Foreign Rights

My book has now been sold to a Dutch and German publisher, but not an English or American one, which of course makes things interesting in terms of what happens next. (And how I'll be able to read it myself...)

My agent's plan was to get an offer from the UK and parlay that into foreign rights at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The UK editors are still pondering, I guess. The Dutch and Germans, however, have made pre-emptive offers, even before the Book Fair. Which makes me wonder if that will encourage the UK publishers to move, or if they'll want to wait and see what happens with sales in those countries before taking a chance. Hmmm...

Interesting enough, the German offer which we've accepted is on the basis of the advance - royalties have yet to be negotiated. So we have a contract, but one that probably isn't enforceable (don't tell the Germans ) because major terms have yet to be agreed upon. That said, I have the feeling that most of that stuff is pretty standard, and am happy to leave it in the hands of my agent to sort out.

I suppose the courts could import a 'fair standard' if the parties failed to agree on royalties but I think all these things are pretty standard. It is a bit odd, though, to have a binding contract in place without knowing for eg. when advances will be paid (the agent said the Germans tend to like to split them up, half on signing, half on publication).

Yay, Forsaken, nice to know someone can read it! It will be a bit odd, seeing it in a format that I can't read myself .

Hi, everyone: Sorry for the delay in responding, I forgot to subscribe to this thread.

Yes, I've been in touch with Trixielox, who is very excited by her foreign deal in Germany.

Goals and Achievements would no doubt be a good forum: still navigating my way through AW, so forgive me if this is in the wrong place.

Re. editing, I had a long talk with the Canadian counterpart to my UK agent today, and also corresponded with him by email. What happens is that one editor takes the lead; in this case, once he gets a UK deal, it would probably be someone in the UK. (Could be a Canadian publisher, depends. A lot of negotiations are going on at the moment.). The other publishing houses may have input/comments, but essentially the author works with that one editor and generally, they are content to fall in line behind that one. It does mean getting signed up with a reputable publisher and an editor that everyone trusts, but I have the sense that there are a few of those in the queue.

Was there anything else I could answer for anyone about this? I'm blogging on it quite regularly; there may be news within the next week or two. Fingers crossed!

Thanks, Iheartwriting! It seems like every time I get down and depressed about this book (which happens regularly) something comes along to surprise me. I thought the radio silence during the Frankfurt Book Fair meant that the publishers didn't like it. Turns out there was stuff going on behind the scenes which has yet to play out. (Publishing, I've discovered, requires one not just to write, but to mind-read...)

And the news is -- a rejection.

And quite an odd one at that, indicating that they didn't want to deal with a series.

And so, as I ascend the food chain, the rejections still come, but seem to be more polite. Kind of like a 'catch and release' program in fishing. At the end of it all, everyone feels warm and fuzzy, but the fish dies from stress.

I am starting to think that everyone who hangs out with people who have imaginary friends is a bit off .

Hello, Cloud Eight.

I am a Canadian writer but I was put in touch with one of AW's American writers (Trixielocks, referred to above). That author has also been picked up by a German publisher. She says the economy over there is booming, and that the German publishers are therefore not as timid as they are in North America right now - far more willing to take a chance on a debut author.

She's in YA; I'm crime mystery, yes, with a touch of paranormal. But it was interesting to sell there, to a big publisher, while the publishers in North American and the UK are still pondering their involvement.

Feel free to PM me, if that didn't answer your question with enough detail. And best of luck. The nice thing about both the Dutch and German publishers was that they responded almost instantly and positively, without any hesitation, which was just great.

Just PM'd you back!

Hi everyone --

Sorry for the lengthy silence. There's been a lot of activity, actually my book has been picked up by Penguin Canada in a two book deal, world English rights (yayyy!) so things are moving fast now to get a revised English manuscript for the foreign rights publishers. Publication expected to be sometime between fall 2011 and spring 2012.

I'm now buckling down to the nuts and bolts of contractual details. I'm blogging today on the crazy tax situation affecting foreign rights -- hope your tax authorities are a little better acquainted with this situation than mine have proven to be.

http://peggyblair.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/death-and-taxes/

Here's my updates on the tax stuff. Craziness.

http://peggyblair.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/death-and-taxes-part-ii/

Hi, James -- hope they like Canadian mysteries, too .

Thanks, Kathleen.

Thanks, Trix -- I'll be looking forward to seeing how your book does in Germany. Great market there, for sure! Keep us posted!

Some advice on dealing with those advances when they're paid in foreign currencies.
http://peggyblair.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/advances-in-foreign-currencies-some-advice/