Okay, I admit it. I'm jealous. I want my books translated, too. My agent says, "Be patient." She also tells me that other countries look for different things in their cozy mysteries--not booksellers. I had hoped my Jeff Resnick would have sold to the German market, but I fear my lack of sales here has killed that dream. : (
Weeeeeee!
The truth is, I'm waiting for more and more countries to get on the ebook bandwagon. It won't mean my books will get translated, but there are a lot of English-reading people out there. Currently my books are available online in countries like France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The sad thing is, how many people in those countries have e readers (Kindles in particular). I know I sell quite a few stories in Australia (thank you, Apple), and sales for Kobo readers have picked up a tiny bit, but I'd love to find a much bigger--GLOBAL--audience for my work.
Any ideas on how I can spread the work about my books to foreign countries?
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9 comments:
Way to go Australia!!
I haunt book related blogs, but that might not work for other countries. I come from an English speaking nation & I think that makes all the difference.
That really did not help you at all did it?
Hi Lorna!
I'm a huge fan of yours, your books, your blog, website and cozies in general. I'm from the tiny German-speaking country of Austria, next to Germany. I just wanted to tell you, don't worry! I'm in the process of persuading all my friends to buy your books! :-)) It's true that germanophones are not all that interested in cozy mysteries but we're getting there. I have your Booktown books in paperback(from Amazon) and audiobook format. The latter was not at all easy to come by but fortunately I was able to borrow my cousin's (she lives in NJ) Barnes and Noble account, so I could download it. Maybe offering your books as audiobooks on the German Audible website would increase sales!? Audiobooks have become awfully popular recently. I guess people are just to stressed out to sit down and read anymore... :-( Just a thought. Anyway, keep up the good work and I'll keep telling all my friends about you and giving them your books as birthday gifts!
Greetings from Vienna, Austria, Europe ;-))
Yours, Christina
Hi Marybelle and Christina, thanks for commenting.
I don't have any say about where the audiobooks are released (they haven't even told me if there's a version coming out for the new book next month). The author really is the last to know.
I'm sad that you've backed up what my agent said, Christina, that other countries just aren't interested in cozies. But that's one reason why I really wanted the Jeff Resnick books to get translated. I think they'd do well there and in other European countries.
The thing is, if they would read the cozies in other countries, they'd get more of an insight into the American world (okay, minus the mayhem and murder!). I think they are wonderful!
Hi Lorraine
Well, truth is, cozy-crimes are quite upcoming here in Europe. I am from Switzerland and i read all of your books. I just love them! And why do they tell you, that we don't want to reed booktown books or all thats got to do with books??
If you're a real reader (in Switzerland we call it 'Reading-Rat' if you are devoted to books) you just love everything with this topic.
All my paperbacks go to a book exchange in our Village when they come back from my Reading-Circle. But I prefer to by e-books. I own a Kindle and Sony-Reader as well. It's no problem for me to read in english, but I'm sure, there would be a huge community here in Europe prefering to read your (and from other Authors) cozies in their language.
I'm looking foreward to your next booktown-mystery, as well as to a new Victoria Square Mystery :-)
Keep on writing!
Greetings from Switzerland
Annina
Dear Lorna,
I have been reading all the Booktown Mysteries and I am from Germany (I also happen to be a bookseller). Thanks to Amazon Germany ordering English-language books is quite easy (and having a Kindle makes it even easier), so I imagine that you have quite a number of readers here already. Most cozies do not sell particularly well in Germany, and the market for these kinds of mysteries is rather small. But don`t worry, sooner or later some German publisher will buy these books, and I will be among the first to recommend them to my customers.
Best,
Olaf Keith
Thank you for commenting, Olaf. If you don't mind my asking, what is it about cozies that doesn't appeal to a German audience? Because they're often focused on hobbies? That one has to suspend their disbelief that one person could find so many dead bodies?
The Kindle sales in Europe for my indie projects (short stories and the Jeff Resnick books)are almost non-existent (although I got my first sale to Italy just yesterday). I wish I could have them translated, but the cost is prohibitive, and as I don't speak German (just very bad Spanish), how would I know if the translation was good? (I've heard horror stories from authors who speak a second language and were appalled when they read their translated books.)
My hope is that there's a huge European ex-pat (or military) audience out there just waiting for more English language books to be available via e readers. I'm sure working to make sure my indie projects are available to them in all e formats. But I sure wish my other books would be purchased by European publishers and translated.
Dear Lorna,
well...it is difficult to explain exactly why cozies are a hard sell in Germany. The majority of mysteries on the German market are either following the British mystery tradition from Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers to Elizabeth George and Martha Grimes, or are influenced by the hard-boiled detective novel. There are cozies in the marketplace, but not many and most of them don`t sell well, e.g. Nancy Atherton`s Aunt Dimity series flopped after two or three books (despite its British setting), though it does continue in limited book club editions. Regional mysteries, which concentrate on rural settings and quirky characters are VERY popular in Germany and have been gaining in popularity for the past ten years and I do think that for German mystery readers they take the place that cozies have in the American marketplace. So, it just might be that cozies need to find their special niche in the german book market.
Best, Olaf Keith
Thanks for answering, Olaf!
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