1 a 15 de octubre
PAÍSES ÁRABES / Middle East
EGIPTO
UNIVERSIDAD DE EL CAIRO – HEBBA
Sin novedad
DAR EL SHOROUK
1 de octubre de Seif a Mônica
I am very happy that we are having this dialogue because it gives me the possibility to give you more information about the market in Egypt
The pirated copy of Paulo Coelho's Alchemist was first released by Dar al-Hilal in 1996 with a print run of 3000 copies and was sold for 5 Egyptian pounds which is about 0.75US$. This edition was still available when Paulo visited Egypt in 2005. So 3000 copies in 3 years for Egypt for 3-4 US$ seems unrealistic to me.
We strongly support any effort to combat piracy and we emphasized this point clearly our draft contract with All Prints where we would legally pursue any right infringement of any third party. Nevertheless, we have to be realistic and see things for what they are: 3-4 US$ is not an adaptation of the "prices to the market, with a view to achieve a more competitive presence" when the pirated copy is available for 0.75US$. As you can see the differance is still a very big one in a country with less than 600 US$ GDP.
I had asked you about your idea about the actual number of book retailers in Egypt. I am afraid to say the number is not big. We are one of the companies that have the biggest distribution networks in Egypt and we deal with all the best and reliable customers and have only 150 customers all over Egypt.
I had asked in my previous mail to know how many copies All Prints have sold of each of Paulo's books in the Arab World until now. I await your answer.
4 de octubre de Mônica a Seif
I don't believe at all that Dal al-Hilal has only printed 3,000 pirate copies since 1996. The tremendous quantity of Coelho's readers in Egypt goes far beyond 3,000 copies. Besides that, theirs is not the only pirate edition available in the market. I myself bought for 10 Euros after Paulo's conference a pirate copy made from Al Prints edition for 10 USD.
We have had the commitment from Dar al-Hilal that they will stop to reprint and sell the book. Is this notcorrect information? At the same time, we expectyou will peruse any right infringement of any third party.
Therefore, we expectthe 0,75 USD pirate edition to be withdrawn from the market and a 3-4 USD quality edition to be made available. We cannot publish the book officially at a retail price of 0,75 USD. The market will adjust to the real costs, as has happened in Russia and in other Eastern countries.
Our aim is to count on your company as our right arm to improve the situation. I am sure this will work out well for Paulo, your company and Egypt. The present book situation is not satisfactory for any part.
I do not know the updated sales figures for All Prints, however, I know the sales have improved very much in the past months.
5 de octubre de Seif a Mônica
I am very happy that you have Dar El Hilal's commitment for the two Paulo novels (Alchemist and Veronica) that they sell in the Arab market for 1.5 and 0.75 US$. But your confidence gives us the patience to wait until you, in cooperation with Dar El Hilal, have recalled and destroyed the pirate copies. And then we would be more than happy to pursue our cooperation and make the legal copies available at the agreed price with All Prints (i.e.
4-5 US$).
I would still be very happy to receive from you, anytime, the actual sales figures of the All Prints editions across the Arab world.
11 de octubre de Mônica a Seif
Ibrahim has been present at the lunch with Dar El Hilal, and he can explain better than me what was discussed in it. I think you are wrong when you say that we, in cooperation with them, will recall and destroy the pirate copies. Frankly, I believe you have not understood the purpose of our visit to Cairo and the conversation we had. Please talk to Ibrahim, since he was the one who wanted to be with Paulo Coelho most of the time we spent their, by his side, in visits, lunches, tv programs etc. I am positive he will make you understand better the situation.
As I have tried to explain in earlier emails, we need to have the books published at 4 USD, which is a more convenient price than the 10 USD that the edition from Beirut has nowadays. Of course, Dar El Shorouk has to be in charge of withdrawing the pirate copies from the market.
Also, I hope you will agree with All Print's offer to have a commitment of 10.000 copies. If you don't I then suggest to move forward the publication.
If that were the case, it would be a real pity, specially after all the time we spent with Ibrahim in Cairo.
