Wendolín Perla – Translator

Hello! A veteran publisher from Penguin Random House, Mexico, I am also a certified English-Spanish Interpreter and Translator. I have participated in all stages of the editorial process and my passion is to bring manuscripts to their perfection with clear purpose and target audience. I am not only a skilled professional, a wildly avid reader, but I also know the international market and understand what readers want.

During the 11+ years in which I had the honor to belong to the Penguin Random House family, I had the opportunity to build a robust international network and to develop vast negotiation abilities. I have a strong background in creating book concepts for projects as needed, both under an acquisition model through agents and subagents as well as identifying and pursuing potential authors and working with them directly. By joining Publishizer and working with mind-blowing authors to launch crowdfunding campaigns, prove their readership, and finally connect them with key players in the industry, I’ve had the chance to learn the startup culture and witness the many twists and turns the publishing landscape is experiencing all over the world.

Given I was in charge of several imprints at Penguin, I feel comfortable with almost any genre. I don’t take projects for which I am not passionate: the power of enthusiasm can never be underestimated when it comes to bringing a great book to life.

CHAMPIONS OF MEN'S SOCCER by Ann Killion, Philomel Books, 2018. To be published in Spanish by Vintage Español, Penguin Random House New York.

“Working with Wendolín was one of the great privileges of my writing life. Her commitment to a book, its ideas, and its author, at every step along the journey, has, in my experience, few parallels in the publishing world. She seemed to understand my book even better than I did, and she worked assiduously to bring it to fruition. Any author would be lucky to have such a talented and dedicated steward of one's work.”

"Wendolín is an absolute rare find in the literary world. She's equally passionate and knowledgable, brilliantly creative and always a pleasure to be around. Wendolín is a superpower for any publishing team."

“Without Wendolín Perla’s tireless and thoroughly generous advice and help, my entire trip to Mexico City would have been a disaster. She introduced me to countless journalists and television personalities, served as my interpreter in several radio interviews, and was a font of excellent advice when it came to speaking with the media in Mexico. She is also a phenomenally well-read editor, who knows every book being written in the Western Hemisphere, and whose judgement on contemporary and classical authors is totally spot on. Wendolín is not just an editor with a very solid understanding of how publicity works, or a publicist who has read many books and knows the ins and outs of the publishing world: she is the sort of editor whom every writer dreams to work with: she has an amazing flair for what works in a manuscript, for what an author’s work means, and ultimately, for who a specific writer really is. In the space of just a few days, she has become a truly trusted friend whose opinion I treasure. I cannot think of going back to Mexico without her guidance.”

"When life decided that Wendolín and I should work together, it was like being reunited with a long-lost friend. She is a force of nature in publishing, and our time together was a supernova explosion of creative energy. Her passion for great books is second only to her professionalism and dedication to working with great authors. Working with her was one of the most beautiful highlights in the Publishizer journey – our team even named the day she walked into our lives, 'Wenday.’ If you are considering working with her, I deeply recommend experiencing it for yourself."

“Wendolín truly loves working with writers and authors. She is the literary version of a foodie. We are of like minds in that way. Plus her experience working with 'the big boys and girls' of publishing houses means she gets it. She gets how the industry works, what publishers need and how to best serve authors. Her background in editing is also immensely helpful as she can quickly ascertain the quality of the work for placement purposes."

“I was impressed by Wendolín’s youth and confidence. Her suggestions about my novel were absolutely pertinent: the title change, the right cover to reflect what the story was about, the biblical phrases as an opener for each chapter, and especially, something I was reluctant to do: a more hopeful ending.

Her colleagues at Penguin used to say that Wendolín Perla was some King Midas: ‘The Book she touches, is a book she turns into gold.’ It was true for me: my novel became an instant bestseller.

Success is sweet, but I am most grateful for her friendship and her loving solidarity with her authors. She defended my work as if it was her own. Thanks to Wendolín, my novel was even published internationally, in Spain, Argentina, and the United States. As an author, I have no strongest desire than working with her again.

Oh! And how she made me grow not only as a writer but as a human being!"

“Since our first meeting and above her surprising vitality, I was deeply impressed not only by Wendolín’s talent to perceive, at a glance, not only the correspondence between an author’s world and his/her work but also by her ability to appreciate a text beyond its appearance. Her mastery of the editorial trade intensifies for two qualities that make any writer, lover of literature, want to incorporate her into one’s life as a friend and editor: her stunning intuition and her unrestrained intellectual curiosity.

In times dominated by market pressure, cultured professionals as Wendolín are each day scarcer and more valued. It didn’t take me long to realize that Wendolín keeps alive the best tradition of the publishing trade, without which there would be no bridges between authors and readers. Besides sharing with her that insane passion for literature, she perfectly knows what title to choose, how to build a collection, how to write a story for the right reader. She has a publishing vocation like no one else.”

“I met Wendolín 2013 as one of the participants if the Frankfurt Fellowship Programme. I understood quite quickly that she is a natural networker and a pleasure to work and travel with. She is a bright and smart editor, a passionate advocate of books and a 'people person' with an incredible sense of humor and a huge curiosity. Wendolín is always eager to discover other cultures and countries, learn from other publishing professionals and share her knowledge with foreign colleagues.”

“I was lucky enough to meet and work with Wendolín Perla during her time as an editor at Penguin Random House. I’ve met very few people as efficient and capable to turn their profession into a gift like her. Above this, what has always impressed me is her wit, her scathing sense of humor, her passion and her immense affection. I miss deeply working with her.”

“Wendolín Perla is wonderful to work with, always intelligent, very savvy and professional. The energy and attention she brings to each of her projects is really positive and contagious.”

"Wendolín Perla believed in me and opened the door for me when no one else did. I was just an unknown woman with a good story under her arm. Meeting her was my stroke of luck! Thanks to her inexhaustible energy and expert direction, not only that work but also the ones that have followed it are going around the world and it seems all doors are now open to me. I will always be grateful and I will always be happy to count her among my close friends."