5YMedia Launches First Spanish E-book Review Magazine

By Julieta Lionetti

As the number of digital titles in Spanish is growing — albeit slowly — the well-known problem of discoverability grows with it. While publishers go to expensive conferences to discuss the best approach to the elusive issue, this month a newly created agency — 5ymedia — has launched the first Spanish magazine whose mission is to guide readers in the rising tide of stories offered as e-books.

EnCubierta’s first issue, available to read online or as a free Kindle e-book, focuses on fiction and nonfiction titles about the global and Spanish financial crisis, a subject that is ever so pervasive in the media these days. The magazine, which will be published on the first Monday of each month, will include exclusive content, such as excerpts from e-books and interviews with authors. It will also feature reviews and a list of recommendations that links directly to Amazon.es and in the future they will link to other e-tailers in the Spanish-speaking world. Each issue will have an editorial focus on a subject, in order to introduce a bit of order to the infinite digital shelf.

Paula Corroto, a journalist who comes from the recently closed online newspaper Público, coordinates EnCubierta. Together with Begoña Minguito and María Álvarez, they run the agency 5ymedia, specializing in using new media to promote e-books and other cultural goods. They also offer their services to self-published authors who would like to learn the first steps to building a platform online.

The approach seems rather traditional and the magazine plans to survive through fees it receives from the Amazon affiliate program. Whether traffic and conversion will make effort pay off remains to to be seen.