In an interview with “Power360”, heir to family owner of mining companies recalls losses of R $ 100 million with Cosac Naify and claims not to repeat the past mistakes
Charles Cosac, 60, keeps under reserve the initial investment – only that it is “alto” – but promises to tell “Each penny” In its new endeavor in the editorial world: Cosac Editions. That’s because you need “Learning from mistakes” From the previous experience, Cosac Naify, publisher with which he released 1,600 titles from 1997 to 2015, stirred the market with his luxury books and closed the doors with “R $ 100 million in losses”.
Heir to a mining family owner, Cosac made public the idea of the new publisher in 2023. He launched in the same year “Siron Franco, in the Justo Werlang collection”about the works of the Goian artist. The following year came “Florindas”, Two volumes with the jewelry of former Bahian slaves. In 2025, he says he has “50 books in line, hired and in progress”in a catalog that will have “History of Brazil, Humanities, Cinema, Theater, Literature, Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy and Literary Criticism”.
Cosac’s society with his brother -in -law Michael Naify, who together with him accumulated “R $ 100 million in losses”, It no longer exists. The new partners at Cosac Editions are lawyer Alberto Rangel, partner-in-class, and former Cosac Naify collaborators: Álvaro Machado, editor and writer, Raul Loureiro, Designer, and Dione Oliveira, from the financial area.
“I don’t want to lose that money again. I don’t want anyone to lose. Now there are five people in the publisher. There are five people who want to profit ”said Cosac in this interview with Poder360. Read the main excerpts:
Power360 – In 2023, you gave interviews saying you were reopening the publisher. Now in 2025 this agenda has returned in very similar terms. What happened in these two years?
Charles Cosac – I gave those interviews for pure boldness. I already had the book of [artista plástico] Siron Franco [da coleção de Justo Werlang, colecionador de artes goiano]. It was the 1st I made with the new name of the publisher. We launched the book and launched the publisher.
It’s not that I rushed to launch the publisher – the publisher was a fact. It’s just that, in a way, when you make the public testimony, it is a certain duty. We want to correspond. It is a way of saying: “I spoke in the press, so you have to do it”. It is putting a commitment that requires you to move on.
At Cosac Naify there was always a discussion about the publisher’s moment of foundation, because she was born in my head. I was about 1 year old and meiworking. Then the 1st book arrived, which was the Book of Tunga [“Barroco de Lírios”]. And we launched in December 1997.
Have you already had the partners in 2023?
Society already existed in my head. If you got into my head, it entered. I already had a project to choose people who helped me a lot with Cosac Naify, which is the case with Dione [Oliveira]which I have known for many years, and Raul [Loureiro] and from Álvaro [Machado]which I have known for decades.
What is the agreement for this society?
The monetary investment is being made by me and Alberto Rangel. We put an amount of money on the bank and we know we will have to put much more. We will put as we need it. Will you need another $ 1 million? R $ 2 million? We put this money.
Protection investment is a rough investment, high. We are about 50 books in line, hired and in progress. It is a large amount. For a publisher that is restarting [os trabalhos]it’s big.
We signed a contract with the Rocha family [do cineasta Glauber Rocha] To reissue 3 books from Cosac Naify. And there are 4 more unpublished books. They are materials from Glauber himself. We also signed with the Mello Mourão family [do poeta e escritor Gerardo Mello Mourão]. We will redo the complete works: 24 books in total.
We entered an agreement with the Coutinho family [do documentarista Eduardo Coutinho] To redo the book [já lançado pela Cosac Naify, com entrevistas e ensaios]. All with new prefaces, new afterwords. It is a material that has a repressed demand in the market. It has a monthly demand, people buy every month.
Are you enjoying the material from Cosac Naify so?
It’s a way for me to put faster books on the market. But in April I launch 5 books from Creole series. It is something that I have been working since 2023. These are books in the history of Brazil of the 17th and 18th century, which greatly address the theme of slavery, sometimes directly, indirectly. There will be whale hunters, the visit of the Inquisition to Bahia, the black sinhás, will have a book about women travelers.
A Creole series It will be the backbone [da nova editora]. It is a product produced by us that, in the end, will be an encyclopedia. There will be 5 books a year. It is a book for the faculty. It is a book for initiates.
But do teachers have money to pay for such a book?
