global sales | The Creative Penn

6 Tips for Successful Self-Publishing Outside Your Home Country

August 10, 2017 by Joanna Penn 14 Comments

Regular readers of the blog and listeners to my podcast know that I am always excited about global opportunities for writers.

I have recently started using PublishDrive to get my books onto Google Play and so of the other international retailers that are hard to reach through other (primarily US based) distributors.

In today's article, Zsofia Macho from PublishDrive offers some thoughts on how to reach international markets.

There is a rule every aspiring international writer is told early on.

Learn English. Read in English. Write in English. Breathe in English.

It seems cruel and unfair, but that doesn’t make it any less true: English is primary or official language in 67 countries worldwide and is estimated to be spoken by at least 1.5 billion people either as a primary or a secondary language.

This is a giant market, hungry for easy to access and relevant English language content. So you can write and self-publish happily in English and you will reach a huge share of the book market.

But let us not forget about the other big (or small) languages: according to the Global E-book Report, the US and the UK together are only 29% of the global ebook market.

The other 71% is divided by China, Germany, Japan, France and the rest of the world.

While translating self-published books used to be out of question even 15 years ago, a lot changed in the last couple of years. It is still not easy to become an internationally recognized self-published author, but it is definitely not impossible.

In the following, we are going to share six tips every indie author setting out to conquer the world should know – both those writing and marketing exclusively in English and those working with a translator and aiming for foreign language markets. Due to lack of space, we won’t talk about foreign rights agents and contracts, only self-publishing.

[Note from Joanna: I have sold books in English to 83 countries, so I recommend that most authors start by considering the global market for English books first. ]

1. Only target one market a time

Don’t fall into the pitfall of wanting too much at once: you have to build up your reputation step by step in each country. Just like big companies do: they are researching the market for years before deciding to open a shop.

You won’t need years, but a little planning won’t hurt.

Once you are established in your home country (or in your main market), it is time for you to start looking into several directions. If you are writing in English, consider checking the other big English language markets first: Australia, India, Canada.

Research the market thoroughly: some markets are more open for nonfiction, others are all for religious books or women’s fiction.

Find out which books are leading the bestseller lists.

Who are the most popular writers of your sub-genre and what are they writing about?

Is there something you can bring to this market that hasn’t been there before?

2. Start with the biggies – but don’t forget the little ones

Luckily for you, all big booksellers are expanding to foreign markets, making it easier for you to sell your books.

In addition to Amazon and Google, who are opening up new stores at a fast speed, Apple and Kobo are also selling literally everywhere, the latter teaming up with local stores in 190 countries.

Once you are already on Amazon.com, it is easy to start selling your books on Amazon.de or Amazon.in, just remember to create an author page in every language you are selling on. With Kobo, you can also easily select the countries you would like to be sold in and set the price for each country separately.

When you do your market research, make sure to check out the local stores as well, especially if you are planning to get your books translated.

While the big bookstores may have the biggest market share in the UK and US market, this might not be so for other countries. In France, for example, Amazon only has a 40% share of the market, and there are three major sales platforms (Numilog, Eden Livres and E-Plateforme) working together to take the rest of it.

While it would be the best to sign up everywhere, it is extremely difficult to manage several separate accounts, follow up sales and invoices and make sure that you don’t accidentally violate any law or regulation. (Or not try to sell your book in a shop directly where you already sell it through Kobo.)

This is the point where aggregators, such as PublishDrive come handy: they have contact with hundreds of stores worldwide, from the biggest ones to local stores and provide you with a simple platform to manage it.

You just upload your books once, select the countries and prices and you are good to go.

3. Check your rights, prices and taxes

Whether you are a self-published or a traditionally published author, if you have sold any books, you have given away rights.

Remember to check with your publisher or self-publishing service provider whether you gave your international rights away, and if you did, how can you get them back.

If you are just about to sign a contract or sign up to a service provider, make sure you read the small print about international rights.

When it comes to pricing, you are also in a challenging situation: you can’t just use the current foreign exchange rate to determine the price of your book in a foreign currency.

The amount people are happy to pay for a book is different in each and every country, and this is not independent of the purchasing parity of the currency.

You can use certain guides, such as the Big Mac index to help you in pricing, but you are also recommended to just go and check it out for yourself.

Also look out for local regulations that might affect your pricing decision: for example in France retailers can’t change the price given by the publisher.

I know these are the nasty bits nobody wants to hear about, but also make sure to check the rules of receiving foreign income in your home country: in some cases, it can affect your tax rate.

4. Find the right translator

It's not necessary to translate your books, as you can sell globally, but if you are considering translation, then it's important to find the right person to work with.

The translator has a double duty: she or he has to convey not only the message of your book but transmit culture and the soul of your writing. Without the right translator, your carefully chosen words are all for nothing.

If you don’t speak the language, you have no way of checking if they did a good job. So what can you do?

Believe it or not, there are some people out there who might translate your book for free! Aspiring translators are easy to find if you join a Facebook group for international writers.

You can also try a translation service company like BabelCube: the translators here work for a share of royalties, so they are interested in your success. Apart from offering translation services, Babel Cube also distributes the translated books.

But the safest way is to hire a translator, and there are millions of places where you can find one. This list will help you get started.

Remember to also look for an editor: there is always a need for a second pair of eyes so you end up with a quality product.

