Back in 1989, Latin American Book Source, Inc started distributing books in Spanish in the US. Since then, it had expanded its services from academic university libraries to public libraries. In 2007 the company started supplying books in Spanish to amazon.com. Its CEO and founder Edgardo Moctezuma talked to ARS about the company, its focus, the market, and the future of digital and print-on-demand books.

Can you tell us about the distribution focus of Latin American Book Source?

We do not specialize in any one area of books in Spanish. We deal with high-end academic titles as well as the more popular and accessible romance novels and books for children. The Internet has blotted out the lines between types of books. In spite of the intrinsic value a specific title may have, the internet has defined it first as a product. And we deal with as many as we can.

What publishers do you work with the most, and what is the profile of the publishers that you could serve best?

We obviously work regularly with the largest book conglomerates in the Spanish book world: Grupo Planeta, Comercial Grupo Anaya, Penguin Random House. But in addition, we deal with hundreds of academic presses, marginal publishers as well as with well-established though not as well-known publishers such as ERA, Trotta, Ficticia, Nostra, CIDCLI, etc.

What sales channels and clients does Latin American Book Source best reach and service?

Since 1989, when we started distributing books in Spanish in the US, we have expanded our services from academic university libraries to public libraries. In 2007 we started supplying amazon.com for books in Spanish. We have made available through that channel alone over 32,000 titles. And the number is growing.

What are your next steps, and expectation for volume in the areas of digital, print-on-demand, movies, etc.?

We planned a few years ago to open our distribution business to Print-on-demand and to the distribution of digital files. However, both have had a much slower response in the Spanish speaking world. So far, print-on-demand books seem to be on their way out and digital files/e-books have had a not so warm reception in Spain and Latin America, in spite of the enthusiasm of supporters. In the next few years we will see what changes technology brings to us. From my point of view, the foreseeable future will bring a growing number of physical books to our warehouse and from our warehouse to many libraries and homes.

To visit Latin American Book Source website, click here.