How to kill the middleperson | Hernán Casciari | TEDxRíodelaPlata
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0:01 - 0:02(Applause)
-
0:02 - 0:03A dream made true.
-
0:04 - 0:08You'll notice in my voice,
as soon as I calm down, -
0:09 - 0:13that I have a somehow weird accent,
as I've lived in Spain for twelve years. -
0:18 - 0:25Twelve years ago I went to Paris
for 15 days to receive a literary award -
0:25 - 0:30and I met a Catalan girl there,
and I stayed to live with her. -
0:32 - 0:39Back in Argentina I had a job, a house,
and no intentions of moving whatsoever. -
0:41 - 0:46While in Spain I had nothing:
no house, no job, not even papers -
0:46 - 0:48to get a house and a job.
-
0:49 - 0:56Even worse, after living
8-9 months in Spain -
0:56 - 0:59only because I was in love,
-
1:00 - 1:04two horrible things happened in Argentina.
First came the 2001 crisis, -
1:05 - 1:084-5 presidents in one week
and social chaos. -
1:08 - 1:13And, even worse, around the same time,
Racing won the soccer championship. -
1:15 - 1:21I am a Racing fan. It's horrible seeing
your team champion for the first time -
1:21 - 1:23while being away...
-
1:23 - 1:27Far away from your land,
but in my case, from my father, -
1:27 - 1:29with whom we'd always thought
-
1:29 - 1:32we'd see this event,
if it ever happened, together. -
1:32 - 1:35These two circumstances,
the economic crisis in Argentina -
1:35 - 1:39and my team winning the title,
happened at the same time -
1:39 - 1:44and taught me what I didn't have
the slightest idea could ever happen: -
1:44 - 1:49that pain and party,
-
1:49 - 1:51tragedy and triumph are the same
-
1:51 - 1:53when you're away.
-
1:53 - 1:57Not being able to cry with your loved ones
when something horrible happens, -
1:57 - 2:00or celebrate with your people
when something wonderful happens -
2:00 - 2:05puts you immediately offside.
-
2:06 - 2:09As I was in Spain sad and alone,
I had the idea to create a blog -
2:09 - 2:12and I started writing.
-
2:12 - 2:15I named that blog Orsai,
-
2:16 - 2:21that means in soccer jargon in Spanish
that you are offside, off the game, -
2:21 - 2:24that you're not allowed to play.
-
2:26 - 2:29In those times I used the Internet
mainly to send emails -
2:29 - 2:32and to chat with my friends from Mercedes.
-
2:32 - 2:36So what happened when I created
that blog was a huge surprise for me -
2:36 - 2:39and I imagine it was so
for everyone else at the time. -
2:39 - 2:43I started writing short stories,
sometimes as myself, -
2:43 - 2:48or disguised as different characters;
a housewife, a seer, a princess. -
2:49 - 2:51And little by little it started
to get crowded. -
2:51 - 2:56People from weird countries: Honduras,
Nicaragua,from Spain or from here. -
2:56 - 3:02And so Orsai turned into a kind
of involuntary community of readers. -
3:03 - 3:06I did nothing to gather them, I mean,
-
3:06 - 3:08I didn't put banners in my blog saying:
-
3:08 - 3:11"Come in, feel comfortable,
generate a community". -
3:11 - 3:14The only thing I did was
writing short stories, -
3:15 - 3:18I also read the comments
the readers made to those tales -
3:18 - 3:22and also, most of the time,
I chatted with them. -
3:23 - 3:28When that community got even bigger
because of word of mouth, -
3:28 - 3:30and specially became more fervent,
-
3:31 - 3:35some traditional companies
related to culture and media -
3:35 - 3:37started to listen
to this babble of voices. -
3:37 - 3:40"Look, there's a guy who writes
and people are there." -
3:41 - 3:44And so my phone started ringing,
-
3:44 - 3:47they offered me to work with them.
