Why and How to Sell Foreign Rights

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For small publishers and author-publishers, the thought of selling their book rights or their short stories internationally might be a scary one.  Especially if they are not familiar with foreign right sales or haven’t attended any of the large book fairs in Europe, such as the (Frankfurt Book Fair, Leipziger Buchmesse, London or Bologna Book Fair, or the ones in Dubai or Asia.

Exploiting international rights became easier than ever for author-publishers.  Writers can now engage with readers and licensees worldwide without even leaving their office.  Authors and publishers can either:

  • License their English-language or translation rights to traditional publishers located abroad – or
  • sell their book in English (or translated) directly through local distributors.
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Some Facts concerning Foreign Rights:

  • Publishers are going global to find growth.
  • Marketing plays an important role in foreign rights sales.
  • Foreign rights revenue is both, a global opportunity and a sales challenge.
  • In Germany for example, translation rights are around 40% (mostly from English).
  • English books have an advantage, as English is spoken by around 750 million people (first and second language) around.

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So, how can you, as an author or small publisher earn more money from licensing your works in different formats and countries?  Imagine you can set up all the information about your book, including prices for different formats and contract clauses on digital platforms…
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Global Rights Network Platforms
Selling the rights to your books can be a lucrative business, putting local versions of your writing into the hands of readers all around the world.  The predominance of book fairs and back-and-forth negotiations between rights agents and editors left a gap for literary rights-holders.  Now there are online marketplaces for the 365 days 24/7 trading of book and journal rights available.  Publishers of all sizes, including self-publishers, can make their book’s rights available for sale from several online profiles.  It allows authors to sell their rights based on their own terms, growing income, and in many cases, creating totally new income streams!
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What are these new Digital Platforms Doing?
Automated rights selling systems, allow you to make titles available for rights transactions – worldwide – with little up-front work!

  • Set up your prices for rights by language, territory, format (paperback, hardcover, ebook or audio) and length of the deal.
  • Swap out the standard contract for your own – if you choose.
  • Reactivate your dormant backlist titles for rights sales and create a whole new income stream without interrupting your current rights-selling attempts through sub-agents and at book fairs!
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Detail Your Book’s Rights.
Decide to use the digital platform’s contract or your own. You even receive helpful hints from the digital platforms if you’re using your own contract. At PubMatch, for example, you create multipliers for different formats and contract lengths. The multipliers will tell the system to increase the amount you’ll receive for a specific format or length.
For example, if you value hardcover twice as much as paperback, put “1” for paperback and “2” for hardcover.  To negotiate each deal as it comes, put the letter “M” instead of a number.  Putting the letter M means you will be contacted with the potential buyer’s information.  After researching the potential buyer, you will be able to assign a price and complete the contract.

Choose the language, exclusivity, territory, formats available (choose one or all), contract lengths available (choose one option or many), and other contract terms like print run and royalty percentage.  Detail your individual rights available for individual titles or groups of titles that have all the same rights available.

The base price you assign will be your minimum price (or your multiplier of 1) and will go up based on your multipliers and what formats you’ve made available.
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How Much Does it Cost?
Once set up, your rights will be available for sale within 48 hours and you can start selling immediately after they’re live!  Several membership levels offer a variety of service options and features, some are starting as low as $30 for a year.  See a video with short explanations about one of the foreign rights platforms.

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These are the Main Players:
IPR License is an online global publishing network where you can find authors, book publishers, agents and book rights professionals from across the globe. It is a Marketplace for publishers to trade foreign rights globally.  The platform offers the opportunity to monetise or find the best new content in a global marketplace.  It also acts as a copyright hub, making it easier to locate copyright holders to clear permission for use of their work.

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What Rights Could a Publisher Buy?  IPR lists the most common rights usually bought by foreign publishers:

  • Print Rights
  • Right to publish in print format.
  • Digital Rights
  • Right to publish in digital format.
  • First Serialization
  • Rights common to high-profile non-fiction. They are usually sold to newspapers/magazines prior to publication.
  • Second Serialization
  • These rights are similar to First Serial – except that they happen later.
  • TV, Film & Dramatisation
  • Rights cover companies who want to dramatize your work for television, film or radio play.
  • Digest
  • Right to cover publication of condensed or abridged versions of your book.
  • Radio & TV Straight Reading
  • A straight reading for Radio and TV is different from a TV or film dramatization and can be sold separately.
  • Book Club: Right for Book Clubs to receive high discounts from publishers in exchange for committing to a certain number of copies.
  • Audio: Right to record the full, verbatim text of your book for sale on tape, CD or digital download.  Abridged rights can also be sold.
  • Large Print: Right to print in large print format for those unable to access regular print.
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In case you prefer to work with a foreign rights agency, there is the New York-based Trident Media Group, which has the largest dedicated foreign rights department in the literary agency business and a record unmatched by any other literary marketplace – according to their statements.  They accept submissions from authors, agents, and publishers who would like to take part in Trident’s foreign rights or audio offerings. Other foreign rights agencies would be the KnightAgency or NelsonAgency.  Choose your foreign rights agent carefully!

Be aware that most agents charge 20% commission (and sometimes even 25%) on foreign sales.

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Author Kristine Kathryn Rusch wrote in one of her blogs: “All the “Foreign Rights” agent does, is to compile a new releases list (usually three times a year) and send it to all the foreign rights agents they partner with. Yes, if you’re one of the big bestsellers, the agent will hand-sell your book to the foreign rights agent, but usually, foreign publishers will come calling anyway.”

“Some agents actually go to overseas book fairs and talk to foreign rights publishers.  The agent pitches their agency and then hands the publisher a list of available works.  That’s all.”  She also explains all the financial trouble authors might get into when dealing with agencies.
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The Solution: “You can handle your foreign rights yourself, faster, better, and without losing any copyright or having someone to pay handsomely.  This world is very small now. You can contact foreign publishers directly.”
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Writer Douglas Smith gives this advice:
“The Definition of a Valid Foreign Language Market: A market that accepts unsolicited submissions in English of stories that first appeared in English language markets, and translates them at no cost to the author. Response times can also be very long. But remember that you can submit simultaneously to several of these markets since the rights that they purchase are specific to their language and don’t conflict with other foreign markets. In addition, most will respond to email queries regarding the status of your submission.”

He offers a valuable “Foreign Market List” of over 70 markets, sorted by countries, on his website. “Before you run to the list and grab a market, first read his great pieces of advice here how to choose where to submit your writing.

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