11 de octubre de Seif a Mônica
Thank you very much for your informative reply. Unfortunately, in our experience 10,000 copies of one work of translated fiction is a number that is not reflective of our market.
I wish you all the best
11 de octubre de Mônica a Seif
Thank you for your promt reply.
I am sorry to hear that. I hope we keep in touch in the future. Please be so kind to send my best regards to Ibrahim.
SIRPUS
Seguimiento con Víctor sobre visita a Dubai (vuelo y agenda de viaje) – ver más abajo sobre visita a Dubai
SIRIA/ARMENIA Hamazkayin
Sin Novedad
Saudi Arabia
GAZZAZ
6 de Octubre de Patricia a Ihab
We are trying to contact you in order to confirm the ArabiaSaudi trip as soon as possible. The author plans to travel from Dubai and we should close the tickets and the dates.
10 de octubre de Patricia a Ihab
We have tried to reach you by phone, but we haven't been able tospeak withyou; they told us youwere not available but that you were working in the visit.I would be grateful if you could answer my last message (I enclose it below) so we can fix the dates of Paulo's trip to Saudi Arabia. The author plans to travel from Dubail
11 de octubre de Patricia a Ihab
We called you yesterday on the phone and I am writing a message to you every day.Sadly, if we do not have the confirmation for the visit beforeFriday this weekand an answer to our messages, we will feel obliged to cancel Paulo Coelho's visit to Saudi Arabia this November. You must understand I have other commitments waiting and Imust fix the dates for them.
DUBAI – Rola & Ziad (& Nasouh – All prints)
3 de octubre de Ziad a Patricia
With regards to the topics, Rola has suggested the following:
Lessons from the Alchemist: Ancient Wisdom in Contemporary Society Spiritual Enlightenment, Self Understanding, and the Maktub.
On Wednesday, we will have the media activities all in Paulo’s hotel for convenience.
On Thursday Paulo will have plenty of free time until 7pm. We could fill later if he wishes with local activities. I will ensure that he has car & driver available at all times.
On Friday, we will do the book signing from 10:00 am to 12 Pm (2 hrs, with 3 X 10 min breaks)
What I still need from you is the following:
Please book flights so that I can either wire you the money or send PTA to your local agency.
Re book signing: Pls advise how we will manage the logistics part. We will need at least 1,000 books. (100 for YPO event and rest for book signing) Paulo’s books are of course available locally but I am not sure we can get the quantity.
I am still working on best local artist to have the moderated session on the TV slot. The hotel is booked and we are preparing a nice flier for the YPO attendees once I get your feedback on the topics.
3 de octubre de Rola a Patricia
Patricia, just to explain, the topics are meant to be separate and the author may recommend something else he feels would be suitable for a group of expatriate successful entrepreneurs. Just to reiterate, the topics may
include:
Lessons from the Alchemist: Ancient Wisdom in Contemporary Society Spiritual Englightment, Self Understanding and the Maktub
Other subjects can include the author's experiences and values, as well as the inspiration of his work.
I understand the Zahir is sold out in most bookstores in town, so we may require your assistance in securing copies.
3 de octubre de Patricia a Rola
The author is at present on a promotional trip in Oslo and has no access to his emails. As soon as he does, I will send him the topics proposal and confirm you as soon as I can.
This week I will contact All Prints, our publishing house in trade, to inform that the book is sold out and to start organizing the book signing.
I have already contacted our publisher in pocket and "The Alchemist" will be present in bookstores thanks to their distributor, Pioneer.
4 de octubre de Mitra Khoubrou a Patricia
I am sending you herewith the program of the Young Arab Leaders Annual Meeting for you to review it. As you will see we already have quite a number of leading personalities confirmed for the meeting and it would be a great pleasure to welcome Mr Coelho. We are planning a plenary session on the last day of the meeting that may be of interest to him. Please rest assured that we will cover all his travel and accommodation expenses with regard to his participation. We are also planning to host an event with Al-Arabya TV in which we would like him to take part.
Please have a second look at the attached program and do not hesitate to get back to me, should you have any queries.
I look forward to hearing from you and I truly hope Mr Coelho will be able to come.
