With the addition of Ediciones B, one of the five largest publishing groups in Spanish, and Klutz Latino, an imprint of Mexico's Novelty Corp., which does Spanish translations of Klutz activity books, Independent Publishers Group is continuing to aggressively pursue the Spanish-language book market, which it entered in 2001. With these two clients alone, IPG president Mark Suchomel expects the company's Spanish-language market share to double.
To accommodate the 100 U.S. releases that Ediciones B, part of the Grupo Zeta media conglomerate, and its Byblos and Vergara imprints have planned for the spring, IPG is planning to produce a separate supplement to its seasonal Spanish-language book catalogue. Ediciones B—which publishes new and established Latino writers as well as translations of bestselling English-language authors such as John Grisham, Margaret Atwood and Michael Moore—will release another 60 or 70 titles in the fall. "We're very excited about this opportunity. We couldn't be more excited to welcome Ediciones B," says IPG Spanish book specialist Carolyn Ramirez, who helped the Chicago-based distributor roll out its first Spanish-language book catalogue in spring 2001. It had only 25 titles.
Six other Spanish-language publishers signed with IPG this season: Barcelona-based Editorial Kairos, which specializes in spiritual titles; Ediciones Norte in Puerto Rico, which specializes in children's books and reference works for adults and will release IPG's first graphic novel in Spanish, an adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows; Villegas Editores in Colombia, publishers of high-end art and architecture titles as well as nonfiction and fiction in paperback; translations of several parenting titles from the American Academy of Pediatrics; Pascualina Productions in Chile, which publishes the Pascualina Diary series by Paulina Monckeberg for children ages 8—15; and board books from the Mi Casa imprint of Sweetwater Press, the publishing arm of Books-a-Million.
In addition to Ramirez, IPG has five staff members who assist with Spanish-language book customers. It will add a new position in Spanish sales in the coming months.
