Journalist Trip to Brazil: 14-18 September

Wandering through the Fair, I can’t help thinking how different the mood is from the two other international book fairs I have visited.

It’s hard to convince people that this invitation is not about beaches or bikinis but books.

Travelling to Rio to attend a book fair may seem like the equivalent of going to Vatican City in search of nightlife. Before leaving, the very mention of coming here had evoked either unsolicited advice — ‘Man, you must check out Copacabana beach’ — or unwelcome cheek — ‘Looking for the Girl from Ipanema?’. (Trivia: The 15-year-old said to have inspired the worldwide hit song is now a grandmother and has shifted from Rio to Sao Paolo.)

It’s hard to convince people that this invitation — thanks to the initiative of the Frankfurt Book Fair — is not about beaches or bikinis but books. The only window of opportunity to play tourist in a programme crammed with back-to-back meetings is utilised to cable car up Sugarloaf Mountain. The view is splendid but also peculiarly unsettling. There is sea, beach, bay, forest and mountain. And there is a rash of construction, slums and high rises.

No other metropolis exists so close to nature, a proximity that is fascinating (rainforests fan out from the edges of large settlements made up of enormous tower blocks) and disturbing (the green being a relief as well as a reminder of what has been destroyed). On top of this mountain of rock that rises precipitously from water’s edge, a bunch of marmosets pose willingly for photographs, looking quizzically at cameras as shutters and flashes are fired. In Shakespeare’s “Tempest”, Caliban offers to teach Stephano “how to snare the nimble marmoset.” Up Sugarloaf, you can virtually reach out and pick up the small monkeys.

*

On the face of it, Rio’s International Book Fair resembles any other — rows of colourful stands strung out in neat lines, helpful signage hanging from the roof to navigate between pavilions and to locate exits, and eager milling crowds that are a pleasing reminder that books will never go out of fashion.

But Riocentro, which houses the fair and boasts of being the largest convention centre in Latin America, takes your breath away because of its location. Situated in the city’s outskirts, Riocentro — like many other parts of this extraordinary city — lies within touching distance of the rainforests. In front, a thick canopy of lush green banks steeply before giving way to craggy mountain tops. In the distance, a flock of birds fly in lazy circles as if hovered on air cushions.

It is an effort to tear myself from the view and go inside.

*

Book fairs are a reflection of national character. We, a group of seven journalists from all over the world, are listening to an introductory lecture by Antonio Laskos of Sindicato Nacional dos Editores de Livros (SNEL), which runs the Fair. In the middle of a sentence, a huge roar erupts as some 200 schoolchildren rush to one of the stands squealing and screaming in collective frenzy. ‘Could Ronaldo have dropped by to pick up a book?’ one of the journalists asks. No, no, the answer comes, that is probably Ziraldo.

Ziraldo? A new football sensation we haven’t heard about yet? Not quite, it turns out. He is an elderly author of children’s books, principally graphic novels. ‘Wow, he must be really famous,’ says someone. ‘Well there are others even better known such as Thalita Reboucas and Mauricio De Souza,’ responds an official, leaving us to wonder what might have happened had one of them been present.

Wandering through the Fair, I can’t help thinking how different the mood is from the two other international book fairs I have visited. Frankfurt presents a businesslike and efficient face and Abu Dhabi couldn’t be quieter or more orderly. Here it is raucous, warm and full of laughter. With so many young people dashing around and shouting at the top of their voices, you might be forgiven for believing you were at a football match or a rock concert.

*

One of the reasons that book fairs in Brazil attract so many schoolchildren is the government, which makes it possible for each of them to acquire a free book of their choice against their entry ticket. The Brazilian State is the largest book client in the world.

Later in Sao Paolo, a meeting with the Camara Brasileira do Livro, the influential association representing the Brazilian book industry, throws up another remarkable statistic. In 2008, Brazil’s government bought $457 million worth of books (the bulk for primary education and middle school), about a third of the value of the total book market.

Book fairs are held on alternate years between Rio and Sao Paolo, Brazil’s largest city. But there are something like a dozen others, which provide an important platform for bookselling — around 15 per cent of books sold every year. The challenge for the industry here is to sell translation rights abroad, something that is not happening in enough quantities in what is still an insular book industry, intrinsically tied up to education.

*

We meet many book publishers, too many to list. There is Antonio Erivan Gomes of Cortez Editora, which specialises in education and environment but does a neat range of children’s books, including an illustrated series of 27 Brazilian cities, which I imagine would work very well in India.

