Bookspan Has Second Hispanic Club
by Carmen Ospina -- Publishers Weekly, 5/31/2004
Bookspan has announced the launch of Círculo de Lectores (Readers' Circle), its second Spanish-language book club dedicated to Hispanics.
Círculo shares its name with firmly established book clubs in Spain (where it began in 1962) and Latin America. "Since the Círculo de Lectores name is well known in the Hispanic community throughout the world, and since Bertelsmann already owns the name in other countries, it made sense to call the new club Círculo de Lectores," explained Kevin Goldman, Bookspan's v-p of corporate communications. Círculo will be a book club in the traditional sense, offering discounts of up to 25% off publishers' prices on a catalogue of approximately 140 titles.
Similar to the first club, Mosaico, Círculo will feature the latest works by well-known and bestselling authors as well as books by emerging literary voices. But Círculo also hopes to attract a different segment of the Hispanic market. The new club's editors—for now, Mosaico's editor-in-chief, Sonia Margalef, and assistant editor Aida Bardales—will place special emphasis on how-to, ESL, home improvement and reference titles that teach Hispanic immigrants new skills to succeed in this country. According to Goldman, "Círculo will try to attract family-oriented as opposed to, say, mass appeal audiences, and it also hopes to interest immigrants from Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Spain, where the Círculo de Lectura brand name is very strong."
