“Isto” came out early and was already distributed by Friday morning, March 18. By nighttime that same day, the cover of another magazine, “poca” could already be seen on the Internet. And on Saturday, “Veja” circulated. On Sunday, readers felt the impact on newsstands: the three biggest weekly magazines had the same cover, writer Paulo Coelho and his new book, “The Zahir.”
It is difficult to imagine, by Brazilian publishing standards, a more successful release. The three magazines together had an average circulation of almost 2 million copies through 2004. The shock was immediate. Reader Nilton Jos Dantas Wanderley of Braslia sent a good-humored email on Sunday: “This morning, I was surprised to arrive at my newsstand and see matching covers of Paulo Coelho on “Veja,” “Isto,” and “poca.” What is this? A publicity campaign? All three with the same cover? Are they going to say that it is coincidence? Yeah, I believe in Santa Claus, flying saucers, headless mules and also in this story.”
For Rocco Publishing, which publishes the book in Brazil, the marketing strategy was a total success. “It was marvelous. The bookstores were impressed by the effects,” said spokeswoman Cntia Borges. “We never had publicity like this.”
Besides the three magazines over the weekend, the release of the book was also on the first pages of cultural sections on Tuesday in “Estado de So Paulo” (“Paulo Coelho in the celebrity kingdom”) and “Globo” (“The magician’s envy”). Folha didn’t have the topic until yesterday in its arts and entertainment section on the day that is devoted to books.
Magazines and newspapers have already made agreements and continue to make them, not always transparent, with those who produce books, movies, CDs and DVDs to guarantee releases they consider important. They are running a risk because readers don’t trust stories that look like publicity campaigns. That is the opinion, for example, of Ariovaldo Pitta of So Paulo.
“As a reader, I can only lament the so-called ‘market journalism’ which is practiced and sponsored by media organizations in Brazil. All the media outlets, without exception, fall into the easy trap of making news out of celebrity nonsense. What kind of journalism is this? … Mr. Paulo Coelho certainly should have room in the media to show his new book, but does the release merit the cover of the main Brazilian magazines? What is behind all this is a professional, coordinated marketing effort, promoting these things as if they were important news.”
The magazines
The reader raised an interesting question: did it need to be on the cover? Didn’t any of the three magazines have a more important topic to highlight?
The weekly magazines have changed a great deal in recent years. Little by little they have been changing from hard news about public issues, such as politics and the economy, to lighter sections about personal life, such as health, finances, beliefs and behavior. Celebrities get valuable space.
This strategy is working from a business point of view, since all three magazines have grown compared to 2003. From this perspective, the front pages with Paulo Coelho are even coherent. In the edition about “The Zahir,” “Veja” (weekly circulation in 2004 of 1.115 million) carried a continuation of the story about Colombian rebel group Farc contributing to the left-leaning Workers Party (PT) political campaign in 2002 and dealt with topics from the week (public expenditures, the Febem youth detention facility, and affirmative action at universities) without anything new. Paulo Coelho was given eight pages (the most space given by the three magazines) under the “celebrity” rubric.
“poca” (428,000 copies) signed an agreement with Rocco Publishing in December and can exclusively publish a section with a chapter from the book. For this reason, it landed the sponsorship of a laboratory. According to Rocco, the strategy to release the book worldwide planned on the publication of a chapter in a magazine in every country. In Brazil, the choice of “poca” was made by Coelho himself.
The story about the book release and an exclusive interview were put in the “literature” section. The main stories in the edition were about the financing of the national development bank, BNDES, for mega-projects and contracting PT members for a distribution center in So Paulo. The magazine devoted two pages and eight photos to follow a day in the life of model Caroline Bittencourt (“The routine of the rejected woman of the year”).
“Isto” (372,000 copies) had two strong topics which, in theory, could have been on the cover: a document accused Brazilian troops in Haiti of being unprepared, and there was a story about prison life for the two Brazilians sentenced to death in Indonesia.
Paulo Coelho wrote a piece for the magazine and, to feature it, the magazine put “exclusive” on the cover, which seems excessive when you compare the three magazines. The material came out in “Arts and Entertainment/Books.”
The fourth weekly news magazine, “Carta Capital,” ignored the book release. With an average press run of 58,000 copies in 2003, the magazine on Thursday published a good-humored announcement in which it put the covers of its three competitors side by side and its own (“Dantas on the edge,” about Daniel Dantas of Opportunity Bank), with the following caption: “Nothing against Coelhos (in Portuguese, rabbits). But somebody must be watching the foxes.”
Credibility
What do the directors of the magazines say? Eurpedes Alcntara of “Veja” did not want to comment about the topic.
Aluizio Falco Filho of “poca” was succinct: “In December we signed an agreement with the publisher which promised us an exclusive chapter. We did this, and it facilitated an interview.”
Hlio Campos Mello of “Isto” believes that the magazine was coherent in giving its cover to the new book by Paulo Coelho. “Reporter Eliane Lobato had already done a big story for ‘Isto’ in 2003, when it was verified that he is the biggest bookseller in the world. The new book is being released in 83 countries. There is nothing more natural than giving bold space to the release. I believe that there is a prejudice regarding Paulo Coelho by the press. In the case of ‘Isto’ there was no marketing at all. I dealt directly with Paulo Coelho and he wrote an exclusive piece for the magazine about his expectations regarding the book.”
It is true that Paulo Coelho is a worldwide sales phenomenon and must be handled by the news media. It would be a serious journalistic error to ignore him. The problem is that the combination of the operation reinforces in readers the idea that journalism today is more marketing than news and that covers are part of a commercial strategy that involves newsrooms.
The repetition of episodes such as this one undermines the credibility of newspapers and magazines and should be a source of worry and discussion for all of us: news organizations, journalists and readers.
DEFINITION
Intellectual and celebrity
Question — Do you believe that in the Western world, at a time of a culture of celebrity, that there is still room for the intellectual?
Paulo Coelho — I believe that the intellectual can be a celebrity, and that this should be
treated in a respectful way, without prejudice, seeking to use fame to improve the state of the world. There are various good examples, such as Peter Gabriel or Bono.
Excerpted from the Paulo Coelho interview on Rocco Publishing’s website, www.rocco.com.br.
Translation by John Wright
