The world-class Spanish-language groups with buying power are still based in Barcelona and Madrid

Spain, which used to be king of its jungle, is now only one Ibero-American state among others. Or is it? Publishing people who work the area find that in books the mother country continues to rule over its world language market-Spanish publishers own and operate the largest publishing imprints in Spanish America. Writers of the so-called Latin American boom -- from Colombia's Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez on one hand to Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa on your other -- have their prime publishers and, of course, their world-class agents in Spain. And so do their descendants.

In the case of Vargas Llosa, his Spanish publisher released his latest novel -- the tough and raunchy Notebooks of Don Rigoberto -- simultaneously in Spain and in 25 Latin American nations-all under Madrid's Alfaguara imprint (it's a Farrar, Straus &Giroux title in the U.S.). Spanish giants like Planeta and Plaza y Janes are so much a part of the landscape in Argentina and Mexico that the unsuspecting often assume that they are local imprints. During PW's recent tour of Spain, the balance tipped even further with the takeover of one of the leading Argentine commercial houses, Javier Vergara, by its Barcelona counterpart, Ediciones B.

We have the testimony of one of Mexico's leading publishing specialists, Jesus Anaya, former director of the University of Guadalajara Press and coordinator of the International Publishers Forum at the Guadalajara Book Fair, recently appointed head of the Planeta group's Mexican operations, that Spanish groups based in Mexico (Anaya, Santillana, Planeta, Grijalbo Mondadori, SM and others) together hold 34% of Mexico's book market, with the U.S. (thanks largely to the McGraw-Hills and Reader's Digests) as runner-up, leaving 29% for indigenous Mexican companies such as Limusa, Trillas and Diana. And, of course, Spain is the chief exporter of finished books to that country.

In title output, Spain is the world's number five, with 50,159 books published last year (39,476 of them new); 77% of the total came from private-sector publishers. There are no fewer than 170,000 active titles in print, and if exports represent only 12% of total trade turnover, this d sn't take into account the predominance of mainland Spanish houses that produce local editions in key Latin American markets.

Historically, all of the agencies handling Spanish translation rights are located in Spain, with the notable exception of bicephalous International Editors' (run out of Argentina by veteran agent Nicolas Costa, from Barcelona by Isabel Monteagudo). When Spanish-language writing came into its own in the 1960s and '70s, the doyenne of Spain's agents, Carmen Balcells, transgressed European tradition by signing up scores of talented youngsters such as Garcia Marquez and Vargas Llosa, eventually handling nearly every major figure in contemporary Spanish letters (not excluding Jose Donoso, Carlos Fuentes, Juan Goytisolo, Juan Marse, Ana Maria Matute and, of course, Isabel Allende). Today the Balcells agency competes for rising authors with a new generation of agents, including Mercedes Casanovas in Barcelona and Raquel de la Concha in Madrid, while Yanez in Barcelona and ACER in Madrid focus on translation rights. Concha, who also handles rights for publishers ranging from Addison-Wesley to Warner Books and for agencies like Writers House and Ralph Vicinanza, is another trader who sees Spain as the rights capital, if only because South Americans are convinced that to be translated elsewhere in Europe one must begin with publication in Spain.

At all agencies, splitting rights is now current practice. Raquel de la Concha treats Spain and the main countries of Latin America as separate markets whenever it's to the author's advantage. Better to sell Mexican rights to a Mexican pubilsher who might print and distribute 5000 copies in its territory than to give all rights to an Argentine house (say) that may ship only 500 copies north to Mexico.

The Balcells agency's foreign list is handled by Carmen Balcells's associate Gloria Gutierrez, and it's an impressive one, ranging from big houses such as Bantam, Harcourt Brace, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin, Little, Brown and Random House, to smaller ones like Arcade, Grove/Atlantic and the New Press, and agents like Georges Borchardt, Elaine Markson and Philip Spitzer. On splitting rights, Gutierrez says: "Every case is different. We do try to split when we can, but then it has to be a thorough job -- not leaving parts of Latin America uncovered. For good foreign fiction -- say from the States -- 60% of the total advance may come from Spain. But for commercial fiction, New Age and the like, Spain's share can drop to under 50%."

