Reader's Digest Revamps Spanish-Language Magazine
The Reader's Digest Association, Pleasantville, NY, will relaunch the U.S. edition of Selecciones, a Spanish-language magazine.Beginning with the May issue, Selecciones' U.S. readers will get their own edition with content dedicated to enriching life in their new country.
The monthly, digest-size Selecciones, which means "selections," is distributed in 20 countries and has been published for 60 years. It has been published in the United States since 1971.
In the past year, the company has built a dedicated business unit, hiring the first U.S.-based publisher, managing editor and full-time staff for Selecciones. The new team has already increased circulation and readership by 25 percent -- to 250,000 copies per month and an estimated 2 million readers -- and has boosted advertising by 30 percent.
The revamped magazine coincides with two events: the 60th anniversary of Selecciones' first appearance; and the census 2000 figures, which revealed that 35.3 million Hispanics live in the United States and account for 12.5 percent of the total population.
"The U.S. Selecciones will offer Latinos original articles on living a fulfilling life and dealing with everyday challenges here in the United States," said publisher Luisa Fairborne, who joined the magazine from People en Espanol last year. "We will provide news reports on attitudes and behavior that shape the Hispanic community in this country, balanced with lively interviews with fascinating people. We're going places, and a growing number of advertisers recognize and appreciate that."
