Our series on Selling to a Foreign Publisher continues as we draft a hypothetical query letter that we would use to try and generate some interest from our target publisher.  As I outlined in my last post, I would be about three quarters of the way done with the letter itself at this point, having already decided on which of my works to pitch to the publisher and what I want to say about them.  Now the next step would be to add a few high points that explain why the publisher would benefit from acquiring the foreign rights to my work rather than some other work that they might be considering at the same time.

Back to my hypothetical submission to Bragelonne.  I would more than likely lead with the sales results that the German publisher received for publishing their edition of the Templar books as my first piece of evidence.  I do this because the French and German markets are rather similar in several ways and the strong sales of the German edition could, in effect, foreshadow strong sales for a French edition as well.  I would also probably mention the other territories where the trilogy had been acquired in order to show that the German edition was not an isolated occurrence.

My paragraph might end up looking like this:

The Templar Chronicles consist of three books – Heretic, A Scream of Angels, and A Tear in the Sky.  The trilogy was released beginning in 2007 by German publisher Droemer Knaur.  Book one, Der Ketzer, debuted at #51 on the bestseller list and has sold more than 50,000 copies to date.  Books two and three, Der Engel and Die Schatten, followed in late 2008/early 2009 and have each sold roughly 20,000 copies since their release.  Foreign rights to the trilogy have also sold to Ecksmo in Russia and Replika in Poland and have been optioned for feature film production.

Since I have a couple of high profile endorsements of the series from writers that Bragelonne has previously published, namely Clive Barker and Peter Straub, I would also throw those in for good measure just before my closing line.

At this point all I would have to do is go back to the beginning of the letter/email and come up with a decent introductory paragraph.  I would want to use some information about the company to show that I’m familiar with who they are and what they publish because everyone likes to know that what they are doing is important and editors usually aren’t any different.  They love books and want other people to love them too.  They want to know that what they are doing is having an impact on the reader, so this approach, while standard, is always a good one.

Here is the full text of the sample query letter we’ve put together so far:

Dear (Editor’s Name),

Having been very impressed with the work that you’ve been doing with authors such as Kelley Armstrong, Jim Butcher, and Simon Green, as well as with the success of your L’Ombre collection, I thought I would touch base and see if you might be interested in a possible French translation to my bestselling Templar Chronicles trilogy.

In this action-based urban fantasy series, the ancient Templar Order has been resurrected as a secret combat arm of the Vatican, charged with defending mankind from supernatural threats and enemies. The world at large is unaware of the Order’s existence and the Templars take great pains to keep it that way. “Sometimes the Lord’s work is best accomplished in the shadows”, is a popular saying among the troops.

At center stage is Knight Commander Cade Williams, a veteran of the Order and a man torn between his thirst for vengeance and his need to discover what happened to him during an encounter with a supernatural entity five years before. Cade leads the famed Echo Team, a special forces-style unit that is called in only when the situation has become particularly dire. Echo is the best of the best, there is no doubt about that, but the fact that they are led by a man rumored to have more than a few unusual abilities of his own leave many within the Order more than a little uncomfortable in dealing with them.  Darkness surrounds us, even in the light of day, and the series is designed to reflect this. In the Templar world, all is not as it seems, and it is up to the Order to protect man from his own ignorance.

The Templar Chronicles consist of three books – Heretic, A Scream of Angels, and A Tear in the Sky.  The trilogy was released beginning in 2007 by German publisher Droemer Knaur.  Book one, Der Ketzer, debuted at #51 on the bestseller list and has sold more than 50,000 copies to date.  Books two and three, Der Engel and Die Schatten, followed in late 2008/early 2009 and have each sold roughly 20,000 copies since their release.  Foreign rights to the trilogy have also sold to Ecksmo in Russia and Replika in Poland and have been optioned by American screenwriter Ben Magid for feature film production.

Here are some of the comments made by others about the series:

“First-rate, stylish work from Mr. Nassise, with a steady escalation of the story’s speed that makes it almost literally breath-taking.” — Clive Barker

“With HERETIC, Joseph Nassise kicks off his TEMPLAR CHRONICLES in fine, swaggering style. This book bobs and weaves like the young Muhammed Ali, keeping us off-guard and entertained with its every surprising move.” — Peter Straub

If you would be interested in taking a look, I’d be happy to forward copies of each of the books for your consideration.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Joe Nassise

At this point, there would be nothing left to do but sit back and wait to see if my contact bore any fruit.

