A nursery A new literary label that aims to cultivate new authors and be able to unite literary quality and commercial vocation, as well as break down the divisions in the sector. Grup Planeta launches NdeNovela, which will be captained by Belén López Celada, responsible at the time, in another label of the group, for the discovery of today’s popular authors such as María Dueñas, Luz Gabás or Gonzalo Giner. It will be, he explains, “a new space to cultivate new authors, a window to achieve success. A label with a commercial vocation that is based on good stories and the ability to entertain. But sometimes more ingredients are needed to reach audiences and for stories to flourish. That’s why we will maintain a prudent publication rate so that more work can be done and that in this fluid and changing world the work of sowing can be maintained a little longer until the authors bear fruit.”
In an event held symbolically in a nursery on the outskirts of Madrid, attended by María Dueñas and the Carmen Mola, López Celada, who is also the literary director of Editorial Planeta, emphasizes that for NdeNovela “we will be based on making known the books, to do the best editing work, the best cover, the best launch, to achieve in the end to promote the recommendation, the word of mouth, which is what ends up consolidating the authors”. “Our goal cannot be short-term, we want them to succeed from day one, but we are aware that it may take longer. The aim is that in five years’ time there will be several people who were born from NdeNovela on the bestseller lists”, he confides. And it is said that the print runs will be high, around 20,000 copies.
The authors of the first two novels, which arrive in January, are Cristian Schleu, with Muerte en tres texturas, a thriller set in the world of haute gastronomy, and Lara Serodio, with La piel infiel, a story of infidelity in the world of work. “It is the first time in my publishing career that I feel at home. In the publishing world, you’re either commercial or literary and I’ve always found myself in the middle, finding a home with both sides is a luxury,” says Serodio. And he explains that, in fact, he finished the new book in 2017 and “couldn’t find space because the niches are very marked: it’s literary, but it has erotica, but it’s not erotic because it’s too literary, it’s women’s literature, though. .. It took me six years to find a home and it is illustrative that it is a new house that has adapted to the territory”. Schleu remarks that it is “a pride to come out with the first novel in a nursery, a world of new authors, new voices and many hopes. Authors who claim to leave. Times and perspectives have changed and it is the natural evolution. There are fresh voices that narrate things that we are not used to and that we have to give way to.”
