Hello, Generation
Ñ
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (JULY 2001)
Spanish-publishing
leaders from the book, magazine, and online sectors
gathered at New York University’s Center for
Publishing on June 26 for a day of digesting demographics
and peering at new strategies to reach the sorely untapped
Hispanic market in both English and Spanish. Things
got off on a suitably controversial note as Mindy
Figueroa, VP of Santiago and Valdes Solutions,
dismissed the official figure of 35.3 million Hispanics,
claiming that undercounts, population growth, and the
inclusion of Puerto Rico bump that figure to 40.5 million
people, who will bear a glorious buying power of $630
billion by 2002. Glossing over the apparently negligible
medley of variations between one version of Spanish
and another, she focused on the more compelling marketing
angle: the Hispanic middle class is burgeoning. Market
niches of pinpointable lifestyles, defined by age and
length of duration living in the US, await the marketer
keen to surf the Latin wave. But beware “Los Babys,”
“Generation Ñ,” and the “New Latina,” who comprise
the 70% of the Hispanic population under 39 years of
age.
The self-appointed Latina Linda Goodman, President
of distributor The Bilingual Publications Co.,
jumped in to report a breakthrough in librarians’ attitudes
toward Spanish books. Those librarians who formerly
snickered, “We don’t have that [Spanish] problem yet,”
are now desperately stocking their shelves with Spanish
books. Of dire need are works on diseases, citizenship,
real estate, and ESL, among other topics. “Publish these
books and you will succeed,” she intoned.
Then Christy Haubegger, calling herself “the
only childless Latina left in the country,” regaled
the lunchtime crowd with tales of single-handedly launching
Latina magazine. Now with a paid circulation
of 203,000, Latina reaches an English-preference,
Hispanic market of women who allegedly consume 17.5%
of the nation’s lipstick. And Elizabeth Bradley,
magazine and marketing consultant, described the transformation
of People en Español (with a circulation of 317,000)
from a translation of People to a unique product
with 90% distinct editorial. The key lies in supplying
Hispanic-oriented content, instead of simply translating
existing material.
On that note, Lisa Alpert, Publishing Director
of Random House Español, lamented the lack of
marketing and PR funding allocated to Spanish books,
despite the enthusiastic response of Spanish media book
reviewers to jaded publicists. (They are reported to
cry, “Publish more Spanish books! We’ll buy them!”)
The future of Hispanic markets appears to lie simply
in providing more “in-culture” books in Spanish and
English backed by marketing. And for an ironic socio-cultural
postscript: apart from a general market two-thirds underserved,
jails and correctional services librarians are said
to be clamoring for material too.
©2001
Publishing Trends
