Writing and Publishing News

So about a year ago, I was contacted on Instagram by a literary agent who had read - and loved - my Tudor books. She knew I was an indie author, but asked if I would be interested in having her represent me and possibly sell the books to a traditional publisher.

I thought about it (after I researched the agent; I'm no fool) but eventually decided against it. If those books belonged to a publisher, it would then be in their responsibility to keep the money coming in. I could - potentially - get a substantial advance, but what if they screwed up the marketing or dropped the ball or just decided, after a month of lackluster sales (because that's all trad publishers really give you to succeed) that the books weren't worth pushing?

I may not make that kind of money on them right now, but half my income is from the Tudor series, and it will only expand over time, as I get better at marketing. 

So I said no, but thanked her for the huge compliment.

We kept talking, though. I mentioned that I wanted to do translations of my books but didn't know where to start. We talked about hiring a translator vs. selling foreign language rights to a publisher who would do the translating for me, on their dime.

Hiring translators is expensive, and as I can't read the language, I'd also have to hire a fluent proofreader to assure me they got it right. These days there are AI translations with human checkers, and I've heard good things about them, but the Tudor books, at least, have some 16th century archaic words that might not translate. I didn't want to risk a bad translation. The agent actually offered me her list of foreign contacts if I wanted to attempt DIY. Again, I thanked her.

A few weeks ago, I realized it had been a year since our last conversation and I still hadn't done anything with that list. I reached out to her and asked if she'd be interested in selling my foreign language rights. I got a response back within several hours. "YES!!!"

So that's where we are. Conversation had, contract signed, and now we wait. 

A few writing friends have questioned my getting an agent when I've always liked doing things on my own, but this is a different circumstance. The books that she'll be attempting to sell are already done, and are making as much money for me as they can in their current state. If she can sell them to foreign markets - and thus increase my income - I'm happy to give her 15% of that for work that I just don't have the bandwidth to do.

Sometimes you have to learn not to try to do everything yourself. I'm still learning.