Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: tired
  • Music: Elton John, "Made in England."

Werewolves of London? There wolves of London.

I spend a lot of time trying to explain literary rights to my mother, who is trying very gamely to learn all the weirdness of the world of publishing. It probably doesn't help that my understanding in many arenas remains fuzzy, so my explanations involve a lot of waving my hands and going "blah blah blah fishcakes." She takes this with reasonably good grace. I have a good mom.

Right now, I keep trying to explain foreign rights sales. Because you see, right now—during the conveniently timed volcanic ash cloud, oops—the London Book Fair is going on. This is one of the biggest foreign rights sales events in the world. If I want Toby in the United Kingdom and the Masons in Japan, this is very likely where it's going to happen. I am thus, I think understandably, a little twitchy about foreign rights at the moment.

I've had awesome luck with foreign rights, in part because I have an awesome foreign rights agent, who works very hard to get my stuff out there. Toby has been sold in Germany and Russia; the Newsflesh trilogy has been sold in Germany. I'd really like a UK edition of the Toby books, and a French edition of both, but there's no counting on it; I need to sit back and wait to see how things settle out. But oh, how I wants it, my precious. I wants it bad. There's the artistic reason ("I just want more people to be able to enjoy Toby's adventures!"), and then there's the capitalist reason ("I really, really want to go full-time before I catch fire from lack of sleep").

My actual reasons are somewhere in the middle. I genuinely do want my books to be accessible to the entire world...and I really, really want to get up every morning, write for a while, take a walk, write for a while longer, and not have a commute further than bed-to-chair. Foreign sales aren't likely to change the world completely, but as many authors of my acquaintance can tell you, good worldwide positioning can make a huge difference in your end-of-year bottom line. Maybe even a full-time writer (or part-time day job) level of difference.

And this is why I'm crazy this week.
Tags: busy busy busy, freaking out, my mom is nuts, other editions, publishing news, utterly exhausted
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  • 29 comments

tintiger

April 20 2010, 13:06:59 UTC 7 years ago

I didn't realise the copy of "Rosemary and Rue" I bought in a major bookshop in Winchester (Hampshire, England) was a US import, not a UK edition. I was just so surprised to see it, and glad to get my hands on it, that I didn't even baulk at the price!

So your work is still reaching a wider audience, even if perhaps not in the way you would like.

toriahowell

April 21 2010, 08:33:27 UTC 7 years ago

I did exactly the same thing in Wales, didn't realise it was a US import at all!

seanan_mcguire

April 21 2010, 18:44:34 UTC 7 years ago

Reaching in any manner makes me happy, honestly. Well, any manner that isn't book piracy, which makes me sad.