America Reads Spanish

The Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX) and the Spanish Association of Publisher Guilds (FGEE) have introduced an initiative called America Reads Spanish to promote the reading of the Spanish language through agreements with thousands of libraries, schools and bookstores in the US.  This year America Reads Spanish will be present at the Book Expo America 2011, taking place from the 23-26th of May in New York.

One of the most important economic features that Spain possesses is its language, which is why the promotion of Spanish around the world is a foreign priority. In the USA, the number of Spanish speakers has multiplied exponentially over the last yeas, opening a door for the Spanish language and Spanish books to extend throughout the country.

In May of 2006, the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX) and the Spanish Association of Publisher Guilds (FGEE) put a plan together to promote Spanish books in the US: America Reads Spanish, a program that seeks to promote Spanish reading in the US market through libraries, schools and bookstores.

The program was inspired by a study done by the Spanish Economic and Commercial Office in Miami, Florida which encouraged the implementation of a policy to promote Spanish books in the US by geographical segmentation, customer profile and product type.

The American Read Spanish initiative seeks to educate the literary sector of the importance of entering the US market and to strengthening the position of Spanish publishers there. To do so, the ICEX has organized an event pavilion with 30 exhibitors at the Book Expo America in New York.  With this they intend to promote Spanish books among professionals and important representatives of the book industry in the US.

America Reads Spanish has also launched a very informative website in which readers can read news from the Spanish world, interviews from Hispanic artists or famous “friends of Spanish” (Ben Affleck, Jodie Foster, Eva Longoria, Gwyneth Paltrow, Penelope Cruz, Scarlet Johansson, Javier Bardem….) and videos. Additionally, a weekly top 20 best selling Spanish book list (both in Spain and worldwide) is featured thanks to the collaboration of Nielsen.

The US is without a doubt the most important destination for Spanish literature, making up about 169.2 million euros of exportations in 2010, an 8% increase over 2009 which ended at about 156.5 million euros. Total foreign sales reached 250.6 million, an overall increase of 5% over 2009 data, meaning that the American continent absorbed 67.5% of the exportation increase.  

 America Reads Spanish is based on three pillars: awareness and training (seminars, information), communication (newsletters, the website and newspapers) and promotion (presence at trade fairs and cultural forums for publishers and  Spanish writers, trade with Spain, distributors, librarians, school authorities and editorials). The America Reads Spanish initiative already has made major agreements with trade associations, book distributors and book opinion prescribers in the US.