How Indie Authors Sell Publishing Rights

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