The Brazilian translation of Silver Linings Playbook bumped E.L. James from the top spot among bestsellers by foreign authors.

PublishNews Brazil’s bestseller list for April confirmed once again the popularity of non-fiction and self-help books from Brazilian authors and fiction from foreign authors. Out of the 20 bestsellers from national authors in April, just one is a fiction title (surprisingly, its poetry): Paulo Leminsky’s Complete Works.

What did finally change last month was the end of the Fifty Shades’ trilogy dominating the ranking of bestsellers from foreign authors. But this made no difference to publisher Intrínseca, which saw its title Silver Linings Playbook take over the top spot.

This May several bestselling priests, including Father Marcelo Rossi’s new title (his last book Ágape was a publishing phenomenon in Brazil), have published new books and will likely alter the list once again.

Bestsellers by Foreign Authors

Bestsellers by Brazilian Authors

Ranking of Brazilian Publishers

Brazilian ebook and education firm Simplissimo has been surveying Brazilian ebooks since 2011, well before the launch of Amazon, Kobo and Google stores. Earlier this week Revolução eBook [eBook Revolution], the Brazilian version of the Digital Book World portal, published the latest Simplissimo survey, which showed that there currently 25,000 Brazilian Portuguese titles in the digital format in Brazil, a jump from 16,000 in August 2012 (before the arrival of big international players in the end of 2013).

The survey also showed that Apple is leading in number of titles available, just over 18,000, followed by Amazon, with 15,800. Saraiva comes in third place, with about 13,000. Kobo’s partner Livraria Cultura is in 4^th with just over 12,000 titles and Gato Sabido and Google are in last places, with 12,000 titles each.

Eduardo Melo, editor at Revolução eBook, believes that the explanation for ebook growth in Brazil should not just be credited to the arrival of international platforms and investment of Brazilian publishers, but also the growth of self-published authors. Although self-publishing is not as significant a force in Brazil as it is abroad,  several self-published authors that used the KDP platform have made it to Amazon’s ebooks bestsellers list this month. Mr Melo predicts that “by the end of the year there might be a “real national editorial phenomenon in self-published ebook sales”.

Saraiva and Amazon both objected to the survey data: Saraiva said that it has over 17,000 ebook titles in Portuguese in Brazil, and Amazon over 19,000. Simplissimo noted that it purposefully does not use official data from retailers, and that the survey only counted the number of ebooks available between April 20-24 of this year.

José Castilho, president of publisher Unesp

In 2010, the publisher of the State University of São Paulo, Unesp, launched its a free ebook collection, the Propg/FEU Digital, in order to make available titles written by the university’s professors. Last week it launched another 53 titles, bringing the total available to 191 titles. On the day of the launch last week, 2,000 downloads were registered. Since 2010, the program has registered a total of 134,000 downloads. Titles are also available for print on demand. Of the 2,000 downloads, 55%  came from the Southeast region of Brazil (which comprises Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) and 50% of readers are between 26 and 45 years old, according to Unesp. The president of publisher Unesp, José Castilho Marques Neto, stated that the goal is to launch 1,000 free titles by 2020.

Marta Suplicy and Renato Lessa

The ministry of culture (MinC) has been going through several structural changes since Marta Suplicy was appointed minister last year. Sociologist Renato Lessa took over from Galeno Amorim as president of the National Library Foundation (FBN). Also, the FBN is no longer responsible for book, literature and reading policies. The department will be transferred back to the capital Brasília – where was originally housed two years before — and will be managed within the MinC.

Speaking with the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, Ms. Suplicy noted that the transfer of the control of book policies from the Department of Books, Literature, and Libraries (DLLB) to the National Library Foundation two years ago, “distorted developments that had been taking place at the National Reading and Books Planning (PNLL) at the ministry.” The international programs, such as those promoting the translation and internationalization of Brazilian literature, will remain at FBN, under Renato Lessa.

Translating the acronyms: the National Library Foundation (FBN), based in Rio de Janiero, is still responsible for Brazil’s participation as Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the translation grants program. Domestic Books and Reading policies will be managed at the Ministry of Culture, in Brasília.

The same article noted that it was likely the government would resume the debate over funding for a national  Book Institute to promote literature and literacy. The debate began in 2004 when the publishing industry went from paying up to 9% tax on the production chain to being tax-exempt. The idea is that publishers would dedicate 1% of their revenues to the Institute in support of their programs.

José Luiz Próspero says farewell to Saraiva

After 37 years of working at Saraiva, José Luiz Próspero is leaving behing the job of CEO. He started working at the company as an intern, helped implement the concept of “megastores” for which the retailer is known today, and became director of publishing arm of Saraiva 10 years ago.

