Cisneros Offers Spanish Audio

by Carmen Ospina -- Publishers Weekly, 2/28/2005

Venezuelan media mogul Gustavo Cisneros has two reasons to celebrate. Last week he feted the English-language release of his biography, Pioneer, the first book in Planeta's English-language line, at the newly renovated Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He made another big splash by entering the U.S. Spanish-language audiobook market.

The Cisneros Group's Venevision International, a leading distributor of Spanish-language television programming, has become majority shareholder of Florida-based audiobook publisher Fonolibro. Under the new deal, Venevision will promote and distribute Fonolibro's catalogue, which includes literary classics as well as translations of U.S. bestsellers. Fonolibros founder Arquímedes Rivero also announced the audiobook version of Cisneros's Pioneer in Spanish for this spring.

In an industry that is still in its developing stages—few major publishers have ventured into Spanish-language audio publishing—the Cisneros Group's backing puts Fonolibro in a position to lead this market. As part of the deal, Fonolibro will enjoy free airtime on Cisneros Group's Univision, the most-watched television network among U.S. Hispanic households. Since February 21, the publisher has been airing a commercial for the bestselling Caballo de Troya (Trojan Horse), a first for an audiobook in Spanish in the U.S.

"This union with Venevision and the Cisneros Group will put literature and information that many times are hard to get through the traditional paper media in the hands of the mass public," said Rivero. "We are now in a position to open the market for other audiobook publishers by educating the mass public about this product."