HarperCollins and Rayo Launch Mass Market En Espanol Initiative
First Spanish-Language Mass Market Program to Publish Best-Selling Titles
in Mystery, Thriller, Romance Categories
New York, NY (September 29, 2005) - Coinciding with Hispanic Heritage Month, HarperCollins Publishers announces the launch of the company's pioneering "Mass Market en Español" initiative, aimed at providing a selection of the publishing house's most popular authors to America's burgeoning Hispanic market. The program begins in October 2005 with the Harper/Rayo paperback co-imprinted publication of La Noche de la Bruja Muerta (the Spanish language edition of Kim Harrison's bestselling Dead Witch Walking). It is aimed specifically to meet the demand in the Spanish-language book market for high visibility titles with top-of-the-line packaging.
"Rayo is the first major trade imprint to publish a series of best-selling English language romance, thriller and mystery mass market novels in Spanish," notes Rene Alegria, Publisher of the Rayo imprint. "Rayo will leverage the expertise of our Avon Books and Harper paperback imprints to provide Hispanic consumers with a broad array of appealing Spanish-language content at competitive prices."
"Many major retailers are currently expanding their Spanish-language book selection and distribution as they are seeing keen demand for full-length Spanish-language fiction titles from their Hispanic consumers," notes Brian Grogan, Senior Vice President of Distributor Sales for HarperCollins. "The books currently on the shelves in Spanish don't reflect the American reality which acculturation brings to Hispanics living in the United States," says Alegria. "The Avon/ Rayo and Harper/ Rayo titles bring full-length, bestselling romance, mystery and thriller titles that the Spanish-reading market now demands. All readers, regardless of what language they prefer to read in, should have the opportunity to experience the entertainment value inherent with genre fiction."
Launch Titles
Beginning in October 2005, the "Mass Market en Español" program will start with publishing one title per month. Following are the first six titles:
