São Paulo – To publish a book abroad can be a daunting task if authors don’t know the right steps to take. To help out in this process, the Brazilian Book Chamber is holding a lecture called “The Procedures for Copyright Sales Abroad” next Thursday (29) in the city of São Paulo. The speaker will be Camila Leme, Foreign Copyrights manager of the Companhia das Letras Group.
According to Leme, the lecture will cover from the choice of the book to be offered abroad to choosing the right publishing company to buy, to how to set up meetings in literary fairs and negotiate contractual terms.
“It has to be a well-prepared material and the author has to choose the right publishing company. It’s useless to send a dictionary to a publishing company that only publishes fiction”, she explains. She also highlights the importance of the presentation sent by email. “It should have eye-catching phrases about the book. Also needed is a well translated sample”, she points out.
Leme says the authors don’t need to have the book translated into many languages. “The ideal situation is to work with an English translation. This way, it’s possible to work with the book in several countries and that expands the opportunities [of publishing]”, she says. She also points out that when the book is chosen for publication, the costs of the full translation are met by the publishing company.
Leme is responsible for Companhia das Letras’ purchases of foreign titles. She says that the majority of the books she receives come from the United States and United Kingdom. From the Arab world, the company already published two books by Egyptian author Alaa Al Aswany: Friendly Fire and The Yacoubian Building. Abroad, she says that their Brazilian titles sells the most in Germany, France and the United States.
Quick facts
Lecture “The Procedures for Copyright Sales Abroad”
September 29, from 7 pm to 10 pm
Where: Câmara Brasileira do Livro (Brazilian Book Chamber)
Rua Cristiano Viana, 91 – São Paulo – SP
Information on prices and registrations at www.cbl.org.br/telas/escola-do-livro
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
