Ediciones B
Ediciones B is a Spanish publisher that emerged in the year 1986, when Grupo Zeta purchased Editorial Bruguera and renamed it Ediciones B. Madrid and Barcelona hold the publisher's main headquarters in Spain, but there are also branches in Buenos Aires, Bogota, Caracas, Mexico City, Montevideo, Quito and Santiago. Ediciones B publishes books in Spanish and in Catalan.
From the very beginning, Ediciones B has been focused on the publication of famous magazines, like TBO, that included stories of well-known fictional characters, like Mortadelo and Filemon or SuperLopez, not to mention the naughty twins Zipi and Zape and Capitán Trueno. Later, Ediciones B was able to publish comics and other stories which belonged to foreign countries, as well as some with content adult.
In the late 90s, Ediciones B launched some magazines aimed at children and teenagers. Nonetheless, with the passing of time the publisher changed its mind and books of several different genres were published, joining the previous comics and short stories.
Grupo Zeta sold Ediciones B to Penguin Random House at the beginning of April 2017 for €40 million. Grupo Zeta president's Antonio Asensio and Markus Dohle, Penguin Random House's CEO, made the official announcement.[1] However, it was not until the first days of July that the whole process of selling was completed. Currently Ediciones B belongs to Penguin Random House.
Genres
At present, Ediciones B holds several literary genres, including but not limited to:
- Children & Youth
- Comic & Graphic novel
- Essay (including History)
- Travel Guides
- Historic Fiction
- Narrative
- Poetry
- Romantic
- Self-help
- Science-fiction & Fantasy
- Thrillers & Mysteries
Collections
After having merged with Penguin Random House's web, the publisher has distributed their books differently. These are the most significant sections, the linked ones being the best-known.
B: A collection of varied genres grouping those who aren't below.
B de blok (B as in "Blok"): The most significant collection of both childish and youth literature.
B de Bolsillo (B in pocket format): A selection of books about many different topics which have previously been published.
B de books (B as in "books"): It started as an exclusive section of digital books, but this varied selection is physical as well.
Biblioteca de bolsillo CLAVES: A series of selected titles translated from the French collection Découvertes Gallimard.
Cómic: The most remarkable comic heroes with their crazy stories: Mortadelo and Filemon, The Simpsons, SuperLópez, etc.
La Trama ("The scheme"): Thrillers and mystery novels are the whole part of this collection. Lots of unclear and weird cases wait for a solution.
Nova: B's most famous collection of science-fiction, which groups titles of the present and the past.
Novela Vergara (Vergara Novel): Aimed at the female audience, this collection holds different stories of love, friendship, family and varied human feelings.
Plan B: A recent collection grouping both fiction and essay books.
Literary events
Ediciones B takes part in some literary events, where they collaborate with prizes for the most successful writers.
Historical novel award "Ciudad de Úbeda": After organizing this contest together with other entities, Ediciones B publishes the winning historical novel. The contest is called yearly.
"La Trama" award: Having emerged in the year 2014, this Ediciones B's contest looks for new talent among the promises of thrillers and whodunnits once a year. The first winner was Laura Balagué with her Las pequeñas mentiras (lit. The little lies).
Boolino awards: They emerged in 2015 and, in this case, they are focused on finding the best illustrated, youth and childish book among writers. Ediciones B awards the winner of the latter with the publication under "B de Blok". The first winning book was Entre todas las estrellas (Lit. Among all the stars), by Cristina Alfonso Ibáñez. Participating is possible yearly.
Also, Ediciones B is usually present in some book fairs, as those of the International Day of the Book and others being held in big cities, such as Madrid or Barcelona, to provide the readers with the most exciting novelties and encourage the habit of reading.
Draws via the internet
Nowadays, Ediciones B launches two contests weekly so as to their readers can interact and try to get a physical book. They are "Los martes nos vemos en B" ("we see at B on Tuesdays") and "Viernes con B" ("On Fridays with B"; in Spanish, this is a pun. Friday is written "Viernes". The grapheme <v> sounds exactly as <b> in Spanish, so the publisher means that "that day would be * "Biernes" as a contest has been organized by the publisher). They are not held in August due to the holiday period.
Los martes nos vemos en B: It consists of uploading a pic of a book cover together with a question. Answering it will make you participate automatically in the draw of the book that has been shown. Sharing the publication can give you extra possibilities of getting success. All this is carried out via Facebook.
Viernes con B: You must retweet a message B has published with a book to become a participant. After the weekend, a person having retweeted the already mentioned message can win the book that has been tweeted that Friday.
References
Penguin Random House's website: http://www.megustaleer.com
PRH's purchase http://www.elmundo.es/cultura/2017/04/06/58e6747be5fdeaed618b456f.html