The cities speak in the first person about their history, monuments and culture in a simple language and the books have sold enough for many reprints. Mariana Warth of Pallas specialises in African-Portuguese culture, a subject of renewed Brazilian interest that receives considerable government support.

Her portfolio has a sense of strong social purpose, but is a continuation of the business started by her grandfather, who made a living from publishing books about African voodoo and spells after he discovered there was a great demand for such material within the African-Portuguese community. At the bigger and posher end, there is the Sao Paolo-based Cosacnaify, which does a range of immaculately designed books on art, photography, literature and fashion.

*

One thing on the minds of all Brazilian publishers is the Novo Acordo — the new orthographic agreement for the Portuguese language. At a time when other languages, particularly English, seem to be celebrating their linguistic diversity, Portuguese will move towards uniformity thanks to an accord signed by seven Portuguese-speaking countries (Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe), which comes into force January 2009.

Three letters will be dropped from the alphabet, umlauts will no longer be used for certain words, hypens will have no place for many others, and there will be pronunciation changes as well.

About 0.5 per cent of Portuguese words in Brazil will undergo a change, which means that publishers will have to read and introduce the alterations in any book they decide to reprint. “This will involve both work and money,” one publisher grumbles.

*

On learning I am Indian, the conversation invariably turns to a television soap opera that wound up some two weeks ago. Titled “Caminho das Indias” (Routes to India), it closed as the most watched show on Brazilian television. Shot in Varanasi and played almost entirely by Brazilian actors, the story centres around the love between a upper caste girl (Maya) and a Dalit boy (Bahuan), with a string of sub-plots. There is pretty much everything you would find in a typical Bollywood movie — forbidden love, parental opposition, dance, music, religion.

The soap has reportedly been so popular that books on India have made it to bestseller lists, the number of Brazilian tourists visiting India has increased dramatically, Indian-style jewellery has become a rage and nightclubs with desi themes have begun to open. Many people I meet ask questions about issues raised in the serial — about caste, marriage and custom. The odd Hindi expression used in soap seems to have been ingrained in popular lingo. ‘Arre Baba’ someone quips. ‘Bhagwan ke liye’ says somebody else. Almost everyone can greet you with a namaste. And almost everyone who has seen it wants to visit India.

*

There is no time to get under the canopy of the rainforests near Sao Paolo either. We have to make do with the botanical garden, which is full of birdsong and tall buttressed trees.

My interest in the rainforest has caught the attention of the organisers of the junket, including our gracious host, Dolores Manzano, Camara Brasileira do Livro’s Project Manager and a keen watcher of the “Camhino das Indias” soap. When asked why I am so keen on getting out there, I reply ‘Arre baba, its Brazil.’

She smiles in full understanding.

First published at www.hindu.com

http://www.hindu.com/lr/2009/10/04/stories/2009100450100300.htm

In 2008 Brazil produced nearly three and half million books, making it responsible for 50% of the books produced in Latin America and the eighth biggest book market in the world. Despite this figure, a dearth of well-known authors (Paulo Coelho being the only Brazilian author to become a household name) has resulted in the country long residing under the radar of the Western markets.

Literacy levels in Brazil are incredibly low with only 55% of the population of 190 million receiving a school education and only a third describing themselves as regular readers. These poor levels of education ensure that reading, especially in the north and mid-west areas, is restricted primarily to textbooks and the Bible. As Jézio Hernani Bomfim Gutierre, executive publisher of Editora Unesp, an academic publisher linked to the University of São Paulo, says: “The problem in Brazil isn’t just that there is a concentration of wealth, but that there is also a concentration of information. The Brazilian middle class is growing, but their reading habits aren’t.”

The Brazilian government is the biggest buyer of books in the world, buying 57.5% of the 211,542,458 copies sold in the country in 2008. Fifty-two percent of the books produced in Brazil are textbooks, bought by the state from publishers under three schemes buying for primary education, secondary schools and school libraries. Despite this high percentage of sales, however, an average discount rate of 85% means that the state’s purchases only actually provide 28% of the country’s total books income: book sales in Brazil in 2008 were worth nearly $1.7bn  (£1.1bn) with the government’s contribution reaching just $434m (£270m).

