August 23, 2022

With the second semester just starting and the end of the year approaching, I couldn't help but make a few reflections on our work at the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL - in Portuguese) over the last years and especially in 2022.

The Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably sped up the digitalization of all industry sectors and it was also the case for the publishing market. At CBL, communications with partners were improved, which are now deeply virtual. Since 2020, we have been promoting periodic broadcasts in our YouTube channel with relevant discussions. The goal was to keep ideas circulating during social distancing, where on-site events were all postponed and gave room to a 100% on-line approach.

Now, even with on-site events and meetings coming back, we have released a new institutional website, focused on bringing more information to our associates and in even more intuitive ways. Moreover, we have also given thought to our relationship with partner institutions, especially international ones. Thus, our new virtual address has three languages: with versions in English and Spanish.

And throughout these years, not only the institutional part was visited: CBL has heavily invested in its services. In order to do so, the entity became an official ISBN agency in Brazil and created an exclusive services portal. There, associates and non-associates can issue an ISBN and a barcode, request log files and the registration of copyrights in block chain: a true digital revolution, responsible for speeding up processes and spreading important information in the publishing and book markets.

Digital has also landed in our events: in 2020, the first on-line edition of the São Paulo International Book Biennial and the Jabuti Awards took place. The result was a never before seen reach from two great moments in the Brazilian publishing market.

However, we’d be wrong if we though people weren’t eager for the return of on-site events: the 2022 BILSP was record-breaking and it will be known in our history as the Biennial of the Biennials. The event gathered 660 thousand visitors, who brought an average of 7 books per person. We had 1,500 hours of events and 3 million books available.

The Brazilian Book Chamber improvement is noteworthy since its establishment when a group of publishers and booksellers began to meet to discuss the problems of the sector and seek ways of joint and organized action. Since then, a lot has happened, and it is with great honor that I look back and see how much we have improved, innovated, and will still achieve.

Vitor Tavares, Presidente of the Brazilian Book Chamber