Do You Know Your Foreign Rights?
By Deanna Carlyle 2004

Warsaw. Prague. Tokyo. These are some of the current hot spots for American-authored romance. But not just any romance. Some sub-genres sell better in some countries, some of the time. Others sell in more countries more of the time. The question is: What works where, and why? And how can authors maximize their income potential by expanding their readership overseas? Read on and find out.

But Will It Play in Poland?

Which foreign countries are most receptive to American-authored romance?  "It's forever changing," says agent Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency, "just as it does here. One example that comes to mind is that the Asian market didn't seem to be such a great place for romance for a while. At one point I was told by our sub-agents there that the market tended to frown on the 'happy ending.' But in recent years, I have personally seen a lot more activity in that region with our romance authors. Just as we do here in America, I think everyone is always trying to guess which direction the market is heading, but it ebbs and flows all over the planet. As soon as you think you've pegged it, cycles shift again."

Given that cycles shift, what are the trends as of this writing? "The countries that do very well with romances are Germany, Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Korea," says Lara Lea Allen, Manager, Foreign Rights at HarperCollins Publishers. "Australia is beginning to get a market, and Japan is buying romantic suspense more and more. Most of these countries, however, want historical romances."

"Germany and France are big," says Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency, www.nelsonagency.com. "UK & Australia. Sometimes Czechoslovakia. Chick Lit can sell well everywhere except in the UK right now. There seems to be a burn out or a back lash there."

Romance author Margaret Evans Porter (Road to Ruin, Signet reissue, 02/04) confirms these trends. "Judging from the royalty action, I'd say I've done best in Poland and Germany and Portugal."

On the other hand, there are plenty of countries where American romances don't translate culturally. "England for example," Allen says. "Their romances usually center on wartime star-crossed lovers, probably because World War II is such recent history for them, while its effect on us was not as great. France is another, although they are beginning to publish more contemporary romances of a shorter form. Historicals don't work in Japan, but contemporary romances do.

"It's all about culture. Other countries do not think of romance as we do. In American romance, the role of soul mates and a single person meant for another is at the heart of most of the market. In France, mistresses are commonplace and accepted. The Japanese, for their part, simply cannot relate to Regency England. These are only a few examples and a few reasons for this phenomenon."

For suspense writer Lisa Gardner (The Killing Hour, Bantam Books, 7/03), however, England is a good foreign market. "I know in Britain things seem to be going well, but that's the book market that's easiest for an American to understand. For starters, the books are in English, market tastes seem to be close to American tastes, and you can track sales via the London Times as opposed to the New York Times. We also sold to that country first, so we have a longer history there."

What Works Where?

For HarperCollins/Avon, on the other hand, historical romances tend to do better overseas than contemporaries. "Contemporaries don't work as well as historicals," Allen says. "Women's fiction is gaining momentum across the board; we have a very good Dutch client who is constantly looking for young, hip women's stuff."

Polish sub-agent Malgorzata Borkowska, the American Literature Agent at Graal Literary Agency in Warsaw, paints a similar picture. "As historical romance, contemporary romance and romantic chick lit seem to be doing quite well on the market, we tend to order copies of works that fall into those particular categories."

One sub-genre that doesn't translate culturally is westerns. "It simply doesn't work," Allen says. "Nobody in Europe cares about them. Also, any romance with a football player hero, or baseball player hero, or any sports hero other than a soccer player isn't going to work either, since we're the only country that plays those sports."

American multicultural romances are also a hard sell abroad. “Foreign markets aren't really big for multicultural romances," Kayla Perrin (The Delta Sisters, St. Martin's Press, 04/04) says, "although I'd think they could be in countries like France, because the large number of French speaking blacks there." Despite the hard sell, multicultural romance is available abroad, especially in English-speaking countries. "I know my books have been spotted in Australia and the Caribbean," Perrin confirms.

American erotica and romantica are also a tough sell in some countries, yet popular in others. "We have tremendous problems selling tales of erotic romance," sub-agent Borkowska says, "The Polish society may not be the most conservative one, but it undoubtedly is quite inhibited as far as eroticism is concerned. The publishers fear that erotic romance might not sell well probably because most of the readers would be too ashamed to actually purchase such a book. This does not mean that the demand for erotic novels is non-existent. I suppose that, even though most Poles would take interest in erotic novels, they would much rather keep it secret. It certainly would not be a thing to brag about during supper.