-
3:48 - 3:50The publishing companies
proposed me to make books -
3:50 - 3:53with the stories I wrote
for free on the Internet -
3:53 - 3:56and the press invited me to write
columns in their newspapers, -
3:56 - 3:59similar to the kind of stuff
I wrote on the Internet. -
3:59 - 4:03I know this now, I didn't know back then.
-
4:04 - 4:07I think I made a rather serious mistake.
-
4:08 - 4:10I went to work with the industry,
-
4:10 - 4:14I ended the direct communication
with my readers -
4:14 - 4:19and I let them put me intermediaries,
an agent, a publisher -
4:19 - 4:23a manager, a content editor.
-
4:24 - 4:28All those people lined up
between me and my readers. -
4:30 - 4:36The publishing companies also asked me,
for the publication of my first book, -
4:36 - 4:40to take away all those free articles
from the Internet so they could sell them. -
4:41 - 4:45The situation got a bit tense there
because I told them immediately -
4:45 - 4:48I couldn't do such thing for
I had given those texts as presents, -
4:48 - 4:52and I couldn't go house by house
asking every reader if, please, -
4:52 - 4:54I could get the gift back
because now I wanted -
4:54 - 4:56to sell it through white collar guys.
-
4:57 - 5:02But it became worse as books
and time went by, -
5:02 - 5:06that permanent feeling
that the publishers were robbing me. -
5:07 - 5:11One time they closed the sales
one of my pocketbooks. -
5:11 - 5:14It's an anecdote I always tell
and I think it's descriptive. -
5:15 - 5:20they stated to have sold about 900 copies
in Argentina of a pocketbook -
5:21 - 5:24and I knew, because I'm a close friend
of a bookseller from Mercedes, -
5:24 - 5:29one of the three bookstores in Mercedes,
I knew that 750 had been sold -
5:29 - 5:30in a small bookstore
-
5:31 - 5:37of a town of Buenos Aires province.
-
5:39 - 5:44And it wasn't just the feeling
of being robbed at gunpoint, -
5:44 - 5:47the impossibility of checking
sales and printing. -
5:47 - 5:51I also started receiving a lot of emails
from readers of the blog -
5:51 - 5:54telling me my books were not available
in their countries. -
5:55 - 5:59The industry distributes books in Spanish
only where it is profitable: -
5:59 - 6:03Argentina, Spain, Mexico,
-
6:03 - 6:07but if a Salvadoran or a Peruvian
wants my book, -
6:08 - 6:11they have no choice...
They will never get it. -
6:11 - 6:14With the press I was going through
something similar. -
6:14 - 6:17They asked me articles 400-words long,
-
6:17 - 6:19but if there was half a page
of advertising, -
6:19 - 6:24the editor called me to tell me that
this week my column was 200-word long. -
6:24 - 6:27When the European economic crisis came
and the companies -
6:27 - 6:30stopped advertising in newspapers,
-
6:30 - 6:33I thought "Now I'll be able to go back
to 400 words". -
6:33 - 6:36But no, they removed a sheet
from the newspaper and left me with 150. -
6:37 - 6:42Last year, when these issues
started to get worse, -
6:42 - 6:46I got very tired and publicly broke up
with the publishing companies -
6:46 - 6:49Mondadori from Italy,
Plaza & Janes from Spain, -
6:49 - 6:52Sudamericana from Argentina
and Grijalbo from Mexico. -
6:52 - 6:54I also publicly finished with
the newspapers -
6:54 - 6:57La Nación from Argentina
and El País from Spain. -
6:57 - 7:02In 1400 words in the blog, free,
I told them to fuck off. -
7:02 - 7:04(Laughs)
-
7:04 - 7:06(Applause)
-
7:13 - 7:16As I did this,
and after a year of silence, -
7:16 - 7:19I started communicating
with the people from my blog -
7:20 - 7:22and I told them I had a new idea.
-
7:22 - 7:26An idea that could be really fun
and especially risky -
7:26 - 7:29but that had the secret goal of proving,
-
7:29 - 7:32also and specially to myself,
-
7:33 - 7:37that the famous crisis of the industry
is not an economic crisis -
7:37 - 7:40but a moral one, it's a crisis of greed.
