Open Road Media is teaming up with Barcelona Digital Editions to form Ciudad de Libros/Open Road Espanol, a partnership that marks Open Road’s first venture into the foreign-language e-book market. Ciudad de Libros/Open Road Espanol will release its debut list in the first quarter of 2014 and according to Open Road CEO Jane Friedman the goal is to do “a few hundred” titles in its first full year of operation.
Titles will be drawn from Open Road's English-language catalogue, where world-Spanish language rights can be secured, and new titles in Spanish will be acquired by both partners specifically for Ciudad de Libros/Open Road Espanol. The new effort builds on a partnership Open Road entered into last year with BDE to form Barcelona eBook which brings English-language e-books to readers worldwide. Friedman noted that for the most part, Open Road books that become part of Ciudad de Libros/Open Road Espanol will have already been translated into Spanish. Friedman said Open Road has been approached by a number of authors with Spanish-language titles who are looking for global distribution for e-book editions. Cuidad de Libros will be spearheading the marketing in Spain and Latin America, building off Open Road's platform and their own newly created Web site. In the U.S. and the rest of the world, Open Road will take the lead. Friedman said marketing will be tailored to the different markets and in many cases will be in both Spanish and English. She is hiring a dedicated, bilingual marketing team to oversee the marketing efforts.
Its first titles will include books from Spanish author Jose Maria Merino as well as from Peruvian author Alonso Cueto. Titles coming from Open Road include books by Leon Uris and Erskine Caldwell with additional titles in popular fiction, literary fiction and mysteries also slated to appear.
“I’ve been bullish on the Spanish-language market for years,” Friedman said, explaining that it is her belief that the best way to enter the market is to partner with a company that has contacts in the field. “This is a unique challenge and opportunity for our company to bring to Spanish readers around the world the digital works of renowned authors,” said Blanca Rosa Roca, founder and president of Roca Editorial and BDE.
The creation of Ciudad de Libros/Open Road Espanol joins other Open Road international partnerships that have involved distributing English-language e-books from publishers around the world.