5 de octubre de Ziad a Patricia
I would like to reconfirm the agenda and pending items with you.
Arrival: Tuesday 15 Nov night or Wednesday 16 Nov day time.
- Wednesday 16: Relaxation day. We would be pleased to arrange car and driver to move around or any touristic type activity. I am sure Rola would also be delighted to help with shopping or whatever needed.
- Thursday 17:
o Morning 10am to 12 pm. We have agreed with Gulf News (www.gulfnews.com) to do an interview in Paulo's hotel. I will also arrange one more media activity (Radio or TV) also in the hotel.
o 1pm Lunch with selected YPOers to talk about the planned evening
o Afternoon: Free time
o 7 pm: Cocktail with YPO Emirates Chapter in the hotel (Royal Mirage) and short speech about selected topic.
o 9 pm: Dinner also in the hotel
- Friday:
o Morning: Free so far.
o 3 pm. Book signing at Mugrudy’s bookstore in Deira City Center branch (http://www.magrudy.com/)
o Dinner with selected YPOer and drop off at the airport (optional)
I am still awaiting from you a confirmation on final topic of discussion and flight details. As discussed, we will issue PTA from here.
5 de octubre de Ziad a Patricia
Thanks for the prompt response. My comments below in CAPS.
Dear Ziad,
Thank you for your message and for the phonecall.
I will forward the agenda to the author for his confirmation. As you will seeI have made a change. The interview shouldstart at 10 a.m. and should be1 hour long at the most. If youmake another interview afterwards, you should leave a break in between both. If it is a radio interview, then it should last around 30 minutes maximum.
NOTED.I HAVE TOLD GULF NEWS THAT THEY HAVE HALF AN HOUR (10:00 TO 10:30). WILL DO ONE MORE MEDIA RELATED, PROBABLY ARABIC PRESS LIKE AL ITTIHAD OR DUBAI TV. IF TV, THEN WE NEED TO FIND ANOTHER INTERESTING LOCAL CHARACTER TO HAVE A SMALL MEDIATED SHOW.
I will also confirmthe friday dinner, since Paulo will probably like a more informal meeting.
THIS IS A VERY INFORMAL DINNER. IT IS PROBABLY 3 COUPLES + PAULO’S + COMPANION. I WILL ENSURE PRESENCE OF INTERESTING PEOPLE WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH HIS WORK.
Re. Signing Book:
The signing should be for 200 people with a maximum duration of2 hours. In order to control the number of readers, you should give out 200 numbers. Beforestarting the signing,you or the bookstore staffshould announce over the PA system (public address) that the author will sign a maximum of 3 books per person (readers can bring books previously bought, they are not forced to buy them in the bookstore) and that he is not going towrite personal dedications such as names or a sentence; he will only sign the books.
OK NOTED. WE HAS AGREED WITH MAGRUDYS ON 200 PEOPLE AND 2 HOURS MAX WITH BREAKS.
There must be a good control of the queue and the rest of people. Usually, people do not come on their own but form groups of relatives and friend having just onenumber. People who do not have a number should queue in a different line and, if in the end, there is any possibility that Paulo signs more books, he will do it. However, it must be very clear to them that there is no guarantee that they will gethis signature and that they will have to wait at their ownrisk.
At least one week before the signing, the bookstore has to dedicate a predominant space to Paulo, including the shop window, and put up posters announcing the book signing, the schedule and the way the tickets will be distributed.
WE ASKED MUGRUDYS TO GIVE US A MARKETING PROPOSAL IN WRITING TO DETAIL EVERYTHING THEY WILL DO. WILL SEND IT TO YOU FOR APPROVAL .
Besides the radio and the press release, it would be great to publish an advert in the press the day before announcing The Zahir and the signing. Although it will have a limited capacity, the idea is that we have to turn the signing into a big event.
The suggestion for the radio contest comes from Paulo and it is the same way it wasorganised during his visit to Ukraine last year. We would like to suggest that you contact some radio programmesand ask them to organizea competition and give 100 or 150 numbers for the book signing as a prize. We would reserve the remaining 100 or 50 numbers for All Prints and for YPO so that they share them out with people they believe appropriate.