-
7:42 - 7:44The idea was of making
an impossible magazine -
7:44 - 7:47from my backyard, in a town in Catalonia,
-
7:47 - 7:51without any offices,
and with a staff integrated -
7:51 - 7:53only by my family and childhood friends.
-
7:54 - 7:57A magazine that would be called Orsai,
just like my blog. -
7:58 - 8:00One night with Chiri,
who's my dear friend, -
8:00 - 8:03we wrote a kind of decalogue
-
8:03 - 8:08a sort of promise to the readers.
This happened exactly one year ago. -
8:08 - 8:12We promised the magazine wouldn't have
any advertising, not an inch of it. -
8:13 - 8:15It wouldn't have
private or state subsidies. -
8:15 - 8:18We promised it would have
the best graphic quality available -
8:18 - 8:21in any of the countries where distributed.
-
8:21 - 8:24That it would do without
any possible intermediaries. -
8:24 - 8:28That it would have a paper version,
and a dynamic version for iPad and iPhone, -
8:28 - 8:33for BlackBerry and, besides,
a free PDF ten days later, -
8:34 - 8:37so the magazine can be read
regardless of the cost. -
8:38 - 8:41We promised those to write
and draw in the magazine -
8:41 - 8:44would be only people me
and Chiri admire a lot. -
8:44 - 8:48That it would be quarterly
and have more than 200 pages. -
8:48 - 8:53That it would cost the equivalent of
15 Saturday newspapers in every country. -
8:55 - 8:58We stated at the 8th item
that we were to put the money, -
8:58 - 9:01and that we were going to make it
even if it didn't sell. -
9:01 - 9:05The 9th item said that we would be happy
if we saved the investment. -
9:06 - 9:10and the 10th, that if we didn't save
the investment, we didn't give a fuck... -
9:15 - 9:16(Applause)
-
9:21 - 9:24At that moment an amazing thing happened
-
9:24 - 9:27within the community of the blog.
-
9:27 - 9:29Something we hadn't foreseen:
-
9:29 - 9:32the readers of Orsai spread the idea,
-
9:32 - 9:34they told their friends
-
9:35 - 9:38there were some men in their forties,
in a town hidden in the mountain -
9:38 - 9:41that wanted to make a
magazine of popular -
9:41 - 9:45literature, of chronic
narrative, with long texts, -
9:45 - 9:49just in the middle of the paper crisis.
-
9:49 - 9:52Before even telling them
what the magazine was going -
9:52 - 9:55to be about, the readers
started buying it massively. -
9:57 - 10:01People put a faith that I hadn't seen
in a long time -
10:01 - 10:03in a cultural product.
-
10:03 - 10:08It was bought by 10 000 people,
I repeat: without knowing its contents, -
10:08 - 10:10in pre-sale, before it was released.
-
10:10 - 10:14And it was an expensive magazine:
16 euros in Europe, 12 dollars in America. -
10:15 - 10:19They bought it from everywhere, including
Salvadorans, Costa Ricans, Peruvians, -
10:19 - 10:23Latin Americans living
in Thailand, in Japan. -
10:23 - 10:27Readers from every region decided
to distribute it themselves. -
10:27 - 10:31We decided that magazines wouldn't be sold
per unit but in packs of ten, -
10:31 - 10:36so that you could distribute
the remaining nine in your area. -
10:37 - 10:41This way, we also killed
the intermediary for distribution, -
10:41 - 10:42which is a mafia.
-
10:43 - 10:46Distribution gets
the 50% of the sale price -
10:46 - 10:49of every publication we buy.