At various times throughout the year, every publisher can submit 20 titles to the state in the hope of having them picked up by one of schemes. Although a discount rate of 85% might seem excessive to an outsider, selling books to the state is still incredibly worthwhile for Brazilian publishers, some of whom rely on government sales to remain afloat. As the reading market in Brazil is so low the average print run for books is small, around two to three thousand for the majority of books, but print runs for books commissioned by the state are much larger in size, reaching figures of around 40,000 to 50,000.
For Erivan Gomes, director of Editora Cortez, a publishing house based in São Paulo, government sales have proved tremendously beneficial: “Last year the state government of Fortaleza bought 230,000 copies of our children’s book on Fortaleza, from our City series, for every child in the state. That was amazing for us financially and we’re hoping that other state governments follow suit.”

Door to door
It is the sheer size of Brazil that dictates the high discount rate of state purchases, efficient distribution is a real issue and getting books out to the poorest and most rural areas is an expensive and time-consuming business. So, while door to door selling may have become unfashionable in Britain in the 1960s, in Brazil, porta a porta selling results in 13.66% of the country’s total sales. The majority of books sold through this method are religious texts, an area that made up just over 10% of the titles produced in 2008 and 37% of the copies produced.

Canção Nova, a Catholic publishing house based in São Paulo, has 22,000 porta a porta sellers and produces a new catalogue for this purpose every three months. Although its books are not often picked up by bookstores, it is flourishing without much retailer support, and its titles consistently demand higher than average print runs (around 10,000 copies). Cristiana Maria Negrão, editor of Canção Nova, attributes their success to the price of the books: “Our books are cheaper than the average book found in bookshops. Brazil is split into five social classes and we cater for the last two, the D and E classes. Our books are smaller in size, use simpler language and follow a central theme of religion: they appeal to customers not usually reached by the fancy bookshops in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.”

Fair dealings
There are 2,676 bookshops in Brazil, 53% of which are located in the south-east of the country. The north of the country, the largest area geographically, has only 5% of the bookshops. This discrepancy, combined with the high cost of books in Brazil, makes the Bienal do Livro, Brazil’s annual book fair, especially important when it comes to selling books to the public. Primarily a promotional activity by Brazil’s two publishing associations to encourage younger audiences to become avid readers, the fair alternates location each year between São Paulo, where it is organised by the CBL (Câmara Brasileira do Livro), and Rio de Janeiro, where it is organised by SNEL (Sindicato Nacional dos Editores de Libros). Despite its size, it covers more than 55,000sq m, the fair lacks a commercial international presence with Brazilian companies making up about 95% of the exhibitors.

A third of the 600,000 visitors at this year’s fair in Rio were children and there were 84 events created especially for them. Both the CBL and SNEL see changing the attitudes of the young, and creating future generations who are regular readers, as the only real way to transform Brazil and create a reading culture. It is for this reason that each year 500 reais (£172) is given away to every public school to facilitate a trip to the fair and five reais (£1.72) is given to every child, so that they can buy books for themselves. The scheme is hugely successful and the fair acts, in essence, as a giant bookshop. The popular Brazilian retail chain Livraria da Travessa has a stand at the fair every year, and reported sales of 3,000 books in its first three days this year.

According to the CBL there are 530 “active book companies” operating in Brazil but even with this high number the publishing industry remains close-knit. With few international links it has remained virtually untouched by the global recession: stable but static. Cosac Naify publishes high-end art, literature and children’s books and is one of several publishers in Brazil that do look outward to the international market. It has produced several titles in conjunction with international art galleries. Cassiano Elek Machado, editor at Cosac Naify, explains: “We see ourselves as more of a cultural project rather than a publisher. We’re so keen for Brazilian artists, poets and writers to be picked up by the international market and vice versa. We do all we can to work with international publishers to connect with people globally, from Facebook pages to Twitter feeds.”

As Rosely Boschini, president of the CBL, says: “The Brazilian publishing market is a very mature one, but it is also a family-owned market that needs help to develop on an international scale. We have developed several initiatives with Apex (The Brazilian Trade & Investment Promotion Agency), to help the industry promote itself to the international market and we are starting to see positive affects.” One such initiative is a tax exemption that has been in place since 2004: it gives publishers and booksellers between 3.5% and 9% off their taxes (depending on their size) and has resulted in a 20% drop in prices. This positive drop has helped grow the market by 15% year on year, and has helped the average number of books read by Brazilian’s each year rise from 1.8 in 2003 to 4.7 in 2008.

Another key factor in Brazilian publishing is the translation market; with nearly 12% of titles produced in 2008 translated from a foreign language (6,226 titles out of 51,129); an increase of nearly 5% from 2007. In contrast the business of translating Brazilian works into foreign languages is relatively small. To counteract this discrepancy CBL and Apex have been providing publishers with foreign rights training to get them ready for this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. Although many publishers have been to the fair before the aim of this year’s visit, more than ever before, is to build international relations and secure the all-important rights deals that will bring Brazilian authors, illustrators and publishers into the limelight.

