B&T Launches Programa Puente

by Carmen Cusido -- Críticas, 7/15/2008 8:57:00 AM

Offering a “bridge” for more than 40 Mexican publishers to the U.S. market, Baker& Taylor (B&T), the Bridgewater, NJ-based book distributor, launched Programa Puente (Program Bridge) this summer, including books from a wide range of genres such as young adult, fiction, and non-fiction.

B&T works closely with publishers from most Spanish-speaking countries, but “our analysis shows that books from Mexico are underrepresented in the marketplace relative to the number of Mexican Americans in the United States,” Larry Bennett, B&T’s VP of Spanish-Language Materials and Print On Demand told Críticas.

The strategy for Programa Puente grew out of “extensive feedback” from librarians and retailers, says Bennett, aims to refine the title mix based on customer feedback. “As the economy goes through hard times and institutional and household budgets are stretched, it is important to offer to the market the product they want at attractive prices. Programa Puente was designed to do that,” says Bennett.

B&T has a distribution facility in Mexico City that allows it to make purchases domestically and consolidate books before shipping them shipments to the United States.

Once signed-up with the program, customers will receive monthly lists of the new releases, based on their preferences. To request a list of book titles by age level, write to pasaporte@btol.com.