"Another problem would be that no publishing house has ever been committed to publishing erotic novels on a regular basis. My guess would also be that taking interest in eroticism is still considered pretty much a male issue and undoubtedly, most of the readers of romance are female. Publishing erotic romance might then be a risky enterprise."

In Italy, on the other hand, Harlequin's Blaze line is an unexpected hit, despite the fact that – or perhaps because – the edgy, erotic language has been edited out.

Italian Harlequin / Mondadori managing editor Maria Paolo Romeo explains why: "We have a different way to write about sex, less crude, less anatomical, more concentrated on sensations. It’s strange, but explicit sex scenes in English do not sound as much like porn as the same in Italian."

Italian romance readers are also choosy about the rest of Harlequin's core series. "Analyzing series results, we know that Italian readers do not love cowboys and American heroes like firemen," Romeo says. "They prefer positive stories and themes, they do not like dramas (also not in medicals!) and are attracted by titles and blurbs that recall more classical romance (English styled). The sub-genres that sell better are: pure romance, medicals, historicals, sensual/sexy romance (great unexpected success of Blaze, especially in Summer period). The ones that sell less better: romantic comedy and romantic suspense.

"Concerning women fiction, in the last year our [Italian] editorial offer has grown in the suspense/thriller area. In fact the competition in this area is very strong in the bookstores and so it’s not easy to compete with well known authors like Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, Jeffrey Deaver. Women's fiction in my opinion should be more 'women focused,' I mean more relationship novels, romantic stories, sexy stories (in these weeks the n.1 on the Bestsellers List in Italy is an erotic diary written by an Italian teenager). The chick-lit genre is a successful experiment in this direction."

Inspirational romance with western or military settings, on the other hand, tend not to be available in foreign markets, whereas American inspirational non-fiction is widely translated. "The majority of the successful Christian publishers have a very active and viable foreign rights division," agent Steve Laube at The Literary Group International says. "I may have the number wrong but a few years ago Bethany House did over 1500 foreign rights contracts in one year. Thus I am not adverse to giving control of foreign rights to the publishers."

Barbour, Tyndale, and Multnomah are active in the Christian association IRMA (International Rights Managers Association), with a strong presence at the Frankfurt and London book fairs. But after extensive online searches at multiple foreign bookstores, the only inspirational fiction in translation this writer could find was Tyndale's popular Left Behind fantasy thriller series.

Despite differing sub-genre tastes, romance readers worldwide share an essentially female sensibility, described so well by Polish agent Borkowska:

"Readers are after their daily dose of exoticism, fun, chivalry and luxury. Possibly, they also seek ways of solving their own personal problems by analyzing the fate of the characters that appear in the novels."

Borkowska goes on to explain that historical romance is popular in Poland because of the beauty and exoticism of by-gone settings and epochs. "I think that the habits people have had in the 16th century for instance appeal to the readers because our society is so different from what it used to be back then. I suppose we tend to seek in books what we lack in life."

The same goes for contemporary romance readers. "[R]eading romance is about feeling like someone else," Borkowska says, "someone more dignified, fragile and, above all, desired. This would also explain why chick lit and contemporary romance is also so widely read, only that in the case of those two categories people not only want to feel needed, but also entertained. They want to laugh to tears and forget about the whole world."

If this description feels familiar, it's because it was written by a woman.

Grant ‘em or Keep ‘em

When does it make sense to keep your foreign rights, rather than grant them to your publisher? "Agents almost always want to keep foreign rights (with some exceptions – see below)," Nelson says. "In most cases there is more money to be made in separate sales than giving the publisher those rights. For example, recently one of my clients received over 20k in extra advances from the separate foreign sales on top of a very handsome U.S. advance.

"The exceptions: 1) If a book is a particularly American topic, foreign rights are not such a big deal since very few foreign publishers will be interested in buying the book. 2) For brand new romance writers, sometimes it is better to sell world rights to the publisher because big romance houses (such as Harlequin) have terrific overseas counterparts who can release the book there and start building an overseas readership. There are not a lot of foreign sales for brand new romance writers (unless the project underwent a big auction in the U.S. then foreign publishers might have a lot of interest in a new writer since such a big sale would generate significant buzz). Now, once a romance writer is established, that's a very different story. Chick lit is also an exception here. This genre can sell very well overseas so agents like to keep those foreign rights. 3) Selling a work to Random House in the U.S. They have a phenomenal foreign rights department there. Sometimes it's better to negotiate a much higher U.S. advance and let RH sell the foreign.