And then of course there's the new wrinkle: U.S. publishers like Penguin and BDD holding back (or purchasing) Spanish-language rights for North America. Spanish and Spanish American publishers don't go for that, feeling that they know more about the Hispanic market than any Yankee can.

Stars of Barcelona

The Spanish-language market is a changing one, obviously, and a lively one. During a recent tour of Spain's and the Spanish world's publishing capitals, Barcelona (tops in the general trade) and Madrid (strongest in school and institutional books), PW's correspondent floated on a wave of optimism. Some newsworthy takeovers were being concluded -- but the targets were not failing companies; there were unexpected job changes -- but all upward.

Take Planeta, the Spanish-speaking world's trade leader -- the world's number eight publisher with 1996 sales of just under $1 billion -- a group now counting 68 separate companies in Spain and Spanish America. Here PW was meeting editorial director Oleguer Sarsanedas for the first time, with old friends Jose Moya (in charge of commercial fiction) and Silvia Bastos (literary fiction), new faces Joaquim Palau (nonfiction) and Jose Martinez (heading a new paperback imprint, Booket). Planeta's affiliated houses in Spain, among them Seix Barral, Bestino, Martinez Roca, Temas de Hoy, Espasa Calpe, Ariel and now the crown jewel, Tusquets, continue to run their businesses from their own quarters.

In commercial fiction it would be hard to beat Planeta. Jose Moya shows a catalogue featuring John Grisham, Tom Clancy and Barbara Taylor Bradford. But Planeta also has Spain's top Spanish bestsellers in Antonio Gala and Terenci Moix; it has high hopes for Cuban exile Z Valdes, soon to appear in English translation (Oprah wanted her -- but she d sn't speak English). Responsible for 100 of the 300 new titles Planeta d s each year, the fiction department accounts for 60% of trade sales -- and 79% of these sales are made with Spanish and Spanish American writers.

Obviously a lot of the books created in Barcelona go out to Planeta's western hemisphere companies. Oleguer Sarsanedas would like to see more two-way traffic. The feeling is that after the Latin American "boom," Spain stopped looking at Spanish America's new writing, while Latin Americans also focused on themselves. At present, the lists of Planeta in Spain and Buenos Aires are quite different, but editors from the two companies are meeting to see how to increase synergies. Planeta Mexico's new chief, Jesus Anaya, was in town for the same purpose, and to plan a renaissance of that company, which was hit like all the others by recent economic turbulence. "We can't impose a book on our companies," says Sarsanedas, "but we can recommend it strongly."

Plaza y Janes, Planeta's main competitor, is the Bertelsmann trade imprint for Spain. Here PW sat down with publisher Rafael Borras (ex-Planeta) and associate Nuria Tey. Bertelsmann is another house that focuses on blockbuster fictionand instant history, doing 70 new trade titles and 150 paperbacks each year (and that represents a considerable downsizing). The current bestseller, on Juan Carlos's Queen Sofia, has shipped half a million copies in six months of publication.

The nonfiction list is dominated by originals; on the fiction side -- some 40 titles -- half are translations. Although Spanish writing has at last come into its own at P&J -- notably with Isabel Allende -- most bestsellers are imported. They include Stephen King and Michael Crichton, John le Carre and Frederick Forsyth, but Borras remarks that apart from these list leaders, it's harder to strike gold with thrillers these days. Indeed, it's harder to build up any foreign author, although when they're lucky a book like The English Patient, after dozing on the list, gets revived by a movie.