First published at www.thebookseller.com

http://www.thebookseller.com/in-depth/feature/98666-market-snapshot-brazil.html

……was the vision of Brazil by Monteiro Lobato, one of country’s most influential writers and a founder of Companhia Editora Nacional in 1925, now owned by IBEP. That was how I saw Brazil after three days of intensive meetings with the country’s enthusiastic publishers as well as looking at colorful books. To do it justice I have also to mention delicious food (drinks to which I gave already given credit in a previous post), mouth watering Maria Molly sweets and heavy traffic. But who cares about traffic after Moscow’s terrible traffic jams! The “trine immersion” has put bits and pieces of a puzzle to form a picture ‘Brazilian book market’. I do not claim for the accuracy of my approach, it is just my perspective as Edward Navotka from Publishing Perspective would say, and I welcome any comments and updates.

Market
Compared to Europe, the Brazilian book publishing industry is relatively young. Its origin dates back to the second quarter of the 19th century and coincides with the Brazilian independence from Portugal. Liberalization of the Brazilian political regime in 90’s of the last century gave birth to the new generation of Brazilian publishers. The main share is middle and small-size companies, often family owned, with an average number of employees of 15 – 30 people. The juvenile age of the industry is reflected by the relatively low level of subject area specialization and by the absence of major players dominating the market. Having grown about 10% annually during the last decade the industry shows large market potential, which seems not to be effected by the current economic crisis. In 2008 with 530 active publishers released 51,129 titles, Brazil is in the club of the 10-top world countries in terms of numbers of titles published.
An industry that earned in 2008 more than US$ 1.6 billion is well balanced in terms of production versus sales. Overproduction amounts to 7 million or 2% of all copies produced in the country. Although it has a population with low reading – only 34% (66 million) of the population read books, given the current public policies for the sector, the national reading rate is expected to increase.
The Brazilian Government, the largest book buyer in the world, is responsible for 1/3 of all purchases. Through its purchasing programs for textbooks for primary (PNLD) and secondary (PNLEM) school and supplementary reading (PNBE), the Government purchases a large number of copies to supply to schools and libraries. Understandably, the publishing houses that focus on the school market retain the largest piece of the cake. Although the Government buys books with heavy discounts of up to 85% the deal is still profitable and results in higher than average (8-10%) profitability in the industry (up to 40%).
Fast economic growth during the last decade, investments in biotechnology and thoughtful social policies have been reflected in publishing trends. With the middle class (income bracket C), which has grown up to 52% of the total population of the country, books have become available to those who could not afford them in the past. After textbooks, mass market literature is the second sub-sector that has demonstrated significant growth some 20% in the number of copies sold. The religious sector, with a relatively low number of titles (5, 292), has the highest average print run in the industry – around 9,000 copies with bestsellers like “Quem me roubou de mim?” by Padre Fábio de Melo hit 400,000 copies. Cristina Maria Negrão, editor at Canção Nova is certain that “the economic crisis influenced sales to advantage. People are looking for answers and comfort”. STM books showed the greatest growth in volume of reprinted and of new titles brought to market. With an increase of 34,5%, the sub-sector is responsible for a quarter of all titles published in the country. “You can’t miss our technical and scientific books on environmental issues and bio-fuel, topics in which Brazil has become a global reference”, commented Shoshana Signer, publisher of Oficina de Textos.
Around 12,6% of the books produced in Brazil in 2008 were translations of foreign works. According to the figures of Câmara Brasileira do Livro, among 6,491 translated titles in 2008, 61% were translated from English, 11,5% from French; 16,3% from Spanish, 6,7% from Italian, and 3% from German. Translations from other languages including Japanese and Chinese did not exceed 1,5%. Tax exception on books introduced in Brazil in 2004 resulted in a price drop of 20% during the last 4 years.

