Bruno Blog

When I tell people that I work with books, almost everybody is interested in knowing more, and when you keep talking and tell them you work as a literary agent, people feel more curious, because nobody knows what this job is about. The truth is that the work of a literary agency, a person who defends the writer’s rights, who intermediates between the publisher and the author, which was the basic task, is growing bigger and everyday we are more involved in more processes, because the world of books is changing and transforming. As a consequence, our work is also changing, and in addition, we need to use our creativity or we stay behind. We locked ourselves in a past that was way much better and that prevents us from evolving.  For this reason, reading the book by Ferran Martínez helped me: 13 canastas para ganar en los negocios (13 baskets to win in the digital businesses), published by Economía Digital, is a guide to understand the working of the new economy and which are the key processes to be successful in business. Under the claim focus-see-measure-execute-win, Martínez establishes, in thirteen concepts, resemblances between the high competition sports and the business: “to progress you have to have a disruptive mentality, that is to say, apply creativity in your daily tasks”. The truth is that this is something I’ve been trying to apply in my agency for a long time now; however, the world of books is still a world where the old and the modern are at war that makes us advance slowly, but this thought about the new economy and the economical and technological field from Ferran’s perspective, encourages me not to give up and keep reinventing myself.

Ferran Martínez, after a successful career in the Spanish basketball, in which he accumulated 156 internationals with Spain -and with the Euroleague basketball in 1994- he took up his other great passion: the economy. He’s now a successful businessman and ambassador for the United States of the Economic Confederation of Andorra, Martínez acknowledges that the values that sport taught him have been applied to the economy: “pressure, excellence and teamwork rule today the functioning of markets”. For this reason, the author not only describes the changes in the economic scenario but also gives the readers advice to make the most of their savings.

From crypto coins to blockchain, the new economy provides new business opportunities to “those brave people that dare to go further and add value to their product/service” says the author. This way, Ferran recommends to mix teamwork, creativity, talent and training to be successful in this new stage of the economy, that is not that far as we think and that we will have to face someday.

Any love breakup is painful, on both sides. It is evident that the abandoned suffers more than the one who abandons, but putting an end to a relationship is never an easy task because you leave one part of yourself in the other, many shared moments that remain in your memory, even if you don’t want to recognize it. These happy moments that you seldom enjoy but that leave you a good taste in your mouth almost impossible to forget. However, love is a flame that cannot be extinguished, because then it is very difficult to light it again, and we all need to feel this flame sometime during the day. We all need to feel loved, and when we lack this, there’s something inside us that it’s not properly working.

Jordi Tello is the writer of 1816, EL AÑO QUE NO HUBO VERANO (the year without summer), a small book in shape but big inside. Each sentence, each word, is perfectly measured and properly placed so you can feel the pain when you lose someone you love, when one day this person vanishes like the smoke.

I found Jordi thanks to Instagram, because his writings surprised me, they made me feel, and I read a lot because of my job, even texts I find in the social media, always in order to find something capable to move me. And his writings in particular made me laugh, cry, recall old moments full of passion, and I was surprised with myself because I did something that I have never done before: sending a message to a stranger, just to congratulate him for his writings. He answered me, kindly, and told me that he was about to publish a book with Urano, with Esther Sanz as his publisher, a person that I know very well because she’s one of the best and she’s also an amazing writer. I wasn’t surprised by this pairing, and I assure you that my intention wasn’t to recruit this boy, but just to tell him he had the sufficient talent to publish a book, but as Esther already have found him, I thought my relationship with Jordi ended there.

However, Jordi contacted me again and told me he was working on a new text and invited me to read it. I just loved it. Short texts but very deep, full of feelings, that aroused something in me once again. And now, here we are, Esther as his publisher, and I will try to take these texts to the next level. There are a lot of books that talk about love breakups, but not as Jordi does. I didn’t find books that talk openly about love, passion and madness, but also about doubts and sadness, about knowing how to forgive, in a few sentences and words. This is pure narrative poetry that switches on the warning lights of all the hearts. A short book to read quickly, that we can’t place in a particular genre, but we know something for sure: it’s pure feeling and makes me feel so much that I will leave on my nightstand to read the proper page when I sense my heart is fragile. 

Let the Cannes Festival begin. I love cinema and the red carpet with the actors and the actresses wearing these amazing dresses. It makes me happy to think that many films are books adaptations: they are two world that perfectly fit together, that complement each other, and we should try to get closer.

This year we sold the film rights of books that we love like UNA MADRE or UN HIJO by Alejandro Palomas, EL IMPERIO DE LOS LEONES by Sebastià Bennassar, SIN RETORNO by Susana Rodríguez, and we’re about to close Nadia’s story, EL SECRET DEL MEU TURBANT, written by Nadia herself and Agnés Rotger.

Alejandro’s novels are very personal that not all the film producers would be capable of getting so well inside the author’s head, but both Morena Films with UNA MADRE and Capitán Araña with UN HIJO are working really hard, with passion and enthusiasm, so I’m sure that we will make both projects work.

The work that the Stromboli Film Production is doing with EL IMPERIO DE LOS LEONES is amazing, and if we finally bring the book to the big screen, I highly recommend to read the novel first, because in this case we can describe both film and book as excellent projects.

Susana Rodriguez Lezaun’s trilogy, which has sold more than 35,000 copies in Spain, has been chosen for a TV series for the Basque Country, a trilogy that continues to give us good news and that I think the international publishing world has overlooked. This would be a good moment to resume this project because Susana is on a par with many thrillers that have been successful in other countries.