In paperbacks Plaza y Janes is Spain's market leader (with 30%), but it's a growing market for all comers, keyed to the mass distribution circuit, which in Spain means newsstands as well as big stores. The Stephen King serial started with 100,000 copies and was doing 70,000 in the final installments -- very good for Spain. Plaza has the paperback license for Garia Marquez (published in hardcover by Grijalbo Mondadori), and nowadays cultivates young literary talent.

Through Plaza, Bertelsmann has majority control of Madrid's upmarket Debate (see later in this report). Not long ago Bertelsmann startled the book world with its purchase of 70% of even upper scale Lumen in Barcelona -- Umberto Eco's publisher. What about the synergies between Plaza, Bertelsmann trade giant, and Circulo de Lectores, Bertelsmann club giant? Borras explains that the two entities do not buy together, although they don't deny themselves the privilege of discussing each other's favorites, say at Frankfurt fairs. In the near future there will be more talk of synergies, after Bertelsmann's recent startling decision to cede 50% of Plaza to France's CEP Communication, that country's leading book group. (For its part, Bertelsmann enters into the ownership of CEP's Spanish affiliate Larousse Editorial to the tune of 49%.) Bigness seems to be the order of the day.

PW called on Hans Meinke, head of Bertelsmann's Circulo de Lectores. Much news here, with Meinke about to retire at 60. His replacement, affable Alberto Pelach, was also present. At the same time Manfred Grebe, most recently managing director of Plaza y Janes, will become Bertelsmann's first regional manager for Spain and Portugal.

As for businessman-turned-publisher Meinke -- who makes money with scholarly editions of ancient and contemporary classics that would be a godsend to American university libraries (Neruda, Pio Baroja, Garcia Lorca and even Kafka) and advertises a board of honorary club members that includes Spain's king and queen, UNESCO's director general Federico Mayor, Mikhail Gorbachev and Nobel winners Octavio Paz and Camilo Jose Cela -- he stays on as cochairman of the Circulo board, and will run an upscale imprint, Galaxia Gutenberg. He will also continue as pubilsher of elite Circulo del Arte (original lithographs, limited editions, facsimile publications). And Jordi Nadal stays on as editorial director.

Although its main selections and general list will remind the visitor more of an upper-brow publisher than a club, Circulo, with its 1.6 million active members, covers 15% of all Spanish households. It claims to be the only book club in the world that is growing, selling more books per member than any sister club. And if Hans Meinke has his way, there will be a club everywhere Spanish-language books are sold. Planning is underway for a return to Mexico and Argentina, with Spain as the base.

Ediciones B, lovechild of Spain's powerful press and magazine group Zeta, was set up precisely to challenge the likes of Plaza y Janes in commercial fiction. Pedro Sureda, vice-managing director, and publisher Silvia Querini describe an eclectic list of fiction and faction, historical novels and inspirational titles. In 10 years of existence, it has also made a big dent in the children's market.

During PW's tour the big news was B's acquisition of Argentina's Javier Vergara, which included what B calls the best distribution network in Latin America (all told, Vergara runs eight companies including one in Spain). Happily for B, the deal assures the presence of founders Javier and Gabriela Vergara for at least three years. Gabriela stays on as editorial director. "The collaboration of the two imprints throughout the Spanish-language world will unquestionably permit the expansion of both houses," she tells PW.

In all, there are 320 new books a year at Ediciones B, 120 of them on juvenile lists, 110-115 in paperback. If in earlier days 90% of new releases were translations, the figure is down to 70%. English used to be the only game in town, with the bylines of Mario Puzo, Scott Turow, Tom Wolfe and Toni Morrison, among others; now (although U.S. authors still dominate) B ventures further afield.

Bestsellers here include the most recent Grishams (The Runaway Jury and The Partner for Spain and Argentina; in future it will exploit all Spanish rights). Enrique de Heriz, editor for adult books, explains that B always tries for world Spanish (even before Vergara it had companies in Argentina, Chile and Mexico).

