Cooking books of politicians: propaganda, copyright and ghost writers

Be political memoirs, autobiographies, compiled from interviews, summaries of their management duties or a bit of everything,

politicians books

they take different forms, but they have something in common: they publish, as never before, the years of

the elections

Why are they driving them? Who writes them? That's for what? Are they valid in the digital age? Who finances them?

Sometimes they write them; others dictate or provide general guidelines and leave them to ghost writers or are interviewed by reporters. Sometimes they are funded by the publishers; from others, the investment comes out of their own pockets. And, although their goal is to make themselves known, they can also get royalties.

Nowadays, books seem to be the political tool par excellence, especially to celebrate the

Book Fair,

which has become a political scenario, a kind of prelude to the campaign.

The number of titles and their sales (with the case of
Sincerelyof

Cristina Kirchner,

with 200,000 copies, with maximum exposure) show that they are valid as a political tool, despite the rise of digital communication. Far from the mbadiveness of the millions given by the networks, the paper notebooks emphasize the deepening of the messages.

The head of one of the biggest publishing houses in the country confirmed to LA NACION that politicians publish books mainly during the election years and redoubled their efforts: the edition of books on corruption also flourished at that time .

Beyond the direct contact they can have for social networks – experts agree – books are difficult to compare with digital tools. "Although a book does not facilitate the immediate direct contact provided by the networks, it can be turned into a user manual or brand for activists," said Javier Schurman of SOLO Comunicación. Just check out social networks to find evidence of thousands of activists who post photos of themselves with
Cristina Kirchner's book, in her houses or her basic units, as a trophy; others share fragments of the text.

In addition, the novelty factor is present. A book is not published every day. A tweet, yes. "Writing a book is an important fact for anyone, but when it's about a politician who usually does not write (or ask him to write to him), it's still more true, "adds Schurman.

Books, beyond the dissemination of ideas, can also serve as an excuse to convene meetings where they are the protagonists. The most relevant case is
the presentation that the senator of Citizen Unity will present today at the Book Fair, where even, one thinks, she could launch her candidacy for the presidency.

Most candidates who write books travel through the provinces to present them at events organized by their local worshipers. Neighbors participate in cafes in municipal theaters or cultural centers and take copies. The presidential candidate, José Luis Espert, for example, has visited more than 10 cities in recent months with the presentation of his book.
The complicit society.

Propaganda and royalties

In the phenomenon of the books of politicians, electoral propaganda is mixed with the logic of the market. Beyond advertising revenues, leaders benefit from an economic gain that will go directly into their pockets. His level of knowledge, badociated with the rise of "politics" by elections makes books sold, and a lot.

Politicians usually sign standard contracts with the publisher, in which they collect 10% of the sales price. And the prints vary, from 3000 to 20 000 copies. However, there are exceptions: Cristina's book, a real commercial success, has started with 60,000 copies and is already in its fifth edition.

The book of the former governor

Daniel Scioli,

in this sense, it is a special case.
In the other direction (his campaign slogan) is a compilation of interviews conducted by journalist Rubén Tizziani. And although Scioli participated in answering the questions, he oversaw and provided the photos to the publisher, but he does not collect royalties on sales. The contract was signed with the author of the interviews, which was also driving this idea. Meanwhile, the presidential candidate presents the book months ago in different contexts.

The books of politicians are sometimes paid for themselves. In general, this happens with the less visible references that seek to show themselves. Funding for
The revolution of municipalities (Prometheus)
, that Lucas Delfino wrote with some collaborators, came out of his pocket. Undersecretary for Municipal Relations of the Ministry of the Interior, he ran for mayor of Hurlingham. The circulation was 3000 copies and each copy is sold in bookstores at 550 pesos.

"The fact that they are in bookstores does not mean that behind an editorial decision, we should not get carried away by the fact that they appear in the shop windows. Often they are there to pay the publishers ", did he declare. LA NACION, a managing editor who asked to maintain the confidentiality of her identity.

The predictions of selling politicians' books are not easy, said another longtime editorial director. Many times, they are in full swing at first, but then they decline. Others start with a small flight and take off "mouth to mouth", although this is less common.

reasons

Sometimes politicians dodge the electoral definitions of their books. From the space of the former Minister of the Economy

Axel Kicillof,

for example, who published the book this year
And now what? they badure the NATION that its purpose is "to speak of certain subjects with more tranquility, clarity and extension". The Siglo XXI publishing house has proposed the idea of ​​good sales that the compilation of interviews had in 2015
Dialogues without tie Kicillof, pre-candidate for the governor of the province of Buenos Aires for citizen unity, accepted.

From the space of

Martín Lousteau

they emphasize that the motivation of their book,
that he presented last Sunday at the Book Fair with the Minister of the Interior,

Rogelio Frigerio,

and the mayor of Buenos Aires,

Horacio Rodríguez Larreta,

it was exclusively for "making a diagnosis" of Argentina. "He is not a candidate," they said about the former ambbadador who, in his presentation, again asked for the "extension" of Cambiemos.

Meanwhile, the former governor of Buenos Aires

Felipe Solá

says it started in 2017 with
Peronism, pampas and danger: my life in Argentine politics (Ariel) for pleasure. "I like to do it, I like to write," he justified. "In fact, when I said that I was going to be a candidate, they asked me if I was going to change what I had written and I said no ", he said about his political memoirs, that he wrote with the intervention of journalists Martín Sivak and Martín Rodríguez

The book as an electoral propaganda tool, recalls the consultant Gonzalo Arias, "exploded" after the return of democracy. The trend is gradually deepening. In recent decades, two books have been published by Néstor Kirchner, Elisa Carrió, Roberto Lavagna, Hermes Binner and Florencio Randazzo, to name the most famous cases. Since the presidential campaign of 1989, at the time of the bursting of the books of Carlos Menem and Eduardo César Angeloz, there was virtually no presidential contest that did not include editorial projects of some of the main candidates. Thirty years later, and at the heart of the rise of digital communication, the role of the campaign is still valid.

With the collaboration of Matías Moreno