Rockin’ in Rio: How My Indie Title Became a Hit With the Brazilian press
There’s an old show business cliché’ about whether entertainment that works for a cosmopolitan audience will appeal to Middle America: “Will it play in Peoria?”
A similar question is raised with foreign editions of books: Can independent publishers find global audiences? “Will it Rock in Rio?” I wondered heading into the Brazilian release of John Lennon em Nova York, a Portuguese edition of a book originally titled The Walrus & the Elephants: John Lennon’s Years of Revolution.
The answer seems an unequivocal “hell yes” given overwhelming—at least, to this author—interest from some of that country’s top media outlets.
It’s safe to say both publisher and author had modest expectations for South American success with the book, a decidedly American tale of Lennon’s post-Beatles adventures and conflict with the Nixon administration. The December 2013 release from Seven Stories Press was supported by a modest promotion. The book earned encouraging reviews but attracted little interest from mainstream magazines, journals and press. Such is the challenge for indies.
But something clicked south of the equator, however, with a relatively new publisher—Editora Valentina—that launched an enthusiastic and creative marketing campaign. They’d given quality attentions to the translation, design and front jacket that publicist Renata Frade rightly calls, “A masterpiece cover.” The designer’s use of a New York skyline reflected in familiar circular eyeglasses fairly leaps off the page, and if anyone wants to judge this book by its cover that’s fine with its writer.
Radio personalities throughout Brazil took part in a promotional campaign.
Global Warming
Timing, as always, is everything and may explain some of the interest. Renata says that it’s only been recently that Brazil’s business community has welcomed the types of fresh ideas made possible by multi-media marketing and independent publishers.
“Brazil has started supporting innovation and entrepreneurs since the last five years,” Renata says. “It’s a vision of life; it’s not about business only.”
Renata’s work for Punch! Communications is just one of many hats she wears. An accomplished writer and journalist, Renata attended a transmedia course at MIT a few years ago, and lessons learned in Massachusetts have been applied to a number of titles in Brazil’s emerging literary culture. The book market has grown steadily as literacy rates have climbed to new heights. Book sales in Brazil rose by 7 percent in 2013 in spite of the country’s having entered a recession. Foreign literature is the top selling category, followed by instructional and religious titles. (Popular fiction still works everywhere: Recent top sellers include John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.)
It’s probably not a coincidence that book publishing in Brazil has grown alongside a new era of literary freedom and curiosity. The country’s Supreme Court has just this year (June) lifted a long-held prohibition against publishing “unauthorized” biographies of living persons.
“Brazil is suffering from a political crisis,” Renata says. “We need heroes and good examples, and John Lennon wasn’t only a good musician. Brazilian people admire and respect his activism and political participation.”
Staff members at publisher Valentina had great fun on social media.
Story Takes Center Stage
Interest in any book begins and ends with content and/or story. Renata says the tale of a former Beatle waging a free-speech fight against a corrupt government struck a universal chord.
“John Lennon is still a myth and influence for Brazilian journalists,” Renata says. “Radios play his songs every day. His legacy is too big to disappear.”
That was the message Renata and Editora Valentina sent out, and the country’s media responded in strong number. The launch began with a social media blitz of teasers – to include the staff posing in round-frame sunglasses holding page proofs – and book-giveaway contests on radio stations. Photos of the country’s on-air personalities confirmed that rock-and-roll radio folks look suitably rowdy no matter the language.
The response has far exceeded expectations, with lengthy feature stories in Brazil’s major media outlets: The daily newspapers O Globo, Correio, O Dia and A Tarde; and magazines including Epoca, Jornal Extra, Istoé and the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone.
As a journalist I’ve greatly enjoyed phone interviews and answered questions from South American comrades-in-keyboards. The exchanges have been similar to when the book was released in America, but a few have perhaps reflected the country’s free-speech issues: Had I received negative comments from the people involved, for instance. A reporter from O Dia—one of the largest daily newspapers—wondered if Lennon had been insane to involve himself with extreme radicals such as Jerry Rubin or Abbie Hoffman.
It’s a big old world out there, and nice to know that a book doesn’t have to carry a major publisher’s imprint as a passport for literary globe-trotting.
James A. Mitchell is a veteran reporter and author of four books, including The Walrus & the Elephants: John Lennon’s Years of Revolution and But For the Grace: Profiles in Peace From a Nation at War. You can follow him on Twitter @jamesamitchell3.
James A. Mitchell
