One of Pássaro Amarelo’s first clients revealed to us that he had a rare book ready to be published. The work in question, written more than twenty years ago, had been kept in a desk drawer and contained a unique account of the most important Portuguese composers over the centuries.
The idea immediately captivated us. A professional musician for over thirty years in one of Portugal’s most renowned orchestras, Luiz (a fictional name) told us about the misadventures that had so far prevented him from fulfilling the dream of his life: publishing a collection of texts he had written in the 1990s for a weekly newspaper, which had never come to fruition due to a lack of editorial interest in the project.
In more than four hundred pages, with a foreword signed by a nationally renowned musicologist, Luiz’s work was extraordinarily rare as a memorial record. Across hundreds of pages were the names of all the Portuguese musicians who had performed, composed, or shaped classical music since the foundation of the nation, that is, a long period stretching from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. The work represented a Herculean effort in gathering names and stories from Portuguese music: a unique source of inspiration for the promotion of Portuguese culture.
Naturally, here at Pássaro Amarelo, we immediately embraced this project.
When we start a business or a project from scratch, and contrary to what some voices claim, it is not strategic to accept every opportunity. This is because the first clients often end up defining a brand’s identity: if your first testimonials come from people seeking content creation services, that will begin to shape the essence of your business. Conversely, if your first clients ask you to work on copywriting for apps, that is what will mould your professional trajectory. Here, we very much wanted to associate Pássaro Amarelo with literary projects that also had a commercial focus.
Our first client asked us for help with active market prospecting: he wanted to find a publisher for the book. But what would be the best approach? What should be written in an email? How could we convince a commercial department that the work had cultural value and, indirectly, some financial viability? How could the commercial interest of a literary project be justified through numbers and words?
His experience, twenty years earlier, had been very negative. He had knocked on several doors and had always received responses of disinterest. There was a bittersweet flavour to that memory, as if he were telling us: “I don’t really know how to deal with this rejection.” And so the book had remained in his desk drawer, waiting for a publisher.
In the field of writing, there seems to be an invisible thread separating literary works from commercial initiatives. Usually, those who write literature struggle to sell through a commercial discourse, while those who understand strategy rarely entangle themselves in the web of complex abstract concepts. The truth, however, is that these realities must go hand in hand if we want to give both literature and business a voice in the world.
Offering a service of literary support, as we do here at Pássaro Amarelo, means, on the one hand: identifying the intrinsic value of works; researching the relevance of the theme in the market; studying the competition and, above all, knowing how to sell the product. And, inevitably, we must also learn how to inspire others about our ideas through words.
Words do not serve only to entertain. They also serve to generate results.
In this very pursuit of results, we aligned a commercial discourse that was coherent with the content of the client’s work. We asked for his approval to, with this new letter, knock on new doors that gradually began to open, after all, there was a glimmer of hope.
Every commercial department has its own requirements. In some cases, we had to explain who the target audience of the book was and who would likely be interested in it. These are not easy questions for someone who has never trained a commercial eye on a product, and in a way, it is risky to provide information that is completely detached from reality.
That is why it is important for people to equip themselves with tools and practical advice when their commercial strategy is not yet refined. It is a mistake to think: “it is enough to write a good email to achieve the results I want.” But what is a good email? Is it simply one that is well written in Portuguese or another language? And what if, in the message, the criteria and objectives you intend to achieve are missing? How do you convince a commercial director that it is worth publishing that work?
One of the most important things when we want to sell an idea, a product, or a service is to ask a series of questions:
- Who is this of interest to?
- Is there a market for this project?
- What added value am I going to present to the other party so that they accept this partnership? We have to know how to place ourselves on the other side: why would a commercial director of a publishing house agree to publish this book?
Here, there are several points we can highlight: the rarity and relevance of the theme; the prestige and authority of the author; the financial viability of the work; and the fact that the book fits into a niche with little competition.
There is no linear answer to these questions, and it can only be found through an analysis of the entire market ecosystem. This is why one of our guiding principles is the creation and refinement of a communication ecosystem that goes far beyond merely writing a good text.
The client was satisfied with our approach, and little by little we began to receive our first meeting requests. The project interested some publishers who recognised the relevance of the text. They wanted to be the first to edit and bring to print a unique book in the national musical landscape. In this process, we also cannot disregard the personal experiences of individuals, which weigh heavily on their final decisions.
Every new client is a new challenge here at Pássaro Amarelo. We have learned that words do not only serve to tell good stories. They are also a powerful tool that allows us to make our dreams come true: to fly, carried by the wind, like a bird.
