Brazil’s Ten Most Talked About Titles of 2009

In Global Trade Talk by Edward Nawotka

By Ricardo Costa Last year was a great year in Brazilian publishing, which made it all the more difficult to identify the best books of 2009. I’m sure there will be a great deal of disagreement with my choices, but these are the ones I think you should read. I would have loved to include more than ten titles in …

Will E-books Catch on Faster in the BRIC Countries than the US or Europe?

In Discussion by Edward Nawotka

By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead story describes the launch of Gato Sabido, Brazil’s first e-bookstore. And in addition, news has been coming fast and furious in recent months about the launches or impending launches of e-bookstores across the BRIC countries (Brazil, China, India, Russia). But the question remains to just what extent readers in those countries are willing to embrace …

Brazil's First E-bookstore Opens for Business

In Growth Markets by Ricardo Costa

By Ricardo Costa RIO DE JANIERO: On December 15, Brazil’s first e-bookstore — Gato Sabido (Smart Cat) — opened for business, offering approximately 400 titles in Portuguese. “The Gato Sabido is going to work on every step of the e-book process, from conversion to sales,” says Carlos Eduardo Ernanny, company founder and CEO. The new company plans to offer 30,000 …

Buenos Aires Invites You to Read in the Streets

In Global Trade Talk by Edward Nawotka

By Edward Nawotka Everyone knows that Buenos Aires is a good—no, great, book town—and has some 350 bookstore, or one for every 6,000 residents. What’s even better is that for one night a year the city hosts an annual Noche de las Librerias—Bookstore Night. Corrientes Avenue in the center of town is closed down for six hours, chairs and sofas …

Brazilian Publishers Still Growing Despite Global Recession

In Growth Markets by Edward Nawotka

By Edward Nawotka Despite the general global economic downturn, Brazilian publishing has proven surprisingly resilient. For much of the past decade, the business has been growing at a steady clip, reaching $3.3 billion reals ($1.93 billion) in 2008—a rise of 9.71% over 2007. It is the eighth biggest book market in the world and the largest in South America, accounting …

Reading Brazil

In Feature Articles by Edward Nawotka

By Edward Nawotka RIO DE JANIERO: Last week’s news that Rio de Janiero will host the 2016 Summer Olympics raised cheers across South America, a continent that is sometimes misunderstood and often underestimated. The setting for an Olympic games could not be more stunning: the city abuts both the ocean and the forest, with roads cut through mountains that majestically …

Bonus Material: Penguin Brings Its Classics to Brazil

In Discussion by Edward Nawotka

By Edward Nawotka Brazilian book publishing is full of surprises –- one of them being that many classics of Western literature have never been translated into Portuguese. Stephen Morrison, Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Penguin Books in the United States saw the opportunity to bring his company’s long line of classics to this emerging market and last month penned a …

Global Trade Talk: Russia Over-Publishes, 1M Cool-er Sales, Brazil Book Fair Begins

In Global Trade Talk, News by Hannah Johnson

By Hannah Johnson Publishing Trends reports that the Russian publishers are struggling, not only because of the economy, but also from the effects of over-publishing. Coping with bookstore returns and warehousing the unsold inventory, distributors are having trouble paying publishers, which financially impacts agents and authors as well. The growth of foreign investments in Russia’s publishing sector could mean a …