Reading in Mexico City, February 15, 2022. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Kyle Little
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Schild: ‘The Much-Needed Recovery of the Local Sector’
Based in Mexico City, MVB América Latina has introduced a 20-percent discount both for existing customers and new customers of the Metabooks database.
As Publishing Perspectives readers will recall, Frankfurter Buchmesse and MVB signed a cooperative agreement with the e Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial Mexicana (CANIEM) in late 2019 to open in Mexico. Since then, Hugo Setzer, the former president of the International Publishers Association (IPA), has become president of the CANIEM.
Since then, the platform has established itself in the Mexican market with leading bookstores, publishers, and distributors as its clients, to offer standardized metadata on more than 60,000 print books and ebooks.
The company reports that, as the largest Spanish-language market in Latin America, Mexico’s industry has been growing but with many challenges, of course, during the still-ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
This has made the capabilities of the of the Metabooks platform more valuable, an assist in speeding recovery efforts for the publishing and retail sectors
Ronald Schild
In a prepared statement, Ronald Schild, the international CEO of MVB, says, “The pandemic has raised awareness among many Mexican publishers and booksellers that high-quality metadata offers a crucial means of overcoming the challenges they currently face.
“We know that the Mexican industry has suffered, and we at MVB want to contribute as much as we can to the much-needed recovery of the local book sector.
“Our goal is to enable each and every market participant to benefit from the multiple advantages of metadata for the promotion of books both domestically and internationally. To achieve this, we’ve decided to translate the efficiencies we’ve gained in our own processes into advantages that will benefit the entire market.”
Beyond the 20-percent break on pricing, MVB has expanded its service to include “Metabooks basic,” which offers a basic edition of the platform, free of charge to publishers and bookstores. That system is anticipated for a roll-out before the end of this quarter (Q1 2023).
Adriana Ortega
Adriana Ortega, managing director of MVB América Latina, is quoted, saying, “Since MVB started in the Mexican market three years ago, the company has grown and consolidated.
“We’re committed to the Mexican book market daily, working hand-in-hand with publishers and booksellers, and we want to contribute as much as possible to the sector’s much-needed recovery.
“With the 20-percent discount for all Metabooks users and the newly opened free research platform ‘Metabooks basic,’ we’re contributing to a highly interconnected book value chain in which all stakeholders share technological tools.
“Our teams in Mexico and Germany will support publishers and booksellers alike to create a thriving and resilient book industry.”
The Metabooks system was debuted at Guadalajara International Book Fair, and is operated by a joint venture in which MVB and Frankfurter Buchmesse hold equal shares. To gain solid insights into the relevant local infrastructure, the launch of the Metabooks database was preceded by market research and negotiations with the key market players over three years.
More from Publishing Perspectives on MVB is here, Metabooks Brasil is here. More from us on Metabooks Mexico is here, and on the Mexican book publishing market is here. More on the Latin American markets is here, and more from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, which factors into the progress made by MVB in this news story, is here. Publishing Perspectives is a brand of Frankfurter Buchmesse, operated through MVB US, Inc.