How To Cash In On Your Book’s Foreign Rights By James N. Powell Editing-Writing/james-powell If your book has been published traditionally but is now out of print, you may be sitting on a pile of cash. Even though the rights for that book are now yours, perhaps you have made the mistake of giving up on it. That can be a mistake, so before you do that, consider a few things: A book that does poorly in one setting can make quite a splash elsewhere. My first publication was a master’s thesis on Indian religious symbolism. There was a tiny audience for such thought in the United States, but a publishing house in India picked it up, and suddenly I was a published author with a receptive audience. Unless you are a big shot, the general advance for foreign rights is only a couple of thousand dollars. Your query letter, however, which you can send out to hundreds of agents worldwide, might take only a couple of hours to write. Let’s say you end up with your book published in three other countries. That’s pretty good money, and you will enjoy having a vastly expanded audience. Some writers on foreign rights advise trying to figure out the market in various countries to find one favorable for your title. After all, you’re not going to sell Cheaper by the Dozen (a book about raising a large family) in China. Although that type of rational approach has its merits, it is also limiting. The world is larger and more wild than our calculations. Books are like wild animals: just turn them loose and they will find their own niche. On the web you’ll find many international directories of agents and publishers: Publishers Global is a good place to start: publishersglobal/directory/media/poster-publishers/2/ If your book lands on the desk of an agent in say Hong Kong or Moscow, she’s going to be much more receptive if it’s already been published in the US. Also, she’ll know just the right translator to call and will have the inside scoop on what local publishers are looking for. If, however, your manuscript has never been published, most foreign houses will not look at it unless you have already paid to have it translated. Good translations are expensive, but you may be able to find one who will work for a cut of the advance or the royalties. With a little bit of effort, your book might find a home in another culture, in another language, and might even become a success.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 20:00:01 +0000
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