Reaching an international readership is every writer’s dream. After all, it offers not only the chance to foster connections between different cultures and languages—an increasingly important endeavor given today’s state of affairs—but also the potential for an additional income stream. But how does it all work? From an author’s perspective, navigating the world of foreign rights in publishing—that is, where your book is published and in what languages—can appear quite complex.
With twenty years of experience selling foreign rights on both sides of the Atlantic, I have negotiated nearly twenty-five hundred foreign rights contracts since starting my own literary agency fourteen years ago. This includes over forty deals for independently published author Eric Jorgenson’s The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness (2020) and, more recently, eight deals for Esther Yi’s debut novel, Y/N (Astra House, 2023), and sixteen deals for Hu Anyan’s memoir, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing, translated from the Chinese by Jack Hargreaves and forthcoming in October from Astra House.
Based on this experience, I am pleased to explore the opportunities that await U.S. authors on the other side of our borders and unpack what can look to be a complicated and unfamiliar aspect of book publishing.
Who handles the licensing of foreign rights?
When you write something, you own the intellectual property rights to that work, which include where in the world your work can be published—territory rights—and in what languages—language and translation rights. You get to decide who controls and exploits these rights.
When your literary agent sells your book to a U.S. publisher, the publishing agreement will detail which territory and language rights you are granting to the publisher. At the very least you will need to grant the publisher “English Language in North America” rights, which allows the publisher to sell the book in English throughout the United States and Canada. Often, though, your U.S. publisher will want “English Language Worldwide” or “World All Language” rights. Many publishers have a dedicated foreign rights agent or division, either in-house or contracted, that has the expertise and global publishing contacts to adeptly exploit these territory and language rights. These foreign rights agents will proactively seek to sell the territory and translation rights to foreign publishers, and any revenue will be shared between the author and the U.S. publisher.
But granting these rights to the U.S. publisher is not your only (or necessarily your best) option. Instead, you might opt to allow your literary agent to retain the foreign rights so that they can seek out and negotiate international opportunities for your work.
Depending on what route you choose, there are important financial implications. If your agent retains the foreign rights, the standard commission for foreign rights sales is 20 percent. On the other hand, when foreign rights are granted to the U.S. publisher, the division of foreign rights revenue between the author and the U.S. publisher typically follows this structure: For translation rights, the author receives 75 percent of the earnings, while the publisher gets 25 percent. For English rights sold outside of the United States, the author receives 80 percent, with the publisher receiving 20 percent. These revenue splits are outlined in the subsidiary rights clause of any legitimate U.S. publishing contract.
To illustrate this with a practical example: If the rights department at a literary agency sells German rights for an advance of $8,000, the agent will retain 20 percent, which amounts to $1,600, while the remaining $6,400 goes directly to the author.
In contrast, if that author’s U.S. publisher negotiates the same deal with a 75-25 split, they would keep $2,000, and the author’s share of $6,000 would be deducted from the advance that the publisher initially paid to the author. This amount accounts for all earnings, including income from subsidiary rights. The author will begin to receive payments only after the advance is earned back with income generated from domestic and subsidiary rights sales of the book. It’s important to note that these payments will still be subject to the agent’s commission for the U.S. deal, typically 15 percent, which means that in the example above, the author’s share, minus the agent’s commission, is $5,100.
What is the timing for selling foreign rights?
For books by well-established, internationally best-selling authors—or when an agent secures a significant deal in the U.S. that garners attention both domestically and internationally—the rights seller is likely to pursue international deals right away. There are times, if the agent is offering only North American rights to the U.S. publisher, that U.K. and translation rights are sold before the agent has even finalized the U.S. deal, which can bolster the deal’s value in the United States.
Exceptions aside, English-language rights outside of North America need to be sold at least twelve to eighteen months or more before the U.S. publication date; English-language publishers in other countries prefer to release their editions simultaneously or close to the U.S. release. Translation rights may also be sold around the same time, though often translation deals occur after the book has been out in the United States for a couple of months or so, and there is some sales history that can help substantiate the marketability of the topic and the author.
Leading up to the two largest international book fairs of the year—the London Book Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair—there is a lot of buzz as foreign publishers eagerly seek new projects. Often there are a few “books of the fair” that are sold in multiple territories, frequently for substantial amounts, even before the fairs officially begin.
In recent years, Bonnie Garmus’s debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, was acquired in both the U.K. and the United States for six-figure advances, with translation rights sold to twenty-one territories just before the start of the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair. It’s worth noting that the fair was canceled that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, this did not disrupt the deal-making process, and many meetings transitioned to online platforms. On the eve of this year’s London Book Fair, in March, Iliana Xander’s previously self-published psychological thriller Love, Mom was picked up in the United States and the U.K. in major deals, and translation rights were sold in five territories with a further ten territories under offer.
At these fairs, international rights sellers have back-to-back thirty-minute pitch meetings with foreign publishers and other key players involved in the international rights sales process. However, much of the work takes place after the formal meetings are over, during various cocktail parties, dinners, and late-night gatherings.
In between these fairs, rights continue to be sold as foreign rights sellers are constantly in touch with their international contacts. Although foreign editors are always in search of “the next big thing”—new books that haven’t yet caught their attention—it’s important to note that foreign rights can still sell years after a book’s initial publication. This can occur, for instance, when an author wins a prestigious literary award or when their book is adapted into a film or TV series.
Who is involved in the foreign rights process?
Primarily, foreign rights sellers connect with acquiring editors at foreign publishing houses. Rights sellers often meet these editors at international book fairs or sometimes at their offices. Between these in-person meetings, rights sellers keep the editors informed about potential titles through submission e-mails and newsletters, ensuring that editors are aware of the books they are, or should be, considering.
