Let’s begin with a definition. Foreign rights is the granting to a foreign publisher legal licensing rights to translate (or reprint in English in English-speaking countries such as Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and India), publish and sell a “work” (book content) in its country in specific formats (printed book, e-book, audio, video, book club, etc.) for compensation in the form of royalties and an advance payment thereof for a specific period of time.
The most successful publishers and self-published authors are those who understand that (1) publishing is a business, not a hobby; (2) have been tireless promoters of their books; and (3) fully realized that a book should be considered as a financial “asset” and as such it should gain the largest return on investment as possible. Number 3 means fully maximizing multiple revenue streams from that asset and a very meaningful revenue stream, and one that is minimally cost intensive, is foreign rights. That’s right, minimally cost intensive! The foreign publisher bears all the costs involved and pays you for the right to translate and publish your book in their country. This is found money for you and a very simple way to create a significant revenue stream from your financial asset—your book—thus helping to maximize the return on your investment. In this session, we’ll discuss how foreign rights work and how you can go about creating these revenue streams for your author business.
Bob Erdmann, foreign rights publishing consultancy Columbine Communications & Publications founder and president, has a distinguished publishing career spanning five decades which includes all phases of book publishing. More than half of his long tenure in the publishing industry has been as consultant to literally hundreds of publishers and authors of every size and shape. The earlier part of his long life in publishing saw him in senior management, executive capacities with well-respected, high-profile publishing companies where his creative innovations in every element of book publishing brought about countless successes. He has engineered the success of dozens of international bestsellers from Jonathan Livingston Seagull to Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
Columbine Communications & Publications now focuses entirely on foreign rights for non-fiction titles in the genres of business, personal development, psychology/self-help, parenting, health, education and others. Its role is to bridge the gap between its client base of North American publishers and authors to foreign publishers and agents with similar genre interests on a worldwide basis. Bob and his wife, Dottie, live in the San Francisco Bay Area. When he is not negotiating foreign rights deals for his clients he enjoys golf and time with his family. More info: http://www.columbinecommunications.com/.