Success in business and government has made Charles Garcia a role model for other Hispanics, both Spanish- and English-speaking. So when John Wiley & Sons wanted to publish his motivational book in English, the bilingual author insisted a Spanish version be released at the same time.
"I think it would have been disrespectful to the market not to do it, to show up with an English-language book and say, 'well, the Spanish is coming later,' " explained Garcia, founder of the Sterling Financial Group and a member of the president's Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. Wiley wasn't interested in publishing the book domestically in both languages, so the U.S. Spanish rights went to Hay House. And in an unusual, if not unprecedented, publishing event, the two different publishers released versions of the same book on the same day.
The books, A Message from Garcia: Yes, You Can Succeed and Un Mesaje de Garcia, Si, Puedes Triunfar, came out last month. Garcia wrote the book first in English, then in Spanish.
Garcia has been promoting both editions of the title in a media blitz that has him constantly switching between English and Spanish, depending on the television or radio station he happens to be appearing on at the moment. And in an upcoming tour, Garcia said, "I envision myself doing book signings and having a pile in English and a pile in Spanish."
Wiley executive editor Debra Englander said Garcia's message transcends demographics, though his strong following among Hispanics made the book more attractive to her. "In this category of motivation and success it's very hard to stand out if you don't have a platform," Englander said. She declined to give specific print run figures for the book, but put it in the mid-five figures.
Hay House, which is printing 10,000 copies of the book, is not new to the Spanish-language market. It publishes about five titles a year in Spanish and its 20-year-old book, You Can Heal Your Life by founder Louise Hay, still sells about 10,000 copies a year in Spanish in the U.S., noted Hay House president Reid Tracy. But Hay House's previous efforts in the market have been translations from English, never a book by a fully bilingual author. "We're going to send him on tour to Spanish-language bookstores," Tracy said. "We've never had someone we felt comfortable doing that with."
