El Deseo Ajeno.

Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. and Spanish language television network Telemundo have joined together to publish the bestseller El Deseo Ajeno, a continuation of the hit Telenovela, “El Cuerpo Del Deseo.” The publication of El Deseo Ajeno by Erick Hernandez Mora marks the first time a major publishing house and a television network have joined forces to produce a book geared exclusively toward the growing Spanish Language market.

Since its publication on October 17, El Deseo Ajeno has held its own in crowded bookselling marketplace. The title has been the best selling book (#1) for two consecutive weeks on the Barnesandnoble.com Spanish language list, and #1 on Amazon.com Spanish language list.

“We are thrilled with the opportunity to work with a forward thinking company like Telemundo as they are a leading Spanish language network with original content for the Spanish speaking consumer” said Judith Curr, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Atria Books. The concept of turning a successful telenovela into a published novel came from a collaboration between Telemundo executive Mimi Belt and Atria Senior Editor Johanna Castillo.

“This project was designed to offer Spanish-language telenovela fans the opportunity to experience the continuing story of our hit telenovela, ‘El Cuerpo del Deseo,’ through the print medium,” said Belt. “Viewers and readers will be surprised at the captivating plot twists, passionate new love stories, and endless suspense of El Deseo Ajeno,” said Johanna Castillo.

El Deseo Ajeno author, Erick Hernandez Mora, was one of 14 aspiring TV writers to graduate from the Telemundo sponsored course “Taller Telemundo: Escritores” in 2005. Under the leadership of Telemundo Network President Don Browne, the network created “Taller Telemundo: Escritores” in collaboration with Miami Dade College North Campus, School of Entertainment
and Design Technology, as an innovative program designed to recruit, train and inspire the next generation of telenovela writers.

“We’re very proud that Erick has authored Telemundo’s first book,” said Browne. “We made a deep commitment to the industry when we launched ‘Taller Telemundo: Escritores’ and El Deseo Ajeno is just one example of the extraordinary success of this innovative writers’ program. As producers of original content, we’re thrilled to now offer entertainment across a variety of platforms.”