Mr. Próspero’s functions as editorial director will go to Maurício Fanganiello, who will be responsible for the company’s editorial units. Mr. Fanganiello worked formerly as New Business, IT and Digital Content Director, his new position reaffirmes Saraiva’s focus on digital market. The post as CEO will be occupied by Jorge Saraiva Neto, who will manage the whole group.

In addition to these changes, last month Saraiva reinforced its digital team and hired Lilian Dionysia, from the Livraria Cultura bookstore chain, to work as new manager of digital content and serve the 220 client publishers delivering ebooks through Saraiva.

Saraiva’s focus on digital is paying off: the newspaper Estado de São Paulo reported that the publisher’s ebook sales were equivalent to those at  its “3rd place store” in terms of volume – in January 2012, it was the equivalent of its 79th store. Today, Saraiva offers about 15,000 ebook titles in Portuguese (250,000 in other languages) and expects to offer books from some 300 publishers by the end of the year. Its reading app, Saraiva Reader, launched in 2010, reached 1.6 million downloads last month, according to the company.

There was much discussion about the “coincidental, simultaneous” launch of several international ebooksellers in Brazil this past December 5th, when Kobo, Google and Amazon opened the virtual doors to their ebookstores on the same day. This happened just seven weeks after Apple started selling Brazilian ebooks via its American iBookstore. The foreign powerhouses were taking on established indigenous Brazilian retailers, such as Saraiva, and digital distributor Xeriph.

Long before this “D-Day” (as in Digital), the thought of Amazon, in particular, entering the Brazilian market sent shudders across the Brazilian publishing industry. So the Brazilian publishers made preparations: seven of the largest publishers banded together to create Distribuidora de Livros Digitais (DLD).

DLD is a digital book distribution consortium that includes Objetiva (partially owned by Santillana), Record, Sextante, Rocco, Planeta, L&PM and Novo Conceito. The consortium is similar in structure to Spain’s Libranda. DLD officially launched in April 2011.

Between January and September 2012 — we’ll call this the “pre-digital” era — sales through DLD averaged just 4,638 ebooks per month. The launch of Apple’s iBookstore in October 2012 tripled ebook sales, which reached just shy of 16,000 units in November 2012.

And post D-Day? It looks like the DLD gamble has paid off. According to research by PublishNews Brazil’s Carlo Carrenho presented last week at the Digital Minds Conference during the London Book Fair, sales through DLD — which is believed to account for about 30% of ebook market in Brazil — more than doubled, reaching 39,210 ebooks in December.

Sales throughout 2013 have continued to grow and according to its latest figures, DLD ebook sales hit 44,490 in March 2013 — and did so with a selection of just 2,300 titles on offer through the consortium.

As DLD represents some 30% of digital market today, we can extrapolate that total ebook sales were approximately 150,000 units in March 2013.

Of the biggest retailers, Apple’s share of DLD was 28.5% in March — the largest by a considerable margin. Amazon followed with 22%, Google 17.5%, Saraiva 15% and Kobo/Cultura with 11.8%.

Of course, one must remember that prior to the launch of major retailers, ebook sales were tiny. And even after the arrival of the international giants in the months and leading up to the all important holiday shopping season, the digital market share in Brazil accounted for just 0.47% of total book sales in 2012. The forecast for 2013 is somewhat better, coming in at 2.63%.

This year the fair will take place August 29 through September 8, and numerous well-know international guests are already confirmed, including bestselling author Cheryl Strayed, whose Oprah-endorsed book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, will be launched in Brazil this month, chick lit icons Nicholas Sparks and Emily Giffin, non-fiction bestsellers Percy Allan and James C. Hunter, as well as novelists Francine Prose and Mary Gabriel.

Those interested in attending must register by email at programme@book-fair.com.

Cosac Naify is not the only Brazilian publisher celebrating in Bologna. Every year, the Internationale Jugendbibliothek — the world’s most extensive library of international children’s and young adult literature, located in Munich, Germany — launches its catalog, The White Ravens, at the Bologna Fair. The catalog has become a global reference guide to the best books published in that year. Five Brazilian publishers were cited with works, including Callis, Cosac Naify, Galera Record, Illuminuras and Scipione.

The titles noted were:

• Psssssssssssssiu! (Callis) by Silvana Tavano, illustrated by Daniel Kondo
• Aquela água toda (Cosac Naify) by João Anzanello Carrascoza, illustrated by Leya Mira Brander
• As 17 cores do branco (Galera Record) by Luiz Raul Machado, illustrated by Ana Freitas
• A fome do lobo (Iluminuras) by Cláudia Maria de Vasconcellos, illustrated by Odilon Moraes
• Caçada (Scipione), written and illustrated by Fernando Vilela

In other news from Bologna, National Library Foundation launched its third edition of Machado Magazine. This edition is dedicated to children’s literature, in advance of Brazil’s role as Guest of Honor at the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair.