Ingram Inks Pact to Offer More Spanish Titles

In an agreement that reflects the growth in sales of Spanish-language titles in the U.S., the Ingram Book Group announced a venture with the Argentine bookselling chain of Grupo ILHSA that will increase the number of Spanish-language titles available to the U.S. market.

The agreement will add about 70,000 Spanish-language titles to the Ingram title database. The titles will be available at standard trade discounts through Ingram's OneSource program. The agreement will also make it easier to order and will speed up the delivery of Spanish-language titles to bookstores and libraries. The program will rely on Grupo ILHSA's Buenos Aires distribution center and its relationship with UPS to ship titles to the U.S.

Grupo ILHSA has been praised for its sophisticated title database. The Argentine bookseller will work with its suppliers and Ingram to offer titles with the best sales records as well as category bestsellers, suggested title lists and product information, all through Ingram's ipage, print and electronic catalogues and collection development programs.

The Argentine bookseller will work with UPS in Argentina. When titles are ordered, ILHSA will pack and deliver the books to UPS, which will ship the books to its Miami center. From there, UPS can deliver books anywhere in the U.S. in two days.

Jim Chandler, chief commercial officer of Ingram Book Group, said that ordering Spanish-language titles is currently limited to books already imported and warehoused in the U.S. Selection has been limited, with restocking sporadic and expensive. "There were not enough titles available. The library market has been the most vocal about the need for a better system," said Chandler. "Libraries report that they have the money for titles and can't spend it."

Booksellers and librarians, said Chandler, will not have to anticipate demand. "We are happy to supply as many titles as needed, when needed," he said. He also emphasized that Ingram will monitor publishing rights and will not import Spanish-language titles that have U.S. English-language publishers.

Carmen Ospina, associate editor at Críticas, which covers Spanish-language publishing, said the deal makes sense: "Argentina is a huge book market, right behind Spain and Mexico. In the past, you had to wait months for books. Now ordering will be quicker, easier. And due to Argentina's economic problems, books are very inexpensive."