Random House To Distribute Colombia’s Intermedio Editores

By Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 11/15/2007

Random House Spanish (RHS) has added another Colombian publisher to its U.S. distribution list. Intermedio Editores, an imprint of Colombia’s Círculo de Lectores book club, which is owned by Random House’s parent company, Bertelsmann, reached an agreement for exclusive U.S. distribution rights. “We decided to approach Intermedio because of the [quality of their] products,” Carlos Azula, Random House Spanish (RHS) VP and director of foreign language sales, told Críticas. RHS’s winter 2008 catalog will include the publisher’s best-selling titles, such as Jaime Gutiérrez’s La culpa es de la vaca (“It’s the Cow’s Fault”) and Jimena Gómez Villa’s Lo que los niños sí comen (“What Children Do Eat”).

Azula explained that RHS wants more business relationships with publishers that share Random House’s professionalism because it relies on the publishers’ feedback when putting together the titles to be distributed in the United States. “We have experience with [U.S. distribution channels] and they [Intermedio] have the best sellers and experience in Latin America,” Azula said of the collaborative relationship. This is the second South American publisher RHS has recently brought onto its roster. During April’s Feria Internacional del Libro (FIL) Bogotá (Bogota International Book Fair), Erik Riesenberg, RHS business development manager, signed a distribution deal with Oveja Negra Editores.

Established in 1985, Intermedio Editores originally published schoolbooks and reference titles. Eventually, the imprint included general interest titles, including self-help, history, cooking, biographies, and children’s books. Meanwhile, Intermedio’s parent company, Círculo de Lectores, has almost 40 years in the business and is associated to Spain’s book club of the same name, as well as Bookspan’s Mosaico and Círculo de Lectores book clubs in the United States. The Colombian counterpart is the exclusive distributor in Latin America for many publishers, including Anagrama, Galaxia Gutenberg, and RBA Libros.