Penguin Launches Celebrity-Oriented Hispanic Imprint

Penguin announced this week the creation of a personality-driven Hispanic imprint, Celebra. The line's first book—His Panic: Why Americans Fear Hispanics in the U.S. by Geraldo Rivera—pubs tomorrow. Celebra will operate under the New American Library umbrella, utilizing that group's sales, marketing, publicity and design departments.

Publisher Raymond Garcia, formerly of Rayo, said the mainstream imprint will highlight authors from a wide range of fields, including entertainment, politics, health and business, with the uniting factor being authors who are recognized Hispanic leaders in their fields. Garcia explained the celebrity hook: “It's not enough to just have 'Hispanic' as your filter in publishing books, [because] the interests of the Hispanic market are as diverse as that of the mainstream population.” Authors on the summer 2008 list include real estate developer Jorge Perez, Fox news health correspondent Dr. Manny Alvarez and former Miss Universe (and former Mrs. Marc Anthony) Dayanara Torres. This fall, Celebra will publish books by gossip blogger Perez Hilton and by pop star Gloria Estefan and her husband, Emilio.

Celebra will publish books in both hardcover and paperback, encompassing a variety of nonfiction genres including celebrity memoir, self-help/how-to, cookbooks and children's titles. All titles will be published in English, with about one-third of them translated into Spanish as well. Garcia said this mirrors the book-buying habits of Hispanics in the U.S.: the majority of the books they purchase (about 65%) are English-language and about 35% are Spanish-language.

Garcia said Celebra's primary market is “acculturated Hispanics,” which Nielsen defines as at least the second generation to be born in the U.S. with buying patterns that are very similar to the general population. Acculturated Hispanics have the highest income and education among Hispanics. “Hispanics want to hear about other Hispanics who have made it in mainstream America,” Garcia said.