Rayo To Focus on Spanish Language Titles

By Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 2/15/2007

HarperCollins’s Latino/Bilingual imprint, Rayo, has announced it will restructure its publishing program. The imprint’s English-language titles will now be published under other HarperCollins imprints. “There’s no longer any need to categorize English-language [Latino] authors,” publisher and editorial director René Alegria told Críticas. “Their books should be read by all.” Though Rayo’s editorial team will continue to acquire and edit English-language works by Hispanic authors or for Latino readers, the books will publish under a different imprint.

Since its launch in 2001, Rayo has published books in Spanish and English—sometimes both versions simultaneously—by, for, and about Latinos. “When Rayo first started, there really wasn’t a voice out there for Hispanic authors,” notes Alegria. He clarified that the decision to publish English-language works geared to Latinos was made with the intention of providing each title with stronger distribution and marketing opportunities. Alegria said he felt that the U.S. book market has gotten “hip to the fact that publishing books for Latinos” is the norm, and that there is no longer a need to label them as such. “We’re going mainstream,” he said.

As a result, Rayo’s core mission will now be to publish original Spanish-language works and translate books from other HarperCollins imprints. Last fall, HarperCollins announced its joint publishing program with Spain’s Grupo Planeta, which consists of the U.S. publication and distribution of Planeta’s front and backlist titles. Rayo will publish 12 Planeta titles this year and double that in 2008, according to Alegria.

“Frankly, [this reorganization is] the best thing that could happen,” Alegria told Críticas about this new approach to the U.S. Hispanic literary community. “Every [publishing] program evolves with the times…. Our aim is to raise the bar.”