The book is coming out for about $ 110, $ 120. Without subsidizing. No money from ours. But we have computed every penny that was spent in the book. Cosac Naify didn’t do that. The staff went to the meeting with a stack of books and asked: “Do you look like?”. It was absurd. We always sold a book below the price – and it was still reputed to be expensive.
It also has the service to the teacher, who gives them 40% off. Teachers buy directly from the publisher.
It is a publisher who has a work plan, who has a project, who knows how much he can spend and how much he cannot. It is a thorough thing, but it is necessary. I can’t sell the book for the face it has.
Are all luxury editions?
We are launching a new language with Raul [Loureiro]which for me is the best designer. We are trying a way from the middle that is not a hardcover. I found the books [novos] Nice. TO Creole series points to where the publisher goes. They are neat books. The design is very important.
And we will have a lot of content because there are a lot of authors in the series – all full teachers, already retired, who will give testimonials, with Álvaro Machado as responsible editor.
You said in previous interviews that invested $ 70 million at Cosac Naify and lost twice as much…
Were $ 100 million in losses.
You said in previous interviews that you don’t want to work in the red. How do you want to do this?
We always spend more at the beginning. It is difficult to start any economic activity making money. And the books have a pregnancy. And the return is very late.
Well, I don’t want to criticize anyone specific. Cosac Naify has gone through several administrations, we had several financial directors, several managers. And I’m not talking about any of them, but there was a lot of waste.
I can’t list a list of barbaries here, but there were people who didn’t read in English and had the book translate to read. So we had piles of translations that were not used. The design department was a spending. But it was a laboratory. They could try everything. Today I wouldn’t do that anymore.
It is not the same publisher. When I say I won’t work in the red, I don’t want to lose that money again. I don’t want anyone to lose. Now there are 5 people in the publisher. There are 5 people who want to profit. Who want her to grow.
Once at Cosac Naify I tried to share the publisher and take actions to the most important people, but no one wanted to be a partner, because I would be contracting an accumulated debt.
In the past I was believing in others. I was believing that she [a Cosac Naify] It would enter the green. The publisher sold well – she even sold $ 2 million a month, but she spent $ 3 million. I don’t want to live this life again. I’m doing everything for Cosac not to take this course. I have to learn from my mistakes. I won’t repeat them anymore.
Maybe because of my posture [com a Cosac Naify]I lost a lot. And I had problems with bookstores they didn’t pay. I could not stop the impression of a book because the bookstore X, Y or Z did not pay me. When the megasters started to close, we got groundless. Then Amazon grew a lot. This gave Amazon room. I do everything to sell for them. Having a publisher that only sold for Amazon would be the ideal for me – not that I don’t like booksellers, but I had bad experiences.
The new generations are living a digital world. There is a big audience for books. I don’t know if this audience will die or not. I don’t know if I will have time to see the future of the book, the fate that the book will take.
Its business model in the new publisher includes book sponsorships. How will it work?
These are books enrolled in the Rouanet Law. And we seek the sponsor.
And do you already have sponsors?
We have two sponsored books that come out this year. One of the sponsors is Starrett [fabricante de ferramentas e equipamentos de uso industrial]. Another is the mining company [Mineral do Brasil, empresa da família de Cosac].
I have a lot of faith that I will find sponsorship for this project. And, as they [os livros] Going out, it will be easier, because I will have more things to show.
It will never be direct sponsorship, will always be via incentive law?
There is a company that makes direct sponsorship, which uses entertainment money, but depends on the size of the company. Certainly this will happen.
And there will be book I want to do anyway. But then I do it with my own money – I can’t shoot the editor’s foot. It is one thing aside, a separate accounting. I give [o livro] For publisher, and becomes hers.
Are you the majority partner of the new publisher?
No. I’m a minority. I had 50% and Alberto [Rangel] It had 50%. But I shared my part with Álvaro, Raul and Dione and we got 12.5% each. This already shows my little interest in money. I want [a editora] Be healthy, self -sustaining, but I don’t expect anything from her.
We may make a profit, that we choose a certain title of successful sales. I would love it, but I do not intend to take any of the publisher. I’m fighting for her, but I have my life independent of her.
Alberto Angel, who owns half, is the majority. There are five friends, and we are working together. Already had disagreement, of course, but we know how to talk.