Irene Ochoa has been trapped by Marcos, her husband, who abuse her. She has no weapons other than her survival instinct, and there is no other option: Marcos’ life or hers. The opportunity arises when he arrives more drunk than usual and, after a couple of drinks, falls asleep. Hours later, firefighters and police investigate the causes of the fire that has claimed Marcos’ life. That same night, when she is just beginning to taste freedom, she meets the man who could take everything from her: Inspector David Vázquez, the person in charge of the case, who falls madly in love with her, and Irene feels that she can finally be happy and free again.

Finally, with the release of the work EL SECRET DEL MEU TURBANT in France with the publisher De l’Archipel, we managed to get a French producer (Single Man) to try to bring the book to the screen. It’s such a powerful and human story, that it’s no easy task either, and I enjoyed reading this book so much while at the same time I didn’t believe what I was reading, because it’s based on Nadia’s real story and she couldn’t be stronger.  I would love it if it could arrive to the cinema so the story would have another way of diffusion, because Nadia’s life must be an example for everyone and the book circuit is pretty short sometimes. If we join together, we will be much stronger: they are two worlds that should not compete with each other. And maybe this may help us to bring the book back if people love the films, because on the contrary I think we are already doing it.

Paz Castelló, writer of already 4 novels, comes back with a new one, La llave 104, also radical, where a woman is once again the main character. Power, success and money seems to be great enemies of honesty and many people who come to have it all become corrupt, specially when it’s all about politics, where everyone fights to keep his chair, to stand out, and not precisely for the teamwork. Paz Castelló has written an amazing thriller in her own personal style. The protagonist, Virginia Rives, enters the world of politics and she’s trapped by this net; she’s capable of anything in order to satisfy her own ambition: reinvent herself and escape from her past. A difficult past, obviously, which Virginia wishes to forget and prove herself she can be someone else. She discovers what it’s like to be fully involved in this world and how hard it is to control that feeling of “wanting more”, while at the same time she learns that in politics plans never come out as expected, especially when interests are marked by money and power.

This is a novel that exposes political corruption and that’s why it may feel uncomfortable to deal with, but which, at the same time, makes the reader think about what happened in the last decade in our country and about the limits we, as human beings, have to be able to control something as uncontrollable as the ambition. I think that many readers will like this book where Paz, after her own experience in the politics, has proven herself to be brave again and reveal what the political parties can do to achieve personal goals rather than common purposes, as it should be but it’s not the case. The answers to almost all these questions are safe behind the locks opened by the key 104… Or perhaps not.

I admire Paz for many things, because she’s a natural fighter, someone who chases her dreams because she believes they can be fulfilled. A brave woman, with a strong personality, and her books cannot escape a critical view of the world. She knows how to balance perfectly the mystery with the sensibility, something very difficult to find in the publishing scenario today. For this reason, she deserves that we find a space for this different and addictive voice. Happy to be able to share a new adventure with her, and that I hope you will enjoy and recommend so that we can continue growing in the publishing world, which is not easy, but at least it has this positive ingredient of doing what you love, and Paz does what she’s passionate about, and this can be seen in each of her works.

This weekend we celebrate the Mother’s Day and we should all benefit from the key dates. Now, I’ve been writing this blog for so long and I do my best to avoid being repetitive with the speeches and the books, but this time I can’t help it, mainly for two reasons.

The first because the ultimate book for this day cannot be other than “Una madre” (a mother) by Alejandro Palomas, that has been just published in Colombia, Chile and Argentina, an audience where I believe the book will find a safe prominent place. And secondly, because I can’t stop talking well about a mother like mine. A person like my mother, with her strength, has been an example to me and many of the things I am are thanks to her. A strong person, hardworking, and who has always known what to do and how to do it. With me, she has also been affectionate but she has also known how to tell me the truths, sometimes painful, and with her full support, because she was there for the good and the bad, and for this reason I think I can be here today writing this blog.

In the same way I’m here with my own agency, which will be 20 years old very soon, the path of which has not been easy at all because it is a very difficult job, but thanks to her I can say that I’m still here and I hope to continue with desire and passion. Now, it is my turn to look ahead but now my mother has to retire from work, get off this train, and enjoy the quiet and slow life, and even though she keeps coming every once in a while, because she is in love with her work, my mother knows that she must leave the baton to those who are coming who, fortunately, are my brothers, and together we will continue to build this small house of dreams. We will now enjoy a mother outside the office, that will also be very healthy, with time to devote to whatever she wants besides her grandchildren, another of her passions, and us, because she has never abandoned us, but from the balcony of life. Work will always be one of the important parts of her life but now it will be secondary, and I’m sure her smile will shine brighter. We will be able to enjoy only the familiar moments, the everyday, the small things, which in the end are the biggest.

Like Amalia, that in Alejandro’s book is an example of happy person but very concerned for her children, even if it doesn’t look like it. She helps them from this balcony of life, where I believe that the mothers know how to see things from a different perspective and are capable of saying those things that we don’t dare to say, or that perhaps we still can’t say. Because mothers are always unique, special and essential, because each of us know that her mother is the best and we are all right about that. Fer, Amalia’s son, knows it, and that’s why the novel is so special, because it’s an ode to mothers, with their flaws and virtues, their strong and weak points. Palomas has captured this with words, which is a very difficult thing to do, because the deep feelings are complicated to put on paper, like it’s happening to my right now, but he made it. And moreover, Palmoas has found the way to make readers cry and laugh at the same time, and they close the book with a good taste in their mouth and thinking I want more. And they got it, because as many of you know, the world of Alejandro Palomas is big, and he links one book to another, even you can read them separately. Here you have a link with the work you can enjoy of this author, who is also special and unique. A big writer, a big novel… And the mothers, great women that are indispensable, and to me, one of the most important pillar of my life.