s Larry Downs said the planogram—a diagram that shows how specific products will be placed on shelves or displays—is key for marketing Spanish-language books. Stores like Walmart use planograms to determine exactly where books will be shelved and for how long. This guarantees longer exposure for books that would otherwise be rotated out weekly.

Another tool that has contributed to the growing Spanish-language retail market in publishing is the use of dual language displays. Publishers agree that delaying publications of translated bestsellers is not optimal. “It’s best to reach the whole community at one time, rather than (reach) Hispanics six months later,” said Downs when asked if simultaneous publications work best. Planeta’s Marla Norman agreed, saying that it is “best to synch up with English-language publications,” and that publishing a translation three months after the English-language original affects sales radically. Positioning Spanish-language works next to their high-profile English-language counterparts, she said, results in higher sales.

New sectors and trends

While retailers are figuring out how to maximize sales and exposure for their books, they are also exploring media outlets. “There is a lot of synergy with cross promotion, be it with television or radio stations,” said Norman. Erik Reisenberg, of Random House Spanish, agreed: “Author Mirka Dellanos is now appearing on English-language mainstream channels, CNN, and now on The View.”

Participants also said that the large print sector is growing, and that publishing houses are buying rights to produce large print editions for Spanish-language books.

Publishing trends continue to include translations of best sellers, movie tie-ins, celebrity-driven titles, and self-help. Spanish-language audiobooks are gaining prominence, with more publishing companies focusing on producing their best-selling titles in this format. The Audio Publishers Association has acknowledged this growing trend by creating a special category for it. This year, the APA honored Spanish-language audiobooks at their annual The Audies® gala by granting its special Judges’ Awards to El código Da Vinci, produced by FonoLibro.

Children’s picks

The Spanish-language edition of Gloria Estefan’s book Las Magicas y Misteriosas Aventuras de un Bulldog Llamado Noelle/The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog sold 60 percent of what the English-language edition did, an unsual feat in simultaneous publications, said Adriana Domínguez of Rayo/HarperCollins Childrens—also on Críticas’ panel. Such popularity also extends to movie tie-ins for this category. “Books on movies such as Narnia, Ice Age 2, and Charlotte’s Web—it works well for kids, too,” she said.

Spanish-language titles were among the many books in the spotlight at BEA. Scholatic announced the upcoming publication of Tom and Amanda Ellery’s If I Had a Dragon/Si yo tuviera undragón. The bilingual book will be Scholastic’s School Book Fair leading title. The hardcover edition will be published this July; school editions will be available in January 2007—with an impressive print run of 275,000 units.

Also coming from Scholastic is Cuando los grandes eran pequeños (When Grown-Ups Were Children), a new collection that focuses on important Latin American figures. The series was launched with the release of Julia, which tells the childhood story of Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (1917-53). Other books in the series include José Martí—based on the Cuban poet and writer’s childhood José Martí—scheduled to be released in July, and the simultaneous publication of Juana Inés (Mexican poet Juana Inés de la Cruz) and Pablo Neruda in fall 2007. “We are very, very proud of this project,” said Teresa Mlawer. “We decided to publish this collection to ensure that Latino children living in the United States would have access to Latin American writers and feel pride in both the richness of the language and culture.”

Other children’s books discovered on the floor included Editorial Corimbo’s bilingual title You Can Always Count on Daddy/Siempre puedes contar con papá, Los niños de la mina (The Children of the Mine) and El mejor amigo del mundo (The Best Friend in the World).

Debuts, translations, and more

Among the debut novels at this year’s BEA was Mario Escobar Golderos’s Conspiración Maine (The Main Conspiracy, Nowtilus). Also on their list of highlights was this month’s release of Juan José Revenga’s Mundos Ocultos (Hidden Worlds).

Santillana’s Sylvia Matute announced the release of Spanish-language editions of Richard Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad” series. Four titles were highlighted at BEA, and another four are expected to release in November. Also on their list is the translation of Julia Álvarez’s Saving the World, due out this fall. Santillana will also release new novels by established authors including, Edmundo Paz Soldán and Ignacio Padilla. Alberto Fuguet also has his next novel, Desaparecido, (Missing) scheduled for release in October.

Also on the radar were new releases from Planeta, including Nando Parrado’s Milagro en los Andes (Miracle in the Andes), and Michael Baigent’s La Conspiración del Mar Muerto (Dead Sea Scrolls Deception).

On Saturday morning, Críticas co-hosted a breakfast that served as the official launch of Grupo Nelson. In April 2006, Thomas Nelson’s former Caribe-Betania split into two separate imprints under the new Grupo Nelson. Still focusing on the Spanish-speaking readership, the new Grupo Nelson will also incorporate three new imprints: Líder Latino, Editorial 10 Puntos, and Editorial Católica.

Grupo Nelson’s Hada María Morales—a professional image and employment expert—shared her experience of coming to the United States and read an excerpt from her new book, Vístete para triunfar (Dress for Success). Also at the breakfast was Eduardo Lago, who read from his debut Llámame Brooklyn (Call Me Brooklyn, Planeta), which won the renowned Nadal Prize earlier this year.

The annual Latino Book Awards—co-sponsored by BEA and Latino Literacy Now—took place Saturday evening. Winners represented all categories within Latino publishing, including English-language books and international publishers.