Publishers
Currently and according to the CBL, the major 7 publishing houses in Brazil, taken in random order, are Record, Compania das Letras, Rocco, Planeta, Moderna, Cosac Naify, and Editores Saraiva, the latter of these is also a part of the umbrella company also active in the retail book trade. Accelerating development in the book sector attracted the attention of many multinational publishing companies. Thus, Editora Moderna, a publisher of school textbooks, was acquired by Portuguese Santillana, whilst Spanish Planeta is a player in the country through Editora Planeta do Brazil and Editora Academia de Inteligencia. Following Larousse, Hachette, Pearson, and Harlequi, Penguin have started entering the Brazilian book market through a joint publishing programme with the Sao Paolo based Companhia das Letras.
To sustain their businesses, publishing houses depend either on the Brazilian Government purchases or on private investments; Cosac Naify, for example, roughly increases its investment by 30% per annum. In terms of profitability, several publishers report that usually 6 out 10 books show ‘good sells’.
This is not the case with non-commercial publishers however like Imprensa Oficial de San Paolo, with a publishing list of around 500 books including biographies and coffee table reading – more of a craft than being a bestseller.
With 350 Universities in the country, amazingly there are only 120 University Publishing houses. Amongst those, the only one – Editora UNESP (The Publishing house of the University of Sao Paolo) with some 1200 titles on the backlist and 200 fresh titles published each year mainly in the social sciences and humanities – is commercially viable and successful.
Absence of digital content distributors and virtual warehouse make e-books unpopular in the country not to mention their high price. Nevertheless, experts see room for growth and potential especially for libraries.

Trade
With about 190 million people, Brazil has 2,676 bookstores, which is about 1 book outlet per 71 thousand people (3 thousand in the USA, 9 thousand in Western Europe, 66 thousand in Russia). Unevenly distributed throughout the country, 68% of bookstores are concentrated in the South and Southeast, which results in 1 bookstore per 300 thousand people in some other regions. Thousands of door-to-door sellers bring books especially religious ones and those of self-help into people’s homes. Around 14% of all sales are made through this channel allowing to reach “those, who otherwise would have never come to a book store.”
The oldest Brazilian bookstore chain Siciliano founded in 1928 and its 46 stores was acquired by Livraria Saraiva last year. The acquisition made Saraiva with its own 41 outlets the biggest book chain in the country. In addition to Saraiva, among the bookshops that integrate large national networks are Fnac (Fond National d’Art Contemporain) and Livraria Cultura, with a wide range of international titles and arts books. The retail chains containing assortments that go far beyond books, CDs and DVDs are also active in online business competing with online Submarino. On-line book trade showed a 15% increase last year. The six-store chain Livraria Travessa is well established in Rio de Janeiro confidently Twittering with their customers.
Publishers supply books to stores on consignment conditions, the average return amounts to 30%. Livraria Cultura is said to be among few to actually purchase books from publishers. The trade agreement on the retail book price does not allow the trade to down-price books. French-owned Fnac as well as small independent retail outlets are in a privileged position regarding discounting. Whilst the average discount for the wholesalers is around 55%, discounts in the retail sector amounts to 40%. Traditional book stores, “reporting of [which] death is [obviously] an exaggeration” remain the main channel of cash-flow in the industry.

Some of the professional bodies and press
SNEL – Sindicato Nacional dos Editores de Livros (National Union of Book Publishers) is Rio-based publishers Association promotes Bienal do Livro de Rio de Janeiro.
CBL – Câmara Brasileira do Livro (Brazilian Chamber of Books) is a San Paolo-based publishers’ Association, together with SNEL is an active supporter of an APEX-Brazil project aimed at international promotion of the Brazilian literature. CBL is an organizer of the International Biennial Book Fair in Sao Paolo.
Libre – Liga Brasileira de Editoras (Brazilian League of Publishing Houses) unites 106 small independent publishers. Organizer of the Primavera dos Livros Book Fair.

Resources on Brazilian Book market
www.publishnews.com.br
Monthly Panorama Editorial Magazine with publishing statistics and trends
Weekly Vision prints bestseller list

For those, whose courage has brought them to this point there is a couple of useful links. Those who is interested in in-depth view of the Brazilian book market could browse two sources (have to admit that I have read neither of them myself so far)
1) A book “O livro no Brasil: sua história [The book in Brazil: its history]” by Laurence Hallewell can be found at:
http://revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/?art=2274&bd=3&pg=1&lg=en

2) An article “The book publishing industry in Brazil “ by Robert E. Baensch from NYU published by Publishers Research Quarterly, Springer
http://www.springerlink.com/content/r18g38p416126638/

3) “The Market for Publishers in Brazil” by Tainã Bispo, Jornal Valor Econômico, Avenida Jaguaré 1485, 1° andar, Sao Paulo, CEP 05346-000, Brazil
http://www.springerlink.com/content/x804176342113830/

Question of the day: Will I ever be back?
Joy of the past days: Rio’s become the capital of the summer Olympics 2016