It's a matter of history that nearly all the major Latin American houses were founded by Spaniards distancing themselves from Franco Fascism. Juan Grijalbo's Grijalbo, which first saw the light of day in Mexico, was one such; now headquartered in Barcelona, Grijalbo Mondadori is the global Spanish arm of Italy's number one group. Indeed, it's a group in its own right, with imprint Grijalbo for commercial fiction and nonfiction, Mondadori for literature, Critica for essays and university textbooks, Grijalbo Mondadori for paperbacks. Here editorial director Maria Paz Ortuno and fiction editor Claudio Lopez de Lamadrid describe a program of more than 250 new books a year. Grijalbo is a translating house -- for 80-90% of the list in fiction, general nonfiction and self-help.

In its time Grijalbo has published Stephen King, Danielle Steel, Ken Follett, Barbara Wood, Nelson DeMille, Victoria Holt, Patricia Cornwell, John Gray (Mars and Venus in Love), Betty J. Eadie and the Star Trek series; it has also published books on astrology and the Titanic. The literary (Mondadori) list runs from Frederick Prokosch to Chester Himes; Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Hawking and Daniel Boorstin are published by Critica. Claudio Lopez explains that Grijalbo always puts in for world Spanish rights, to feed the lists of its Mexican, Argentine and Chilean companies; agents usually understand the need to plan a global strategy for the launching of (say) a Stephen King. In subjects such as self-help, Latin America performs better than Spain to the tune of four copies sold to one; in Mexico and environs, the Grijalbo name is so well known that the Mondadori logo isn't employed at all.

Where Small Is Beautiful

Tusquets is one of the Barcelona miracles -- a pocket-sized imprint that has megatons of impact. The announcement of giant Planeta's entry into Tusquets ownership sent shockwaves through the Spanish-reading world; Tusquets is one of the examples always given by those who believe quality pays.

It's a small giant, with a total staff of 15, including founding partners Beatrix de Moura (president and editorial director) and Antonio Lopez Lamadrid (chief financial officer). It d s 55 new titles a year in fiction, essays, memoirs and biography, the philosophy of science and gastronomy. While there are 30 to 35 paperback reprints each year, chiefly from the house's own catalogue, its forte is regular reprinting from the frontlist.

Translated authors include John Irving, Nadine Gordimer, Louise Erdrich, David Guterson, John Updike and Thomas Pynchon. But there's also Woody Allen, Sue Grafton, P.D. James, Amy Tan, Tom Wolfe, Beckett, Wharton, Edith Sitwell and Gertrude Stein. And there are Spanish authors of equal prominence (Jorge Edwards, Jorge Semprun). In fact, Beatriz de Moura is doing fewer translations nowadays, betting on a catalogue of Spanish and Spanish American authors who are beginning to outsell them.

For a house like Tusquets, 30% of its sales are made in Spanish America, but that includes some autonomous publishing by its Argentine and Mexican companies. The company in Buenos Aires, for example, puts eight of its own locally originated titles in its catalogue, and Tusquets brings some of these over to Spain. The company in Mexico is now doing its first original titles. But crossover is the rule.

As for Planeta's foot in the door, at the moment the giant group holds a 47% share. On the last day of December 1998 Tusquet's founders may decide to buy back the Planeta share (at a price previously agreed to), or to renew the partnership, with Planeta's equity rising to 50%.

Now meet that other cultural publisher to which even competitors point with pride. Anagrama is the creation of Jorge de Herralde, who with his wife d s much of the work here; the staff of 15 includes the founding couple. They produce a whopping 70 new titles a year (not counting 20 paperback reprints). Two-thirds are translations, mostly from English, of such writers as Paul Auster, Richard Ford, Terry McMillan, Martin Amis. In nonfiction, the works of Oliver Sacks, Harold Bloom and Seamus Heaney set the tone; the important thing is to be upscale.

Thanks to its dimensions, Anagrama g s far with a bestseller, which can start with 40,000 copies. The house usually controls Latin American rights, working that territory through local distributors (it is the biggest client of its Argentine distributor, who has been increasing sales by 20%-30% per year).

