Miraida Morales, IPG's Spanish language sales representative, shared her thoughts about the growing U.S. market for Spanish books in my last column. For the next two weeks, we'll hear from booksellers, and we welcome you to join the conversation.
"A few years ago, we decided to actively solicit a Spanish-speaking customer base," said Catherine Weller, retail operations manager for Sam Weller's Bookstore, Salt Lake City, Utah. "In order to do so, we created the Rincon de Libros. The concept was a store within our store that would serve the various needs of Utah's large and diverse Spanish-speaking population. We have had mixed results. The most important element in our success, or lack thereof, has been the employment of a Spanish-speaking manager with roots and connections to one or more of the groups that make up the Hispanic population here. The keyword for success, as far as I can tell, is 'community.' The managers we've had that reach out to the community with specific proposals or ideas have sold far more books than the more passive manager we employed."
To forge community bonds, the bookstore has worked with non-profit organizations and libraries. "We are just beginning to connect with the Spanish language coordinator for the Utah State Library System," said Weller. "This is very exciting for us because it could help us reach the populations of the entire state."
A volunteer group meets weekly in the Rincon de Libros and teaches English-language skills to Spanish speakers. "I can't say the classes have resulted in a huge number of sales," Weller said. "But sales have been made and it gets our name out in the Spanish-speaking community. The icing on the cake is that we're providing space for a much needed service."
A different sort of outreach is offered by Politics & Prose Bookstore, Washington, D.C. Head buyer Mark LaFramboise said the store created a "Books in Spanish" section about three years ago. "It's mostly the usual suspects: Garcia Marquez, Fuentes, Vargas Llosa and a few books on topics which seem relevant to the Latino community, like books by Jorge Ramos and Clemente by David Maraniss. The section does so-so. We've brought in books from foreign publishers like Alfaguara, but mostly the section is comprised of books from Vintage Espanol, Rayo and Atria."
During that same period, Politics and Prose separated books in Spanish from the rest of its inventory and started a Spanish book reading club. "This month they're reading Carlos Fuentes's Todas las Familias Felices," said LaFramboise. "That group has been going strong for a few years now. It's also a helpful resource concerning books to stock for the section. All in all, the group is great, but sales on Spanish books generally have room for improvement."
Dave Weich, director of marketing and development for Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., also felt there was untapped potential for Spanish book sales: "Honestly, we could better serve the market. Several targeted marketing initiatives have been discussed, but we have yet to implement them. As is typically the case, our challenge boils down to resources. In lieu of a hero on staff who's determined to lead the effort, responsibilities generally fall to others (myself included), for whom the priority is secondary to more urgent projects. That said, your query was useful if for no other reason than it made us look at the big picture and recognize the lack of progress we've made since the push in '05."
In 2005, Weich said Powell's significantly expanded its Spanish language inventory. "The experiment was successful: sales increased more than enough to justify a continued presence for more titles. Our bestselling sections within the category are Spanish grammar, audio, and literature. The fact that grammar is our top seller suggests that a significant number of those consumers are not native Spanish speakers."
Catherine Weller said she would like to address certain inconsistencies as well. "I guess that would include our stint with the passive manager. We always had someone in the store who spoke Spanish for those customers who wanted or needed to converse in Spanish. The service was there, but we weren't out selling ourselves. Our stocking is more reactive than I'd like, but our aggressive, active efforts at selecting stock were not as successful. We attempted to create a full store within our store, and so stocked books from art to sex and self-help. Now we stock much more selectively and let our community partners, special orders, and sales be our guides."
Next week, more from booksellers.--Robert Gray (column archives available at Fresh Eyes Now)
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