So there you have  it – my step by step process for identifying potential foreign markets and approaching them to see if there is any interest.  I’ve used this process to sell my work in Italy, Poland, and most recently for a multi-book deal in six different territories.  It really isn’t all that different from the approach that most agents make, either.

Questions?

Once I had selected a foreign publisher and decided to approach them about the possibility of publishing some of my work, I would next need to write an introductory query letter or email to catch their attention.  Like most of what I do, I usually approach this process in a step-by-step fashion:

1. Decide which of my works would best fit into their catalog
2. Develop a short summary that highlights the work itself.
3. Cover a few high points that show why it would be beneficial for them to  acquire the work in question

Using our hypothetical submission to Bragelonne as an example, here is how I would work through this process if I were doing it today.

I currently control subsidiary rights to several of my books, including my debut novel Riverwatch, the three books in the Templar Chronicles series (Heretic, A Scream of Angels, and A Tear in the Sky) and the Jeremiah Hunt trilogy (Eyes to See, Hands to Heal, and A Soul to Lose.)  Interestingly enough, I’ve sold foreign language rights in different territories to all of them – Riverwatch to Italy, the Templar Chronicles to Germany, Russia and Poland, and the Hunt trilogy to Germany.

If I were submitting to Brageloone, I would probably decide to eliminate Riverwatch as a possible contender as it is a horror novel and Bragelonne’s catalog runs more toward SF and urban fantasy.  Riverwatch was also the very first novel I ever wrote and after seven years I’m not as confident in my ability to sell it as I am in some of my more recent works.

That would leave me to choose between the two trilogies.

Five of the six books were sold as originals to Droemer Knaur, a major publisher in Germany (the exception being the first book in the Templar Chronicles, which first sold to Pocket Books.)  The Templar Chronicles books were released in 2007 and 2008, to good results; the first book debuted on the German and Swiss bestsellers lists and has sold more than 50,000 copies to date while books two and three have each sold more than 25,000 copies.  That they have also been acquired for publication in Russia and Poland is another point in their favor as this shows their viability in more than one market.

On the other hand, the Jeremiah Hunt books are scheduled to be released starting in Dec 2009 as part of the launch of a brand new imprint for Droemer Knaur, Pan Books, which means they will have a lot of promotional push behind them.  They also just sold in the US to Tor Books for my first hardcover publication, which means a fair promotional push on that end as well.

Either one would actually be worth submitting.  I would probably lean more toward the Templar Chronicles trilogy if I were actually doing this today, as  I’ve got a bit more of a success story to tell regarding them right now and the fact that they did so well in a nearby European country bodes well for their success in France.

On to Step Two.

Developing a short summary that highlights the series will be easy in this case, as one already exists.  I put one together for the original proposal and I’m going to dig that out and use it for this proposal as well.

“In the Templar Chronicles, an action-oriented urban fantasy series, the ancient Templar Order has been resurrected as a secret combat arm of the Vatican, charged with defending mankind from supernatural threats and enemies. The world at large is unaware of the Order’s existence and the Templars take great pains to keep it that way. “Sometimes the Lord’s work is best accomplished in the shadows”, is a popular saying among the troops.

At center stage is Knight Commander Cade Williams, a veteran of the Order and a man torn between his thirst for vengeance and his need to discover what happened to him during an encounter with a supernatural entity five years before. Cade leads the famed Echo Team, a special forces-style unit that is called in only when the situation has become particularly dire. Echo is the best of the best, there is no doubt about that, but the fact that they are led by a man rumored to have more than a few unusual abilities of his own leave many within the Order more than a little uncomfortable in dealing with them.  Darkness surrounds us, even in the light of day, and the series is designed to reflect this. In the Templar world, all is not as it seems, and it is up to the Order to protect man from his own ignorance.”

My next step would be to craft a paragraph that highlights some of the success I’ve achieved with the trilogy in other markets in order to show the target publisher why they might benefit through its publication as well.

I’ll cover that in the next installment of this series…