Have you ever felt you’re seeing a book everywhere? One day, the book appears on your social media, but you don’t think much about it. The next day, you see the book’s author on your favorite late-night show, and you think it’s a coincidence. But the next day, while you’re on the subway, you look up, and there it is again! How is this possible? Well, it’s all thanks to book marketers and publicists.
Although their work is rarely noticed by readers, they play a huge role in getting people to discover and buy books. So in an attempt to recognize their efforts, we’ve put together a short list of Latinx book marketers and publicists. Enjoy!
Rhina Garcia, Publicist, Avid Reader Press
Rhina Garcia is the Publicist at Avid Reader Press, a division of Simon & Schuster. She joined from the Countryman Press imprint at W.W. Norton where she worked on a variety of cookbooks and lifestyle titles including Toya Boudy's Cooking for the Culture, Mary Beth Albright's Eat & Flourish and New York Times bestsellers My Vermont Table by Gesine Bullock-Prado and RecipeTin Eats Dinner by Nagi Maehashi. Prior to that, she worked at the William Morrow imprint at HarperCollins with authors such as Alexis Daria, Karin Slaughter, Rob Kenney, and Rosalind Miles. She holds a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Florida and an M.S. in Publishing from New York University. Originally from Miami, she currently lives in Brooklyn and enjoys live music, film photography, and bodega cats.
Tiffany Gonzalez, Marketing Manager, Astra House
Tiffany Gonzalez (she/her) is the Marketing Manager at Astra House, an imprint of Astra Publishing House. She previously worked in Production at HarperCollins Publishers. She has worked on the Publicity and Marketing campaign for Dreaming of You by Melissa Lozada-Oliva and on the Marketing campaigns for Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekiyamah, and The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela. She has earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Rutgers University – NB. She’s fluent in Spanish and is excited to bring unique and creative initiatives to fruition. You can follow her on Instagram @wandering_tiff_ and Twitter @wanderingtiff or visit her website at https://www.wanderingtiff.com.
Irene Vázquez, Associate Editor and Publicist, Levine Querido
Irene Vázquez is an Associate Editor and Publicist at Levine Querido. Irene graduated from Yale with a BA in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and English. Irene read the Percy Jackson series out of order in elementary school by accident and has been passionate about children’s books ever since. Outside of LQ, Irene is a poet and journalist who likes drinking coffee, watching Queen Sugar and reminding folks that the South has something to say. You can visit her website at https://www.irenevazquez.com.
Lulú Martínez, Senior Director of Marketing, One World
Lulú Martínez (she/her) is the Senior Director of Marketing at One World, an imprint of Random House Group. A transplant from Mexico City, she moved to New York to pursue an MS in Publishing at Pace University. She has worked on campaigns for bestselling authors like Zora Neale Hurston, Heather McGhee, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Cathy Park Hong, and Former First Lady Michelle Obama. She is on the board of N+1 Magazine and serves as a mentor at Inkluded, a program that champions diversity in publishing by actively working to train and place young people from excluded groups into their first publishing jobs. She is an avid ultrarunner and amateur vegan baker in her spare time.
Saraciea J. Fennell, Senior Publicity Manager, Tor/Forge Books
Saraciea J. Fennell is a Black Honduran American writer, founder of The Bronx is Reading, and creator of Honduran Garifuna Writers. She is also a book publicist who has worked with many award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors. Fennell is board chair for Latinx in Publishing as well as on the Advisory Board of People of Color in Publishing. Her nonfiction anthology WILD TONGUES CAN’T BE TAMED is available wherever books are sold. Her second book is the horror anthology THE BLACK GIRL SURVIVES IN THIS ONE co-edited with Desiree S. Evans, from Flatiron Books. Visit her website at https://www.saracieafennell.com, and follow her online @sj_fennell, @thebronxisreading, @hondurangarifunawriters.
Antonio Gonzalez Cerna, Marketing Director, Levine Querido
Antonio Gonzalez Cerna (he/him) is the Marketing Director at Levine Querido. He has 15 years of experience developing marketing, advertising, and social media strategies for adult and children’s book publishers such as Hachette Book Group, Penguin Books USA, and Scholastic, as well as for non-profit institutions including the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Lambda Literary Foundation. An advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equality, he has proudly served on the Children’s Book Council Diversity Committee, Lambda Literary Awards Host Committee, and is a founding member of Latinx in Publishing. He’s passionate about graphic novels, graffiti, and guacamole.
Giselle Gonzalez, Publicist, Tor/Forge Books
Giselle Gonzalez (she/her) is the Publicist at Tor/Forge Books. She was born and raised in Miami but is now located in NYC. A romantic at heart, her favorite books to read offer an escape. When she isn’t working in book publicity, she’s catching the first flight out to start a new adventure. You can visit her blog at https://www.hopelessbooklover.com.
Elizabeth Cervantes is a proud Mexican book lover. She has a bachelor’s in Multimedia Journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso and is currently working on obtaining her master’s in Publishing at Pace University. When she is not studying and reading for her classes, you can find her crying, swooning, or locking her doors while reading children’s books, romance novels, and mysteries/thrillers.
