Exploring Ocho Ojos: Their Role in the Uruguayan Publishing Landscape and Challenges They Face

What place do you seek to occupy with Ocho Ojos within the Uruguayan publishing ecosystem? ¿Have there been changes to that plan?

Ocho Ojos was born in a context of effervescence of small and medium-sized publishers, each of which has its reason for being. We also, at birth, define some identity signs. One of them is the public sector we target: young people or those eager to read literature with young protagonists. Another brand of identity has to do with the book product, which we think of as an aesthetic object, to be admired and enjoyed synesthetically.

And as for changes to the plan, yes. We are inventing ourselves every day. A few months ago the idea arose to work on a book of poems. There we thought of an object book, collective, illustrated, that would print sheets month by month and that would then be compiled in a “poem box.” All of this came up on the fly, chatting, exchanging, recording what we wanted to do most.

Your own publishing career is linked to the youth literature niche. What advantages and disadvantages does this link entail?

I believe in a “literature without attributes”, as Saer said, but I am also aware that classifications exist and sometimes help. In my particular case, it gave me visibility, some awards and sales but perhaps it has also alienated some readers who consider themselves educated for not reading literature from certain shelves. I think, as some theorist proposed, that center and periphery in literature are dynamic and interpenetrated spaces. Also, when I have felt excluded from certain circles of serious literature, I like to remember that phrase from Rubén Darío: “my literature is mine in me.”

How many people make up the Ocho Ojos editorial project? Is it paid work?

We are a stable team of five people and a constellation of accomplices who collaborate in a thousand ways. Of those of us who are inside, some get paid, others get into debt and others ask not to get paid. The most important thing when it comes to money is always to talk. We make agreements that we believe are fair in each case. The amount of work and money received is anecdotal. The essential thing is that A agrees with B to receive N pesos for X activity on day R. And comply. Of course, we are prohibited from putting a weight on the author. The author should charge, not pay, for being edited.

How does the editorial profession permeate your role as a teacher?

Being a teacher allows me to read all day. Reading and rereading, making people read. And also correct. I really like teaching because I can see firsthand what happens with a text. For example, in Diego Muzzio’s book there is a story called “Zechariah and Jeremiah” that I have read with students for many years. It is a story of students who rehearse King Oedipus So it is optimal to read after giving the tragedy, so that a breath of fresh literature enters. Well, I love seeing which parts of the text work when we read it aloud. I pay a lot of attention to the laughter, the comments that the students make, the gestures and sighs. As they say, I test texts every day, I have the possibility of testing… It is the connection that I find between editor and teacher. For the rest, they are very different jobs.

What are the channels through which you sell your books? Could you tell us about strategies that dribble (or not) the competition of transnational companies?

When we went out into the ring, we decided that we were going to fight to be in bookstores. We knew it wasn’t easy. No matter how well written the texts were or how pretty the covers were, there are publishers with a lot of pressure fighting for the windows and the shelves. But there are also the booksellers who weigh the balance. There are still booksellers who are much more than book sellers. And they have helped us. They have vindicated our books and thanks to them we live. And also word of mouth. I think books continue to sell like this. I still buy books that are recommended to me or that I saw someone I admire as a reader recommend.

We sell at publishing fairs, on Instagram, at family birthdays… but we want the casual reader who goes to a bookstore to find us and want to take us. That’s what we aspire to.

What is the relationship that Ocho Ojos establishes with the strong influence of Anglo in terms of narrative formulas in youth literature? ¿Is it possible to get out of that mold?

We know that our literature does not exactly coincide with fashionable literature. Our voice—if one can speak of an editorial voice—, our saying, is quite Spanish and quite River Plate. The books we make are short. But we also know that this literature is good and we trust that it will stand the test of time.

There has always been literature that is more fleeting and other that dreams of staying, or that the public makes last. We make the books we like to read, even if we lose: it is the type of literature in which we are interested in the military.

In terms of length, in a youth literature market adept at «brick books»What happens with short works?

Personally, I interpret the “brick book” trend as a strategy to defend the paper book. I dont think is bad. The book is an object that has generated and continues to generate fascination. Amid so much virtual stimulation, the obsolete book survives, even among teenagers. We have not adopted the strategy of printing thick books partly because we follow the River Plate tendency (conditioned by the infrastructure) to narrate in a not very extensive way, and partly also because making books like this is outside our possibilities. But perhaps also because we bet on readers who do not necessarily read what is fashionable or in the format that is fashionable. And there I leave a question: does the publisher aim at existing readers or does it aim to create (certain types of) readers?

______________________________________________________________________

The book Saico It will be presented next October 26 at 8 p.m. in Escaramuza. On that occasion, the author, Victoria Bernardez, will talk with Mariela Peña and Agustín Acevedo Kanopa about the wonderful real, mental health and the influence of the media on romantic conceptions. More information, click here.