"I actually pow-wow with both my co-agents before undergoing a U.S. negotiation. We strategize. We feel out the overseas market for my client's project and then I'm armed when I do my U.S. deal on how firm to hold to NA [North American] rights only, World English, or to give World."

A good agent will know which publishers have success with foreign rights, which don't. "For the [publishers] who have terrific sub-rights departments, it can make more sense for them to control those rights," Knight says, "especially if the advance reflects that fact. For houses that historically just haven't displayed a lot of activity, then the agent will want to aggressively work to control foreign."

Gardner explains the situation from an author's perspective. "If an author sells her foreign rights to her U.S. publisher, she is by definition forfeiting 50% of the proceeds from those sales. In the beginning of an author's career, the advance paid to her by the U.S. publisher may be generous enough to offset the difference.

"As the author starts to command significant money overseas, however, she may find the arrangement is no longer to her advantage. Unfortunately, once an author has included foreign rights in her U.S. book deals, it is very difficult to change those terms, even for future novels. Thus, my agent recommended to me to keep my foreign rights from the very beginning."

Whether a publisher controls your foreign rights, or you do, your agent still gets a greater or lesser share of the eventual sale. "That we receive commission on foreign rights is covered in our agency agreement – and would be standard in any agent's terms," Knight says, "so either way it's a natural part of our representing a book for the life of its income duration that we share in foreign, no matter if the publisher controls or if we do."

For example, let's say a publisher is contracted to receive 30% of your foreign sales monies in exchange for having found a buyer. In this case, your agent would typically receive 15% of the 70% due you. The balance would then be subtracted from your advance, helping you to earn out your advance and receive any royalties sooner.

How It Works

How do publishers' foreign rights managers develop and maintain their customer contacts? "There are several ways I develop my contacts," Allen says, "including speaking to other rights people, attending book fairs to see which houses are publishing romances, and then asking if any romance editors are attending. I have also been approached by new houses looking to do the types of books I sell. There is no one way to develop contacts; keeping an open, though cautious, mind is the best way.

"Each year, we (my rights colleagues and I) visit three major book fairs, and occasionally one or two not-so-major as well. London Book Fair is in March, Book Expo in May, and the most important, Frankfurt in October. For each book fair, we compile a rights guide, which lists forthcoming titles up to a year and half before publication. We then arrange meetings with editors, usually every half hour for eight hours, in which we discuss the books and collect interest to be followed by submissions later.

"Between book fairs, we correspond with contacts via e-mail, particularly if we receive material on a book discussed earlier. More and more we are submitting manuscripts as e-mail attachments, which makes the entire process even more efficient.

"As for sales, we negotiate mostly over e-mail or on the phone, though some sales are done at Frankfurt, which is the biggest book fair of the year. Every publisher from around the world attends, and thus naturally it is easier to meet people to buy your books. Deals are usually concluded, however, in writing via e-mail or fax. Since we deal in contracts, it is very important to have everything in writing."

To compensate for their smaller size, literary agencies are often proactive in going after foreign customers. "Book Expo has proved valuable to us in meeting various editors and foreign rights contacts," Knight says, "and of course sometimes a smaller publisher may contact us and make an introduction. Right now, we have an offer pending on a very risky, difficult nonfiction memoir and it appears we may sell it to an edgy British publisher before placing it in the US market. The goal is to maximize all global rights on a project, and of course to piece together a publishing deal in the most dynamic way possible. Sometimes that includes selling translation simultaneous to the US rights when we're marketing the appropriate project."

Another way for literary agencies to compensate for their small size is to delegate foreign rights work to sub-agents. "We work largely with sub-agents in the major territories and countries," Knight says, "though in a few instances I have negotiated directly with foreign publishers. For the most part, however, I rely on working with skilled sub-agents who understand the nuances of what sells in their market; what the right price is; who the best publishers are for a given book. We regularly receive rights requests once we make new deals for authors, so word of mouth definitely happens and can lead to a deal. Also, we stay in contact with various scouts, and sometimes that can lead to a foreign sale before the North American or English rights sale."

Sometimes competing publishers and agents work with the same foreign sub-agent. "We work with Avon Books, a division of HarperCollins, Dutton, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. and Kensington Publishing Corporation," explains Polish sub-agent Borkowska. "Those would be our major partners, as far as romance is concerned... We do co-operate with individual authors as well but those are very few."