Another important but less visible player in foreign rights sales is the literary scout. They are employed by foreign publishing companies to identify potential best-sellers and, in general, books that would be a good fit for their clients’ catalogues. They typically work with clients from a number of countries, and many also read for film and television producers.
Literary scouts read a vast number of books, produce weekly reports for their clients, travel to international book fairs, and maintain constant communication with rights sellers to obtain information and manuscripts, ideally before everyone else. Given the large volume of books published in the United States, collaborating with a scout who filters and highlights a select few titles can be extremely beneficial for foreign editors. This allows these editors to act quickly and potentially secure rights before other interested parties can make an offer.
When I started my own foreign rights agency, I believed I could personally connect with all the acquiring editors in various foreign markets and sell rights directly to them. I quickly realized this was an unrealistic goal; I would need at least forty-eight hours in a day to achieve it. This is where co-agents, sometimes referred to as subagents, come into play.
Co-agents assist foreign rights sellers in specific territories or languages by selling rights on their behalf. Since these co-agents are often based in the countries where they operate, they are well positioned to stay informed about and connected to the local publishing scene. For their services, co-agents typically receive a 10 percent commission on all proceeds. If they are selling on behalf of an agent, this commission is deducted from the 20 percent commission the agent earns for foreign rights sales.
Finally, one of the key players in the translation rights chain is the literary translator, who is essential to making the process possible. Acquiring editors usually have a good network of trusted translators whom they reach out to once they’ve secured the rights to a book. However, sometimes the process begins with the translator. If they discover an English book they love and wish to translate, they may take the initiative to inquire about the availability of translation rights. If the rights are available, they reach out to acquiring editors they know and whose tastes match the project in question. Often they include a short sample translation, hoping that the acquiring editor will appreciate the book, acquire the rights, and hire them as the translator.
What are the main terms of a foreign rights deal?
The key terms of a foreign rights deal are similar to those in U.S. publishing deals. These terms typically include the advance, different formats (e.g., trade edition, e-book, or audiobook), royalties, subsidiary rights (which vary by territory), and the contract duration.
Unless the rights are sold at auction (several interested publishers bidding against one another) or through a preemptive offer (i.e., a publisher offers a substantial advance with the request that the rights seller does not go back to the other interested publishers to start an auction), the advance amount is generally based on the first print run, the approximate retail price (which can appear quite low in countries with a significantly lower cost of living than in the United States), and the prevailing royalty rate in the specific territory.
For fiction and general nonfiction titles, royalties for translation rights deals typically begin at 7 percent or 8 percent for hardcover or quality trade editions. However, in Asia, these rates usually start at 6 percent or 7 percent. The royalty rates for English-language sales outside of North America are similar to those in the United States.
Royalties for e-books and audiobooks align with those in the United States, set in general at 25 percent of net receipts. This royalty rate has been standard since the early days of e-books and digital audiobooks. Although these formats are generally much less popular in non-English-speaking countries, we are seeing a trend toward tiered royalty structures (varying royalty rates based on sales performance, similar to the traditional tiered rates offered by U.S. publishers), especially in the commercial fiction sector, where such formats are experiencing a certain level of success.
A key difference between translation rights agreements and English-language rights agreements lies in the contract duration. While English-language rights contracts in the United States and elsewhere typically follow the term of copyright (the life of the author plus seventy years), translation rights agreements have a much shorter duration. In Western Europe and Latin America, these contracts generally last between seven and ten years, or occasionally twelve years from the date of the agreement. Contract terms with publishers in Asia and Eastern Europe are even shorter, usually lasting only five to six years from the agreement date.
The foreign rights agreement has been signed. What’s next?
Once the foreign rights agreement has been signed, the foreign publisher typically has between eighteen and twenty-four months to publish the book. As mentioned earlier, publication dates for English-language editions outside the United States usually closely follow the U.S. publication date.
The extent to which the author can influence strategic decisions, such as the choice of translator, cover and jacket design, foreign title, translation, marketing copy, and invitations to visit the country following the book’s publication, varies depending on the type of book, the foreign publisher, and the author’s clout. As I mentioned earlier, acquiring editors generally have a network of translators with whom they have previously worked, and their selections are usually well regarded by the foreign rights seller. Some foreign publishers request more creative freedom than others regarding cover design and title selection, arguing that they understand their specific market best.
When the book is published, foreign publishers are contractually required to send complimentary copies of their editions to the rights seller, who in turn passes most of these copies on to the author.
In reality, major best-sellers aside, only a relatively small percentage of books published in the United States are sold to international markets. The competition is fierce, with U.S. authors, local writers, and authors writing in languages other than English all vying for the attention of foreign editors.
Each book that succeeds in traveling across borders and languages brings a particular sense of fulfillment to everyone involved—the author, agents, and publishers—for forging a new connection among peoples and across great distances. Even after more than twenty years as a foreign rights seller, I still get a thrill every time I receive an offer for one of the titles I represent. To be a part of the vast network of international publishing and play a role in connecting books to new audiences is as rewarding as it is challenging and an important publishing pathway every author should be aware of for their own work.
Marleen Seegers is the principal and cofounder of 2 Seas Agency. Born and raised in the Netherlands, she holds a degree in liberal arts from Utrecht University and a postgraduate degree in comparative literature from Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris. After working for nearly a decade in French publishing, she moved to Ojai, California, in 2011, where she established 2 Seas Agency the same year. She and her team represent international rights for publishers, literary agents, and a select number of authors from around the world. For more information, visit 2seasagency.com or follow @2seasagency on social media.
Thumbnail credit: ©Brandi Crockett.