Catalan-language publisher Edicions 62 saw the light of day precisely in 1962, as an act of cultural resistance against Franco Fascism (Catalan books were banned during Franco's regime). The first years were hard, and then the old regime blew away. Now 62 is a group, with acquired Catalan imprint Empuries, and a more recent creation, Peninsula, to publish in Castilian Spanish (the official dialect). Editorial director Oriol Castanys coordinates the three programs: the 100-odd new titles per annum from flagship house Edicions 62 in fiction and nonfiction, theater and p try; the 40 from Empuries in contemporary literature a la Susan Sontag and David Guterson; and 60 more from Peninsula in the social sciences, university-level nonfiction and literary essays as well as historical fiction.

Since Edicions 62 is not really competing with the Spanish giants in Castilian, it gets to publish some sure-fire list leaders. That can mean John le Carre, Mario Puzo, Raymond Chandler, Arthur C. Clarke as well as perhaps Philip Roth and Paul Auster and Stephen R. Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Catalan printings remain small: whatever Plaza y Janes managed with the Castilian translation of The Tailor of Panama, Ediciones 62 still sold 10,000 copies. But it did place 65,000 copies of Sophie's World.

Paidos Iberica was founded half a century ago in Argentina and opened an office in Spain for the first time in 1979 (and thanks to its Spanish foothold, it survived Argentina's evil empire). World headquarters are now in Barcelona, where the visitor meets publisher Enric Folch, whose list runs to 120-130 books in the social sciences. The Argentine company d s about 40 additional, and now the company in Mexico originates 15 of its own -- a measure designed to protect the rest of the company from local problems. The usual practice is to print in Spain and export.

Thus Paidos sent 1000 copies of its translation of Samuel P. Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations to Argentina, another 750 to Mexico. If the book works in these markets, Folch will send film for reprintings. In practice, Literary needs and tastes vary widely from country to country. Note that if Spanish translations of fiction often need to be revised for individual Latin American markets, no single nation -- not even Argentina -- could absorb the cost of retranslating the serious nonfiction that Paidos is known for. So Folch has to think in terms of a "universal" Spanish edition. Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, a blockbuster at Simon &Schuster, was published in Spanish by Paidos -- and recently licensed back to S&S for the U.S. Hispanic market.

But there is something new at sober and serious Paidos. Enter a new logo, Oniro (for the Greek god of dreams), operating as a separate company under Norma Fenoglio, for illustrated books, natural healing, lifestyle and spirituality. Since Paidos stands behind the new venture, quality will be watched. In the first phase it will do an Illustrated Letters series from Britain's Collins &Brown and movie books from Citadel Press. Enric Folch confesses that the easily digestible but well-made Oniro line is targeted to the Latin American reader.

Omega/Medici is very much a family affair, established in the 1920s to publish popular history. When founder Joaquin Gil went into self-exile in Argentina, his brother took over, passing the house on to his sons. One of his sons, Antoni Paricio, describes Ediciones Omega as "a Spanish John Wiley," with scientific and academic books in medicine, natural history and physics; like other houses in its field, it was hard hit by illicit photocopying, and the solution has been to do more general books.

General can mean Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence, or an upscale history series with Spanish input, plus licenses from Cambridge University Press. The point is to make the general list as authoritative as the academic catalogue. In all, there are some 50 titles a year, including adaptations of the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness books.

Under a separate imprint, Iberia, there are series of softcover classics and popular self-help books. About a third of Omega's sales are made in Latin America, despite the steep mark-up on books, which even in Spain are on the pricey side. It helps that Paricio cousins, descendants of the group's founder, still live and work in Argentina.

Enter Ana Dexeus, formerly rights manager at Grijalbo, co-founder (with the Paricio brothers) of Ediciones Medici, doing both serious medical texts for professionals and a family health list on subjects such as dieting and pregnancy; about 20 new releases a year, most of them on the popular side.