Can you Do it Yourself?

Certainly it's hard to sell your foreign rights without an agent or a publisher, but it's not impossible. Women's fiction author Kay Raymer did the whole agent query routine in 2000, but nobody would look at her novel, Hannah Street. So she sent the manuscript to her attorney, who happened to know someone at Bertelsmann / Germany. Bertelsmann made an offer on the book, and her lawyer helped arrange the contract. As a result, Raymer's first novel appeared in Germany in 2001, a paperback original called Das Rosenhaus.

Crime author Karen Adams (Strassenfeger, Heyne Verlag, 2003) also sold directly to a German publisher. "I had already approached a few American agents. I even managed to smuggle myself into the agents' area at the Frankfurt Book Fair. And one of the agents I talked to even sent me a contract! But I didn't feel she was on my wave-length, so I didn't sign it." When this first approach didn't work, Adams, who lives in Germany, wrote a letter to Harry Rowohlt, a respected German translator and writer. She then traveled to Heidelberg, where Rowohlt was giving a reading, and handed him the letter along with chapters from her novel. He graciously accepted her brown paper envelope, read its contents, and recommended them to his own publisher.

"It is much easier for English-language writers to sell German translation rights than for German language writers (or even English-language writers living in Germany) to sell English-language rights," Adams adds. "American agents all seem to have partner agents in Germany, so if one has an agent, the process would seem to take place automatically. Since my book was not published first in English and because I live here, I took the step of establishing a 'contact' for myself. I'm lucky that it worked!"

Some authors have different reasons for selling their foreign rights without an agent's or a publisher's help. "My former agent informed me that she does not sell subrights unless interested parties approach her," horror author Jon F. Merz says. "Well, I asked my new agent for some advice and he suggested I contact Kensington and offer them the subrights for a split of the money. A good deal in that regard would give me a 75/25 split with the publisher for subrights sales they make on my behalf. The normal deal, however is a 50/50 split of funds. After speaking with my editor, he agreed to 75/25 if I chose to do so. I didn’t. Why not? Well, if I let Kensington market subrights, not only will they take a cut of the profits, but then my ex-agent gets a cut as well. What starts out as 75% quickly dwindles down to 60% and even less if Kensington has to pay off a foreign agent as well. Now, some may argue that 60% of something is better than 85% of nothing – and that’s true. But I will be pursuing leads with foreign publishers myself." (with permission from “Merz Mania – The Official Jon F. Merz Newsletter,” http://www.zrem.com, email: zrem@earthlink.net)

Let’s Talk Euros and Yen

For some reason, talking about money is taboo in polite publishing society, but we're going to do it anyway. "Authors' advances can sometimes surpass their US advance if things proceed well overseas," Knight says. "For example, we sold a book for a decent advance here in the US--but that same book sold at auction in Germany and the authors received twice as much money for the German translation alone. For the most part, however, advances for romance translation are modest -- as low as $1000 in some countries – and more in the $4-5000 range in others. And of course, the bigger name the author has, the better chance that the overseas publishers will be more aggressive in growing them. "

What about foreign royalties? "Royalty structures are fairly comparable to U.S. structures. Sometimes they are a little better," Nelson says. "[If] the author grants translation rights to Avon," Allen adds, "the split is 75/25 in the author's favor; 75% of any money received as the result of a translation sale-advance, royalties, etc., goes to the author. Avon keeps 25%."

Now before your author eyeballs turn into euro signs, keep in mind this caveat from Lisa Gardner: "The U.S. is the largest publishing market in the world, so by definition foreign sales generate a fraction of an author's royalty stream. Some countries, however, such as Great Britain or Germany, are large enough to pay out six-out figure deals to a bestselling author. Then you have exciting places such as Latvia that pay out a few hundred. So needless to say, income varies dramatically." 

Also keep in mind that foreign sales involve hidden expenses, whether your publisher controls your rights, or, as in Gardner's case, you and your agents do. "Your agent fees are generally 20% versus 15% for the U.S. market," Gardner says. "Then there are banking fees. Then there are foreign taxes: many countries, such as Japan, charge a 10% income tax even on foreigners. So sometimes the deal starts out sounding great, but by the time the money trickles through everyone's hands, you end up with enough for dinner at McDonald's."

