LatinaLista — In the mood to read a book authored by a Latina or Latino but just can’t seem to find the right one…well — There’s an app for that!!
Grand Central Publishing (GCP), formerly Warner Books and a subdivision of the Hachette Book Group USA, created an iTunes app called the GCP Book Match featuring their line of Latino/a-authored books.
The free download starts out with a short quiz to see what kind of book the reader is looking for: Intrigue? Drama? After the quiz, the program matches the reader with the book that best fits their answers to the quiz.
But this app doesn’t just give you the title or the ISBN# and sends you to your local bookstore or library to find it. After all, this is an iTunes app.
With the GCP Book Match app, readers are not only provided with an excerpt from the book, an image of the jacket cover and a bio of the author but “extra” touches like video trailers or behind-the-scenes interviews with the authors and links to the book and author’s website, Twitter feed and Facebook page; a reading guide for the book, author interviews in Spanish and English and a link connecting to six outlets where the book can be bought online — on the spot!
Valerie Russo, senior web publicist for Hachette Book Group, tells Latina Lista that while there are 14 books currently in the GCP Latino line offering a mix of fiction and non-fiction, there is the ability to add more books to the application and an update is planned for this summer.
The publishing group also has a Facebook page, GCP Latino, featuring their authors in video interviews, their event schedules, and of course, readers’ comments on the Facebook Wall.
GCP Latino also makes one promise to all visitors and iTunes app users:
