Publisher Spotlight—Pinto Books, A Publisher with Garbo

by Michelle Roche -- Críticas, 5/1/2008

In Spanish, garbo means a jaunty air: elegance and grace. The quintessence of garbo in the independent publishing world is Pinto Books, a New York City-based multicultural house that favors books with substance in English and Spanish, the kind to be read many times.

The embodiment of Pinto Books’ garbo is its editorial director and publisher,  Jorge Pinto, Mexico’s Consul General in New York from 1995 to 2000. His long-lasting relationship with books began years before, when he was an administrative board member of Latin America’s paramount commercial publishing house: Fondo de Cultura Económica de México.

After completing his official duties, Pinto became the director of  of a collection of Economics and Finance books published by the Spanish-language press Turner in Spain. Determined to give a voice to underrepresented cultures in the world, Pinto began his eponymous company in 2004. Its first title was Matthew Vescovo’s fully-illustrated Instructoart: Innovative Yet Aesthetically Pleasing, which answers important questions, such as “What is the most efficient way to remove pubic hair from a bar of soap?,” or “How much distance is required between two people when executing an air kiss?” To date, the book has sold almost 25,000 copies in English in the United States alone, an impressive number for an independent firm.

Reaching readers

Pinto Books champions niche marketing—the promotion of books to a tightly focused audience—aiming books in English and Spanish to college students, libraries, and “all those who understand the value of culture and wisdom,” explains Pinto. Although Pinto’s words make him seem old-fashioned, he considers the Internet crucial to reach readers, since he believes that chain bookstores no longer represent specific reader interests. Beyond the Internet, Pinto Books has 40 more clients among museum shops, colleges, and independent bookstores.

New projects include translations into English of Chinese books written by women between the ages of 18 and 25 years, and a guide to reading James Joyce’s Ulysses in Spanish. Pinto has just edited a new book, as well as its translation, by Vito Tanzi, International Monetary Fund senior staff member, entitled Gente, lugares y políticas. China, Japón y el Sureste Asiático (People, Places and Policies: China, Japan and Southeast Asia).This publishing house has currently 45 books in the market; this year, it plans to publish 15 new titles—three more than last year and double the number in 2006.

Something for everyone

Pinto produces five collections: Working Biographies, Rediscovered Books, Books in Translation, Illustrated Books, and New Books. The first category is a collection of 120-page-long biographies of successful professionals in areas such as economy, information design, marketing, and psychotherapy. Rediscovered Books includes rare works in classical literature, such as The Letters of Thomas Mann and Herman Hesse or Victor Hugo: A Realistic Biography of the Great Romantic—and works from authors not available in United States. One example: Spanish writer Mercedes Salisachs, who was born in 1916 and has been publishing novels and short fiction since the 1950s

Books in Translation features subjects ranging from child psychology to contemporary art. Among its rarities is a translation into Spanish of Anthony DePalma’s El hombre que inventó a Fidel. Castro, Cuba y Herbert Matthews del New York Times (The Man who Invented Fidel: Castro, Cuba and Herbert Matthews of The New York Times), a biography of Matthews, the journalist who published an interview with Fidel Castro in 1957, and shaped the legend of the communist leader in United States.

Illustrated Books and New Books have a wider scope. The first category includes works by visual artists—the most popular to date is the aforementioned Instructoart. The second focuses on fiction, such as novels by the Argentinean Marta Merajver Kurlat.

Currently, Pinto is negotiating movie rights for a 2005 book by Kurlat, Gracias por la muerte or Just Toss the Ashes. He adds that “there is already a Korean publishing house interested in translating Saliachs’s El secreto de las flores (Seeds of Silence) for the Asian market.”

Six months ago, Pinto launched a new imprint, Paula Books, targeted to children. Its first title,La Tortuga Golosa (The Turtle’s Shell), collects legends from several indigenous groups that inhabited the American continent centuries ago; it was released in English and Spanish.