If you and your agent want to retain foreign rights, your agency clause with her may read something like this (sample provided by agent Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency): "NLA will promptly (within one week of receipt of publisher payment) remit to you all monies due as collected after the deduction of its fee of fifteen percent (15%) of all proceeds you receive for all the rights and interests above, with the following exceptions: 1) a total commission of twenty-five percent (25%) will be deducted for foreign publication rights sold through subagents or twenty percent (20%) if no subagent is used and 2) a total commission of twenty percent (20%) will be deducted for dramatic, commercial, and syndication rights sold through subagents."

Whether your publisher or your agent makes the foreign sale, you're still going to have to pay somebody about 25%. Which is what delegation is all about. So the question is not so much what you'll have to pay to delegate a foreign deal as it is who's going to do the best job?

Harlequin Unbound

As one of Harlequin's advertising slogans puts it, We Are Romance. Indeed, Harlequin is the biggest, and arguably the most successful romance publisher in the world. This is due in no small part to their policy of buying world rights and asking authors to waive certain of their legal moral rights, so that translations and book length can be tailored to specific foreign markets if necessary. This makes good business sense – for the company at least, and sometimes also for authors.

"Harlequin holds all foreign rights to their series books," says Kristin Hardy, who writes for Harlequin's Blaze line (The Sex and Supper Club, Blaze, 08/04). "As far as I'm concerned, that's just dandy. They have an extremely effective foreign sales program. My Blaze books have so far been published in Swedish, Danish, Polish, Czech, Italian, French, and Spanish, as well as in special English-language editions for the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The reach is amazing, especially for a new author, and the royalties add up.

"At such a time as I write a single-title romance, my agent and I will control the foreign rights. That's not necessarily the great boon it might appear, though. Unless you're a Nora Roberts or a Stephen King, there's no guarantee that foreign publishers will be lining up to translate your books. Owning the rights to a hundred percent of zero dollars isn't exactly going to have you doing the happy dance."

Allison Rushby (It's Not You It's Me, Red Dress Ink, 05/04) is also pleased with her Harlequin contracts. "One of the benefits to writing for Red Dress Ink [a Harlequin imprint] is that they purchase all your rights which means that you don't have to go chasing sales/your agent to make sales places the book hasn't sold all the time. I love this as it means much less career planning – you don't have to look elsewhere all the time to sell your work and this is a fantastic feeling if you're happy with your editor/publisher, like I am."

With author praise like this, obviously Harlequin must be doing something right. But how author-friendly are their foreign rights contract clauses and royalty statements? Are foreign rights lumped together, or broken down by category? "Royalty rates for translation rights are specified in the author agreements," says Karin Stoecker, Editorial Director Overseas, Harlequin, "as are the rates for digest, abridgement and condensation."

Silhouette author Nicole Burnham specifies. "Royalties for H/S are broken down on the statement by country and 'type' – hardback, mass market paperback, paperback anthology, etc.  It is also broken out by book club and retail sales, as there are book clubs in several countries.  They are also identified by the on-sale date of the book in that particular country.

"So for a book that's first released in the US and Canada, the first listing on the royalty statement will be for US retail and US book club, followed by Canadian retail and Canadian book club.  Any foreign sales will be listed below that, say as Germany Retail."

Many Harlequin authors are happy with this arrangement. Others, however, find Harlequin's world rights policy and moral-rights clause too restrictive, and have moved to different publishers.

When asked about Harlequin's moral-rights clause, Karin Stoecker, Editorial Director Overseas, Harlequin, explains, "Translations of our romance novels are interpretative rather than literal, and our asking author's to waive their moral rights enables us to translate in a timely fashion, given the numbers of titles that are translated in any one year. Many terms, idioms, expressions, advertising slogans and even brand names can have different meanings in differing cultural contexts; and it is the publisher's undertaking to render the work acceptable in other languages according to local market conditions."

Maria Paola Romeo, editor for Harlequin in Italy, explains how Harlequin's Italian translations work. "Only in some cases do we abridge the stories, but in the last years we’ve respected the original source more and more. For sure, also when we abridge, we keep the general tone of the story working principally on repetitions... The authors never complained about our translations."

Whether an author happily stays, or happily goes, Harlequin remains one of the most successful publishers in the world.

Let's look at some of the editorial reasons why.

"Harlequin Presents editorial is the most widely distributed globally," Stoecker says, "followed by Desire, which suggests short traditional romantic fantasy appeals everywhere."

