HarperCollins and Rayo Launch Mass Market En Espanol Initiative; First Spanish-Language Mass Market Program to Publish Best-Selling Titles in Mystery, Thriller, Romance Categories

Coinciding with Hispanic Heritage Month, HarperCollinsPublishers announces the launch of the company's pioneering "MassMarket en Espanol" initiative, aimed at providing a selection of thepublishing house's most popular authors to America's burgeoningHispanic market. The program begins in October 2005 with theHarper/Rayo paperback co-imprinted publication of La Noche de la BrujaMuerta (the Spanish language edition of Kim Harrison's bestsellingDead Witch Walking). It is aimed specifically to meet the demand inthe Spanish-language book market for high visibility titles withtop-of-the-line packaging.

"Rayo is the first major trade imprint to publish a series ofbest-selling English language romance, thriller and mystery massmarket novels in Spanish," notes Rene Alegria, Publisher of the Rayoimprint. "Rayo will leverage the expertise of our Avon Books andHarper paperback imprints to provide Hispanic consumers with a broadarray of appealing Spanish-language content at competitive prices."

"Many major retailers are currently expanding theirSpanish-language book selection and distribution as they are seeingkeen demand for full-length Spanish-language fiction titles from theirHispanic consumers," notes Brian Grogan, Senior Vice President ofDistributor Sales for HarperCollins. "The books currently on theshelves in Spanish don't reflect the American reality whichacculturation brings to Hispanics living in the United States," saysAlegria. "The Avon/ Rayo and Harper/ Rayo titles bring full-length,bestselling romance, mystery and thriller titles that theSpanish-reading market now demands. All readers, regardless of whatlanguage they prefer to read in, should have the opportunity toexperience the entertainment value inherent with genre fiction."

Launch Titles

Beginning in October 2005, the "Mass Market en Espanol" program
will start with publishing one title per month. Following are the
first six titles:

Mystery:

La Noche de la Bruja Muerta (Dead Witch Walking), Kim Harrison
On-sale 10/4/05; ISBN 0060837500; $6.99 U.S./$9.99 CAN

El Regreso de los Muertos Vivientes (The Good, The Bad, And The
Undead) Kim Harrison
On-sale: 1/31/06; ISBN 0060856947; $6.99 U.S./ $9.99 CAN

Romance:

La Amante Perfecta, (The Perfect Lover), Stephanie Laurens
On-sale 11/1/05; ISBN 0060837519; $6.99 U.S./$9.99 CAN

El Color de la Muerte (The Color Of Death), Elizabeth Lowell
On-sale 2/28/06; ISBN 0060856955; $7.99 U.S./$10.99 CAN

Thriller:

Se Busca, (Most Wanted), Michele Martinez
(simultaneous with English-language mass market edition)
On-sale 12/1/05; ISBN 0060837527; $6.99 U.S./$9.99 CAN

Par de Detectives (Partners In Crime), J.A. Jance
On-sale 12/27/05; ISBN 006085684X; $7.99 U.S./$10.99 CAN

HarperCollins is one of the leading English-language publishers inthe world and is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A;ASX: NCP, NCPDP). Headquartered in New York, the company haspublishing groups in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australasia. Itspublishing groups include the HarperCollins General Books Group,HarperCollins Children's Books Group, Zondervan, HarperCollins UK,HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Australia/New Zealand andHarperCollins India. You can visit HarperCollins Publishers on theInternet at http://www.harpercollins.com.