how indie authors sell publishing rights
TRANSCRIPT
Going Global: How Indie Authors Sell
Publishing Rightswww.allianceindependentauthors.org @IndieAuthorALLi
Going GlobalThe Alliance of Independent Authors
• Fostering Ethics & Excellence in Self-publishing through:
Education & Information
Cooperation & collaboration
Advocacy & representation
“Working together for each other.”
Going GlobalFour Member Categories
• 3 Author Member Types
• Associate
• Author
• Professional (50,000+ sales)
• Partner Membership for Vetted Author Services
Going GlobalStages Of The Indie Author Journey
1. Design, Editorial, Production & Distribution
2. Promotion — Sell More Books
3. Sell Rights
(2 & 3 increasingly relevant to trade-pubbed too)
Going GlobalThe Questions for ALLi:
• We Are A Global association: How Do We Make That More Meaningful (Online + IRL)
• How Do We Harness This Great & Growing Resource Pool of Savvy Authors?
• How Do We Help Our Members Sell More Books/Rights In Other Territories, Formats, Languages?
Going GlobalKnow Your Author Rights
IPR Licence Survey:
• Only 13% of respondents had licensed their work to an overseas publisher, representing a potentially huge opportunity missed.
• Almost half of authors (47%) admitted they didn’t know or were unsure if they owned the world rights to their book.
• 28% of authors didn’t know when they didn't have a right to license
• Over a third (38%) failed to recognize that “a right of passage” (sic) was not a saleable right
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
First: English Language eBooks in International Online Stores
• Amazon, Kobo, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital & Smashwords
• Free helps break out
• Facebook ads in relevant territory also successfully used
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
Get An Agent to Sell To Foreign Publishers Who Will Translate
• Commission: 20%+ depending on sub-agents/scout arrangement
• Most only see advance
• Toby Mundy of TMA represents suitable books in translation markets for members of ALLi who have sold more than 50,000 in English
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
Overseas Agents (2)
• You need to have a significant track record
• You can use more than one agent but only one per book and some agents like to rep everything
Several of them took me on and offers for translation rights from foreign publishers started coming — Korean,
Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Chinese, and Romanian — with advances totaling nearly $40k. Several other languages are in the works. I strongly recommend
using literary agents (as opposed to contacting publishers directly); they are worth their weight in gold.”
John Penberthy, To Bee or Not to Bee: $40,000+
• Internet research.• Pitched 100+ overseas
literary agents • brief email, link to book
trailer
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
3. Sell Direct to Overseas Publishers Yourself
• If your book sells well in English they may well approach you.
• Translation contracts must be in your language (Berne convention)
• Translation contracts are, in the main, simple.
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
Sell Direct To Publishers (2): Book Fairs
• The biggies: Frankfurt Book Fair, October; the London Book Fair, mid April, and Book Expo America, end of May.
• Do not just turn up to an international book fair, hoping to sell your book. Meetings are arranged in advance with acquisitions editors.
• Be prepared to invest time & money. A table in the rights arena at an international book fair will cost $1000 or more.
Going Global
How Authors Sell Rights
4. Online Rights Markets
• IPR Licence & Pub match
• Only as good as the work you put into them
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
5. Commission Translations to Sell Direct
• BabelCube
provides a meeting and marketplace for authors and translators to exchange and secure deals
You selects translator and uploads book. The translator uploads their version when done.
Babelcube puts the book on retail sites around the world and pays both parties
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
Translation Services (2)
Fiberead, based in China:
translate your English-language book into Mandarin format & provide a cover translationdistribute China's many ebook retailers, including Kindle
Many author services emerging in China and around the world
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
Thinking Globile
“Cellphones are igniting a 'reading revolution' in poorer countries.” UNESCO
• Globile = Global Mobile
• Thanks to cell phones in countries like Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Pakistan:
people are reading more
they're reading to their children
they're hungry for more content.
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
Going Globile
• China is currently the world's largest smartphone market. (Apple iBooks just opened in China. )
• India is expected to jump into second place ahead of the USA as soon as 2017. India officially has 30m. more internet users than the USA has people but only 27% of its people are online
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
Expanding Globile: Facebook & Google
• Google Loon: High-flying internet-relay balloons that will bring the internet to remote areas
• Google's Saathi project: trained teams touring India by bicycle showing rural women how to connect to the internet with their smartphones.
• Facebook Drones taking Facebook to remote corners of planet
• Facebook’s internet.org
Going GlobalHow Authors Sell Rights
Final Tips
• Never give world rights as standard
• Ask publisher / publishing services for full details of their plans to exploit right in a particular territory or language. If it’s all very vague, retain those rights.
• Similarly, check your agreement with any translations rights agent carefully.
• Have a plan but also know that publishing is an erratic, mysterious business and this is especially evident when it comes to foreign rights.
Going GlobalALLi’s Answers
• Collaboration: Ambassadors, IRL MeetUps & other points of contact
• Encouragement & Eduction: How Authors Sell Rights Guide, Blog Posts, Seminars
• Connection & cross-collaboration
• More Questions, Better Answers, Keep Learning
Going Global
The Alliance of Independent Authors
www.allianceindependentauthors.org @IndieAuthorALLi