Tara Gavin, Editorial Director, Harlequin Core Series, confirms the international appeal of category-length romance. "Women around the world have shared values about love and family, which tend not to vary materially from culture to culture. So, too, as what makes up a well-written book. What we strive to provide for our readers are stories that are entertaining, emotionally engaging and that have a substantial pay-off at the end by providing a rewarding happy ending. Stories with characters the readers can immediately understand and identify with are key. The stories that seem to do best around the world contain these essentials, and have a compelling and substantial romance that readers anywhere around the world can relate to.

"Books that may not be as successful around the world are ones that do not keep that essential romance on centerstage--or stories that have more a insular or regional setup that other cultures may not be able to identify as readily with."

Samantha Bell, Senior Editor, Red Dress Ink, adds her perspective on the widespread appeal of contemporary women's fiction. “Women turn to fiction for entertainment and escapism – for fun and enjoyment. But they also want to be challenged to think, sometimes: to experience different moods, be made to cry as well as laugh. Humour can often be culture-specific; true emotional insight has a broader reach."

Bell identifies four narrative qualities that help contemporary women's fiction transcend cultural boundaries : 1) "A story that’s thought-provoking as well as entertaining," 2) "Universal themes and a shared female perspective," 3) "A narrative that’s personal, intimate and direct, written in accessible language," and 4) "Not too many specific cultural references – capture the flavour, don’t list the ingredients!"

Excellent advice. Now set down this article and go write for a while.

When you come back we'll discuss writing locally, thinking globally.

Go For Global

"Allow me to tattle on myself," says Gena Showalter (The Stone Prince, HQN, 09/04), "Before selling my first book, I did not even consider global readership. My only thought was to sell, sell, sell here in the US. So it will be interesting to see how these books do globally."

Most writers can relate to these sentiments. The global marketplace is huge and confusing, and our little writing corner is the only thing we can control. All of which is true. But there are some things we can do writing-wise to increase our chances of going global.

"One important thing to remember is that there are always going to be facts, social behaviour, customs and setting details in any novel that seem strange to readers somewhere," Bell says, "and that is actually part of the charm, the excitement, of reading. It’s interesting to read about life in different countries, and to learn tidbits of information. We don’t expect to be one hundred percent familiar with everything we read.

"But the reader is going to lose interest in the book if they have a constant sense that they’re not 'getting' something, or the unfamiliar details are too overwhelming. Creating a flavour of the background is fine; but if the story is a catalogue of localised knowledge, it isn’t going to translate well."

What does translate well is a shared sub-genre ethos. "I'm translating a charming Italian chick-lit novel into English for the US market," says mystery writer and translator Elizabeth Jennings, "and I am struck by how easy it is to translate. Not necessarily because of the language, which is Italian hip and full of localisms which are enormously hard to translate, but it's the whole ethos, the whole subject matter... which is so familiar."

In short, if your sub-genre can transcend cultural boundaries, don't stop there – go for global.

Deanna Carlyle writes chick lit mysteries set in Paris. Join her and over 500 other women's fiction writers at Chick Lit: Women's Fiction Markets and Tips, the online discussion group she owns and moderates. Come to click, search, chat or lurk at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chicklit. For a bit more on foreign rights, see the four extras below.

Sidebar 1
What are Foreign Rights?

Foreign rights are a type of subsidiary rights – or subrights – attached to your book. Like other subrights (movies, book clubs, paperback reprints, electronic, audio, etc.), foreign rights can be sold and controlled separately from your book's primary rights.

Foreign rights are also called translation rights, a practice which can create confusion because, depending on the selling territory they're attached to, foreign rights may well be in English.

"Basically, translation is the right to sell a book or parts of a book (permissions/excerpts) to a publisher or magazine in another language," says Lara Lea Allen, Manager, Foreign Rights, HarperCollins Publishers. "UK and World English are usually the same thing. UK Only would be the right to enter into a contract with a British publisher, who then could publish a book, but not export or sell the book outside of the UK. This means they couldn't sell it in Australia, Hong Kong, India or anywhere else English language books are sold.

"Therefore, World English is usually the norm, in which case rights can be granted for an English-language publication with distribution in Australia/New Zealand (usually incredibly important as ANZ have a market more closely related to the US) and certain other territories outlined specifically in a contract (i.e., South Africa, Malaysia, etc). If, in addition to the above rights, we also have First Serial rights and audio, then we as publisher have the right to license these in other languages as well."

