By FRANCISCO FERNANDES LADEIRA*
Commentary on the recently published book by Maxwell dos Santos
On the last 25th of July, radio host, journalist, public servant and writer from Espírito Santo Maxwell dos Santos launched the e-book My kidney for a review: is it worth spending a fortune to have your book resonate?.
The work in question tells the story of the young writer Laerte Medeiros Maia who, after several refusals by publishers to publish his book Rebello resists, signs a contract with Edições Talismã, whose owner is Sebastião Alvarenga.
to publicize Rebello resists – work that addresses the struggle of students against the closure of a private school in Vitória (ES) – Edições Talismã gets in touch with some digital influencers specialized in literary reviews, among them, Viviane Carlini Botacin, who has a budget of five thousand dollars to make a 5 to 10 minute video about Rebello resists on your channel.
Due to the surreal amount charged by Viviane, Sebastião Alvarenga contacts the influencer via telephone requesting a discount or paying in installments of five thousand reais (a proposal that is immediately rejected).
Upon learning of Viviane's refusal, Laerte writes a text on his blog criticizing the influencer's mercenary stance, which puts dollar signs above the pleasure of reading.
With wide repercussions (from positive and negative comments), Laerte’s text reached Viviane, who called the capixaba author accusing him of “victimism” and insulting him with racist and capable words (Laerte had cerebral palsy and indigenous traits ).
The young writer from Espírito Santo recorded the conversation with the influencer and showed it to his mother, who took the audio to Rádio Colibri FM, where it was released on the program Journal Colibri First Edition.
The release of the audio went viral on social media. From then on, Viviane gradually lost contracts, partnerships and virtual followers. However, some of the influencer's "rotten things" came to light: violation of employees' labor rights, false engagement in videos and content plagiarism.
Moreover, Rebello resists became a public and critical success, culminating in its translation into other languages and adaptations into a feature film and a miniseries.
Evidently My kidney for a review raises many more questions than those I have outlined here.
It is a timely reflection on the challenges of publishing, distributing and promoting a book in Brazil, emphasizing the disparity in resources between small and large publishing groups in the dispute for space in the literary market. A captivating story that contrasts the example of overcoming the protagonist Laerte in contrast with the bad character of the antagonist Viviane.
Happy reading everyone!
*Francisco Fernandes Ladeira is a doctoral candidate in geography at Unicamp. Author, among other books, of The ideology of international news (CRV Publisher).
Reference
Maxwell dos Santos. My kidney for a review: is it worth spending a fortune to have your book resonate? Vitória, author's edition, 2022, 182 pages. Available in https://bit.ly/meurimporumaresenhapdf
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