translated from Spanish: Books were published by recommendations of an elite: Taibo II

Paco Ignacio Taibo II argues that “common sense” is what makes failure to decide which books will publish the Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), looking for attractive titles, which are actually sold and don’t end up in warehouses.
Read: Books lost, in warehouses or destroyed by damage, the irregularities found in the background of culture
In an interview with Political animal, We reserve to reveal the names of the publishing Council which discusses the titles of the books that the FCE is publishing, to avoid that they are white of any kind of pressure.
Writer and officer ensures that all decisions of the EGF will be to improve the offer, and thus ensure that more people buy and read books.
He received the formal appointment as director of the Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE) last March, after the controversy over an adjustment to the law, so that not to be the charge requirement having been born in Mexico. But all the time was as Office Manager.
In his office, between books just released from printing, displays the calendar full of activities and to support the national reading strategy, which recognizes is still under construction.
So far, the main bet to promote reading was launched on March 1: the collection winds of the people, short books with a print run of 40 thousand copies, with prices of less than 20 pesos, which includes titles such as notes for my children, of Benito Juárez; The guests of August, Rosario Castellanos; Loxicha, Fabrizio Mejía Madrid, and night coming, of Elena Poniatowska.
-With what criteria are choosing which books are published, why those, by which no others, where it is written?
And why it should be written? Why has more manuals? If here had 32 manuals when I arrived, which explained how it was decided what book publishing, and nothing… It was: called my cousin in Washington, and so they decided to… The manuals were lying, absolute lie. They didn’t work; what worked was a system dires recommendations of an elite, and the cellars full of books that are not sold. We went here with eight and a half million of embodegados books.
-How then, now is decided?
We have an editorial board that meets a few times a week, there are proposals, discussed, is create a balance, and the proposals that receive most heated applause, more ‘ as I read it, is every mother, and insurance that you like my neighbor’ , and there is the typical ‘I it is the goalkeeper in my house’, and what works and what not. Common sense.
Also think that it has to be a collection of wide range so give you books that work you on different levels: a Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (by Rudyard Kipling) which is perfectly read by a 10-year-old child, and a Loxicha (of Fabrizio Mejía Madrid) telling you the problem of a peasant massacre in recent years; to a Guillermo Prieto (Yankees in Mexico) that tells you the popular resistance to the American invasion, and a tale of loves and heartbreaks of Elena Poniatovska (evening come). It has to be a collection of wide-ranging, in the first 100 numbers must have covered tastes, possibilities. And the only condition is: if not hold one read it, why should one read it?
– And what will be the mechanism to say this works, this is not, this is removed?
In principle just the reaction of the sale and is the only one. With books 11, 12 pesos.
-This Council, who are you?
They are 11 people, but it is anonymous. That are not sending them 76 books and recommendations. Anyone who wants to send a book, which send it, here comes this table. And we create filters.
-Can we not know who is deciding what we will give you to read people?
As us. I. I am responsible for.
-Not could someone tell that now also publish to your friends?
When someone says that they are publishing books of his friends I say: why the first reissue I ordered here was a reissue of Octavio Paz?, if something I had is that it was not my friend, and the first thing that I signed. Do based on what?, in the numbers that you said: is selling pocamadre. And the shoe (Enrique) Krauze, and looks that are not saints of my devotion. Democracy is practiced, not it is theorised.
Convert to readers young and old masters
-The presentation of the national strategy of Defense said that a shaft is to educate children and adolescents. What is the target population of the FCE?
We have three: first, we have discovered that there is a return to reading by older adults, very important, very important deveras: they are already quite large, already educated their children, already have two hours more free time, and have returned to read. Then, this sector we have to feed him, debates, conferences, reading material.
The second is: If we do not break the negative normal circuit, run the risk of this eternally perpetuation. Then, we have to form 60 clubs of reading between normal masters easy and feed them, so that transmitted, when they are primary school teachers, this pleasure of reading to students.
And the third: the great battle is in the secondary and the prepas, where you have a teenager and postadolescente to which a conflict, has created ‘read?, what Roe’. And you have to read more books that you can in the week, therefore, you do not read them; You simulas that you read them. Two: you entered into the logic of the photocopy, chapter five, chapter three, that the end is in the trash, you’re not even doing library. Three: these young people read under molds from building traditional reading which proved to be unsuccessful, which are first the Cantar del Mío Cid, the Iliad and the Odyssey, and the Periquillo Sarniento. Or mother! First José Emilio Pacheco, the battles in the desert; then José Agustin, and then the Kamasutra, the forbidden. You have to break this mechanism which builds a mind read is punishment, reading is boring.
These are the three objectives. What is the problem that we have to assume as a problem of immediate, practical and war? You have to lower the price of the books.
-In the survey of the INEGI on reading only 1.7% says that not reading by lack of money and more than 80%, that for lack of time or interest, then how much can impact lower prices?
Do you you think those surveys? Not me. And one of the conversations that I have to have is with INEGI to say: do me a survey of a Dever, separates reading by obligation of reading for pleasure.
-What money has to give the Fund to have these cheap books and to reach people?
Basically a change in some collections that were editing too and had no reflects healthy sales. Then, for example, to the question of whether to continue to land in, the answer is Yes, but with a narrower selection criteria, which allows us to that book to publish, book that we took to the streets, discuss and promote. Because point is the of publishing a young if you do not give visibility, if you do not allow that I will contrast with the readers? The other day they sold 20 copies of a Tierra Adentro in Ecatepec. By my mother, Bohemians, that this was not happening ever! Then the change in policy is: we publish less, but give much more visibility, dissemination and support.
In other collections, definitely if not shown otherwise, we are going to suspend them, as the public administration. The task today is to review still catalogs of the Fund of the past five years, to see what we can get from price, what can even give away.
-It is question of restructuring?
Rebalance. My first surprise, warned it the entire team: I told them, let’s get thousand 200 titles of the Fund, 20, 8, to 49.50 pesos. Commercials were crying in the hallways, “we will lose money’. I said, no, let’s win: win money, because sales rose 8.3% this week. Arrived in bookstores the double and triple the people that visited them regularly.
We study each and saw: does support the descent?, Yes; are you moving?, no; If went down it is going to be?, Yes. And it did. And it will grow. Now we have to put the tooth to the part of the catalogue have not yet studied, which are books that cost more than 150 dollars, what can we do with them?
-What are the goals?
What do we? End of the year we have covered all States of the Republic with operations of promoting reading, reorganization of the reading rooms and reading clubs, to go from the three thousand who said that he had eight or nine thousand that will. Do we want?, having crossed the 40 normal; having created the first system of discussion and promotion of reading in middle schools, middle and high schools. Do we want?, participate in 100 fairs. We are at the level of madness, and that is very fun!
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Original source in Spanish