U.S. Comics in Spanish from Public Square Books
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on Jan. 3, 2006 Sign up now!
By Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 1/3/2006
Public Square Books, a company that brings Spanish-language editions of U.S., European and Latin American graphic novels and nonfiction to the American market, is entering the new year with a new distribution agreement, a growing catalog of popular U.S. titles and the release of its first Spanish-language manga titles.
Public Square Books (www.publicsquarebooks.com) was founded in New York City in 2004 by Larry Bennett. His plan is to bring Spanish-language editions of the most popular U.S. comics titles to a growing market of Hispanic-Americans and newly arrived Spanish-speaking immigrants. PSB signed on with National Book Network this past September to handle all its distribution. And beginning in March, PSB will offer its first two manga series, Rave Master by Hiro Mashima (nine volumes) and Tokyo Mew Mew by Mia Ikumi (seven volumes), a shonen and a shojo series, respectively, both aimed at younger readers.
Public Square Books gets exclusive licenses from Spanish publishers, most notably Barcelona-based Norma Editorial, a major Spanish publishing house, and issues new ISBNs for the books in the U.S. market. The company releases eight to 10 titles each month and lists more than 190 titles in its catalog. PSB's graphic novels range from Hellboy, Love and Rockets and In the Shadow of No Towers to Persepolis, Queen and Country and the Sin City series.
The company's licensing strategy has allowed PSB to bring in large numbers of popular titles while minimizing the risk around determining print runs for a growing but still new and unpredictable market. PSB imports Norma's Spanish editions and, as the company's U.S. business grows, Bennett says he will work with Norma to include the U.S. market in projecting future print runs for the series PSB distributes.
Bennett acknowledges that the size of the U.S. market for Spanish-language graphic novels is hard to determine and even his bestselling titles sell only in the low thousands. He estimates the present U.S. wholesale market at about $2 million to $3 million a year. PSB offers Spanish publishers an economical way to enter the U.S. market. "We put out a lot marketing information that a Spanish publisher just wouldn't do," says Bennett. "You have to sell to Spanish speakers as well as to bookstore buyers who don't speak Spanish."
It's been a learning process, Bennett says. The company started out licensing the books of top European artists like Joann Sfar and Moebius, work generally aimed at older readers, before quickly concluding that young adult and children's comics work best in the present market. Both of the new manga series have anime shows on TV, Rave Master on the Cartoon Network and Tokyo Mew Mew on Saturday morning Fox TV.
U.S. libraries, typically important resources for immigrant and non-English-speaking U.S. communities, are a bigger outlet for Spanish-language comics than bookstores. Bennett reports enthusiastic support at American Library Association events and at library association events in California and Texas, as well as from librarians attending the annual Guadalajara Book Fair. "The library market is much bigger for us. We need nontraditional means to reach Spanish-speaking consumers rather than just retail." But retailers are beginning to pay attention. National Book Network took on PSB distribution because "they recognized the growth of graphic novels and the Spanish-speaking market," says Bennett.
PSB isn't giving up on sophisticated fare. In 2006, look for Spanish-language editions of Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar, Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan (Jimmy Corrigan: El chico mas listo del mundo) and multiple titles by Joe Sacco, including Palestine, Safe Area Gorazde and The Fixer. "We want to bring over the best stuff, and there's more manga to come," says Bennett. "We're building an infrastructure for something totally new."