-
10:49 - 10:54The author gets the 8 %,
the big stores, the 50 %. -
10:55 - 10:59The first day of this year,
the first number of Orsai was released. -
10:59 - 11:02And we did so every three months,
-
11:02 - 11:05until we reached the goal
of the four annual numbers. -
11:05 - 11:08The fourth number went on sale
just one week ago. -
11:08 - 11:11Every magazine weighs about a kilogram
-
11:11 - 11:16and it makes a visual impact;
it has no advertising. -
11:16 - 11:21More than a hundred invited authors
wrote through these four numbers. -
11:21 - 11:25Among them Juan Villoro, Abelardo Castillo
Nick Hornby, Agustín Fernández Mallo. -
11:25 - 11:28It was illustrated by 'el negro' Cris,
Horacio Altuna, -
11:28 - 11:31Miguel Rep, Alberto
Montt, among many others. -
11:31 - 11:34They were all paid in euros.
-
11:34 - 11:39In the middle of all that we discovered
that the dream was only possible -
11:39 - 11:41if we talked with the readers,
-
11:41 - 11:43and so at mid-year,
-
11:43 - 11:46when we were between
numbers two and three, -
11:46 - 11:52we decided, in an also rather risky way,
to turn into a publisher. -
11:53 - 11:56The idea was to take a standard contract
-
11:56 - 12:00from my former publishing companies
and write the exact opposite. -
12:02 - 12:05The idea was not to defraud the authors;
-
12:05 - 12:07the rights always for them.
-
12:07 - 12:11If you wanted to leave the next day,
"Good night, you can leave, all OK". -
12:15 - 12:21And specially, the author is receiving
the 50 % of the sale's price, -
12:22 - 12:25instead of the 8-10%,
-
12:25 - 12:28And even more, the author
has the possibility of, with a password, -
12:28 - 12:32checking every sale and reader online.
-
12:32 - 12:34They also have the email
of that reader -
12:35 - 12:37to thank them or tell them:
-
12:37 - 12:41"I know you're buying my books
and that you're paying to me." -
12:42 - 12:46We noticed, as we moved forward,
that Orsai was not a blog anymore -
12:46 - 12:49nor a magazine, or a
publishing house, -
12:49 - 12:52but it turned into a project
of the readers. -
12:53 - 12:57Two months ago we thought
of opening a bar in Buenos Aires, -
12:57 - 13:03a meeting place for those who read
the magazine, we named it Orsai. -
13:03 - 13:06One afternoon I asked
the readers of the blog -
13:06 - 13:09if they wanted a bar to be opened
and I also asked them -
13:10 - 13:13if anyone would like to join
the project as an investor. -
13:13 - 13:18We received 204 emails in 24 hours,
-
13:19 - 13:23with people that wanted to put
1000 or 10 000, a nuts offered 80 000. -
13:23 - 13:26There were also people who had no money,
-
13:26 - 13:29and they offered to paint the bar,
-
13:29 - 13:32or to help us with the permits
-
13:32 - 13:35as they worked in some ministry, etc.
-
13:35 - 13:37Others offered to show
their paintings -
13:37 - 13:40or to play with their bands
once the bar was opened. -
13:40 - 13:43This occurred in early August this year.
-
13:44 - 13:48The Orsai bar opened last Thursday
in the heart of San Telmo, -
13:48 - 13:54471 Humberto Primo, 2x1 beer before 10 pm.
-
13:55 - 14:00There were so many people in the opening
we had to do it four times: -
14:00 - 14:04Thursday, Friday, Saturday
and last Sunday. -
14:04 - 14:07In March we will try opening
another bar in Barcelona, -
14:07 - 14:10using the same system of investment
of the readers, -
14:10 - 14:13and the goal for the next year
is to keep making magazines, -
14:13 - 14:17this time bimonthly, and besides
making a lot more books, -
14:17 - 14:20the goal will be to open a third bar
in Central America -
14:20 - 14:23to form a sort of Iberoamerican
triangle of culture, -
14:23 - 14:25or of the drunks who read, or something...