While multinational companies like HarperCollins prefer to buy World English rights, many American agents and top authors prefer to keep and control their non-US territory rights.

"I sell a property in the U.S. to a U.S. publisher for North American Rights only," says agent Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency at www.nelsonagency.com. "This means I have reserved the foreign rights for my clients, which allows my co-partners [aka subagents] to sell them for translation in other countries. UK is obviously not a translation but is still considered a foreign right unless a U.S. World English deal was brokered (rather than NA [North American] only)."

Sidebar 2
Subagents & Literary Scouts

What are subagents and literary scouts? And what can they do to help or hinder a foreign rights deal? "Subagents are essentially agents representing literary agents and publishers in other countries," says Lara Lea Allen, Manager, Foreign Rights, HarperCollins Publishers. "For example, we have a subagent in Germany that submits manuscripts, negotiates, and tracks contracts and money for us. They are our experts in those territories.  For their work, they receive 10-15% of the money received. Subagents work for us, so if we don't like a deal, we can tell them no. We can also accept deals without them and go directly to publishers, as long as we keep them in the loop since we have a contractual obligation to them."

Literary scouts operate differently. "Scouts are hired by and paid by foreign publishers to scout recently sold U.S. projects that might be a perfect fit for that foreign publisher," says Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency at www.nelsonagency.com. "It's their way of getting a jump on the competition." Scouts often have Hollywood connections as well. "Many also have film clients, submitting reports to big-name producers who may then go on to buy film rights," Allen adds.

"While a bad subagent can hinder a deal," Allen says, "it is only by not working on them. Most can only help sell books in their territories. Scouts, on the other hand, are working tirelessly to get the most up-to-date information, which means if there is a hot book being sold, they will want material as soon as possible. If they get a proposal not ready to be shown, it may mean a loss of a sale to a book, even if the book later turns out to be much better than the proposal.

"On the whole, though, scouts provide a great service to their clients, keeping them informed while also helping to get the word out on books that may be under the radar. Whenever anyone in the industry loves a book, word of mouth is a good thing."

Sidebar 3
Who's Got the Goods?

Before signing on with an agent or a publisher, how can an author tell if the company is good with foreign rights? "Ask about previous sales," says Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency. "Ask about an agency's foreign rights department (and if they have one). If not, what co-agents are used. Some agencies are known for their really terrific foreign rights departments (Carlisle and Co. comes to mind. Sterling Lord. Karpfinger. Writers House. There are plenty others. Most smaller agents (like me) use respected co-agents. Whitney and Jenny both have great reputations. Some independent agents use Danny Baror." Nelson also recommends checking out the foreign rights deals at publishersmarketplace.com. "Authors will see the same names popping up. Does your agent (if an independent) use those co-agents?"

Jo Ann Ferguson (Digging Up Trouble, Zebra 3/04) recommends combining co-agent research with word of mouth wisdom. "Contact authors you know who work with that agent or publisher and ask. It's also possible to find out the name of foreign publishers and go to their web sites and see what books they've recently published. This doesn't work for all publishers, but you can try. With agents, many list their co-agents on their web sites -- or simply ask! An agent should be willing to give you information on foreign sales."

Lisa Gardner (The Killing Hour, Bantam Books, 7/03) also emphasizes the importance of networking. "You should find out what authors the agency represents overseas, then ask those authors about their experiences. Again, foreign rights are generally a small portion of an author's income, so that's something to bear in mind."

Agent Deirdre Knight of The Knight Agency recommends asking your prospective agent about his or her philosophy and success with foreign rights. "Some agents tend to always grant all rights; others work more aggressively to explore foreign."

Sidebar 4
Where to Go from Here

http://www.sfwa.org/contracts/bor.htm
Book Authors' Bill of Rights, Ratified version (2002).

http://www.infotoday.com/it/jan02/ardito.htm
A brief legal history of authors' differing moral rights in Europe and the US.

http://www.ecpa.org/RightsGuide.html
Detailed introduction to how publishers' foreign rights departments negotiate a deal.

http://www.publishingtrends.com/download
"Who's Scouting Whom" shows which foreign publishers target markets similar to yours.

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com
Membership and "Lunch Weekly" help you track foreign rights deals.

http://www.sabrinajeffries.com/writing/money.htm
"The Big Misunderstanding about Money" by Sabrina Jeffries.

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