-
14:27 - 14:31Two weeks ago we almost had
two and a half tons -
14:31 - 14:35of our books and magazines stopped
in Buenos Aires' customs, -
14:35 - 14:37due to a misunderstanding
with the Secretariat of Commerce. -
14:38 - 14:42It was a wonderful Thursday,
Orsai readers from all over the world -
14:42 - 14:47made a lot of noise in Twitter
with the slogan "Free Orsai". -
14:47 - 14:52And that was big, because 12 hours later
the Argentinian government heard us, -
14:52 - 14:56and the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers
answered through Twitter -
14:56 - 14:59saying he would personally
solve the matter. -
14:59 - 15:01The magazines were
released by the next day. -
15:01 - 15:05It's the last story I will tell.
I believe that it means something. -
15:05 - 15:08I'm sure it's the beginning of something.
-
15:09 - 15:13Cultural decisions are starting
to be more and more in our hands. -
15:14 - 15:18We no longer obey to voices in sole
speakers that tell us what to do. -
15:18 - 15:21It's us who communicate,
-
15:22 - 15:26we are 400 million people
who speak Spanish. -
15:27 - 15:30Every one of us, every region,
-
15:30 - 15:32has a different jargon
that makes us unique, -
15:32 - 15:34but that also enriches us.
-
15:35 - 15:40We understand each other, the Internet
arrived some time ago to unite us, -
15:40 - 15:45to tell us we can do things together,
specially with culture, -
15:45 - 15:48which is the fundamental base
of the complexity of the mind. -
15:48 - 15:54Almost ten years ago I opened a blog
because I felt alone in a foreign country. -
15:55 - 15:59I felt in offside, I needed to communicate
with my people, -
15:59 - 16:01and so named it Orsai.
-
16:01 - 16:05I am sure now that the cultural industry
-
16:05 - 16:07are we, the readers and the authors.
-
16:07 - 16:08And nobody else...
-
16:08 - 16:12and that the other industry,
which is afraid of changes, -
16:12 - 16:15that tries to make us believe
that the Internet is a burden. -
16:16 - 16:22the one that scratches and hurts,
is dying and we'll watch it die. -
16:22 - 16:25Culture has to be free in every way.
-
16:26 - 16:32I exhort authors and editors to,
every time you release a book, -
16:32 - 16:36upload a free PDF the same day,
-
16:36 - 16:38because you will sell more.
-
16:38 - 16:42We depended on a greedy industry
for years, -
16:43 - 16:46buying what they wanted us to buy.
-
16:46 - 16:49Now suddenly, and more and more,
-
16:50 - 16:52they're starting to be "orsai".
-
16:52 - 16:54Thank you.
- Title:
- How to kill the middleperson | Hernán Casciari | TEDxRíodelaPlata
- Speaker:
- Hernan Casciari
- Description:
-
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.
Hernán Casciari manages the Orsai Publishing House and is the most read online writer in Spanish. From 2000, he is based in Barcelona, where he has written different groundbreaking blognovels. Up to September 2010, he was a columnist for newspapers like El País (Spain) and La Nación (Argentina), but he gave it up to start hiw own publishing Project: Orsai magazine. In October 2011, he will published his last short stories book, “Talks with the right hemisphere” (Charlas con el hemisferio derecho). - Video Language:
- Spanish
- Duration:
- 17:08
Maggie S (Amara staff) edited English subtitles for Cómo matar al intermediario | Hernán Casciari | TEDxRíodelaPlata | ||
Amara Bot edited English subtitles for Cómo matar al intermediario | Hernán Casciari | TEDxRíodelaPlata | ||
Amara Bot edited English subtitles for Cómo matar al intermediario | Hernán Casciari | TEDxRíodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén approved English subtitles for Cómo matar al intermediario | Hernán Casciari | TEDxRíodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén accepted English subtitles for Cómo matar al intermediario | Hernán Casciari | TEDxRíodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén edited English subtitles for Cómo matar al intermediario | Hernán Casciari | TEDxRíodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén edited English subtitles for Cómo matar al intermediario | Hernán Casciari | TEDxRíodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén edited English subtitles for Cómo matar al intermediario | Hernán Casciari | TEDxRíodelaPlata |