Don’t rush finding the right translator: you can exchange emails with multiple people, find the one you feel most comfortable working with – it is likely, that the two of you will have a close connection.

Apart from translating your books into a foreign language, they can offer valuable insight into their culture, help with marketing and distribution. Even if you get close, however, remember to fill out a contract, stating not only payment but the rights of the book translated.

5. Get marketing

Don’t expect sales to come in as soon as your book appears in stores: you have to work on building your reputation (starting almost from zero) and get the word out about your book.

If you are writing for the English language market, you can use approximately the same strategies you are using in your home market. It’ll also help that people can see reviews of your book from the UK store in the US and vice versa; bear in mind though, that it doesn’t work in the other stores.

Try using one of Amazon’s great discounting or giveaway services at the beginning to boost your launch day sales and get some reviews under your books.

Remember, that there is no silver bullet: people in different countries can react to the same thing very differently. Try to find the right Facebook groups where you can make useful contacts and some friends in the target country who can help you with advertising.

If you try doing your marketing without the help of someone who speaks the language or understands country specific behavior, things might turn bad. It can help if your translator knows something about the book market in the target country and can help you find your way around.

For translating short texts, such as blurbs, reviews and marketing material, you can hire translators from Fiverr. You can also use Google Translate (or your browser’s built in website translate) to communicate with your fans in their own language. Even if you don’t get the grammar right, they’ll appreciate it.

6. Create an Author Central page

Amazon is a great place to sell and market your books. The Author Central pages work like a private website without all the website-building pain.

They provide authors with a great platform to share pictures, a blog-feed and up-to-date information on new books and other content. You can create your Author Central page by using the same login as you would use as a customer.

A lesser known fact, however, is that Author Central pages are not international: you have to log in on each of the regional Amazon sites having this service (currently UK, US, Germany, France and Japan) and type in your information. Don’t worry if you don’t speak either of these languages: the layout of the web pages is the same, so you just have to open you original UK or US page and copy and paste the information into the right boxes.

So, what are you still waiting for? Go and find yourself an amazing translator, because achieving international success might be easier than you think. Happy publishing!

Are you already selling to international markets? What has your experience been or do you have any questions? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Zsofia Macho is a bookish person: she writes, edits, translates and proofreads books and articles. She also likes to read them. Currently finishing a linguist MSc at University College London, she has a tough time displaying scientific journals on a traditional Kindle. When she is not writing for PublishDrive, she spends her time playing co-operative board games or badminton.

PublishDrive is a fast-growing and intelligent ebook publishing platform that was created with international publishing in mind. Allowing publishers to offer their books in 400 bookstores and 240k digital libraries worldwide with one click, it simplifies the process of going into foreign markets. The new Advanced Pricing feature provides publishers with the option of setting an individual price for every currency separately or choosing a straightforward conversion using actual exchange rates – but still receiving royalties in their own currency.

In addition to this, PublishDrive lets publishers to easily control production, metadata management and distribution, with cutting-edge business intelligence analytics, sales reports (including real time sales data by countries and stores) and billing.

Going Global. Self Publishing Tips From Dan Wood From Draft2Digital

December 7, 2015 by Joanna Penn 16 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:21 — 50.8MB)

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The ebook market is mature in the US and getting there in the UK, Canada and Australia, but in most other countries worldwide, the ebook revolution is only just beginning. In today's show, Dan Wood from Draft2Digital and I get excited about self-publishing to a global market.

In the intro I talk about The Bookseller #authorday and the responses from the author community, the latest AuthorEarnings report about amazon.co.uk, the Smashwords 2015 author survey results plus you can join Nick Stephenson and I for a webinar this week on growing your author email list. Click here to register.

The corporate sponsorship for this show pays for hosting and transcription. This podcast episode is sponsored by 99 Designs, where you can get all kinds of designs for your author business including book covers, merchandising, branding and business cards, illustrations and artwork and much more. You can get a Powerpack upgrade which gives your project more chance of getting noticed by going to: 99Designs.com/joanna

Dan Wood is the Director of Operations and Publisher Relations at Draft2Digital.com.

You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher, watch the video here or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

What Draft2Digital is, how it supports authors to distribute their books and how it differs from Smashwords.

How D2D chooses the different book vendors they work with and how authors can know which ones are worth choosing.

On 24symbols, Tolino and other upcoming changes in the ebook market.

The increasing opportunities in international sales, especially given the rise of mobile phones worldwide, and how authors can take advantage of the global market.

Dan's thoughts on Oyster and Google Play, and on Facebook entering the book market.

On the advantages of assetless pre-orders and the results Dan and D2D have seen with these.

The email list feature and back-matter feature on D2D, and pricing locally.

You can find Dan at Draft2Digital.com or on twitter @danwoodok

Book Rights And Licensing: An International Overview For Authors

February 27, 2014 by Joanna Penn 11 Comments

OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

I'm excited about how the opportunities for selling our books around the world keeps on growing!

I've covered how it's not just one book, and how your manuscript can be turned into multiple products. We've also looked at some of the international possibilities for your book. In today's article, Tom Chalmers from IPR License takes this even further.

International rights are free money. Well, sort of. You’ve already gone to the trouble of writing a book, so selling rights enables you to get paid for it more than once and reach an audience around the world.

It’s a big, wide world of opportunities.

You could be big in Japan – or Germany, Brazil or Latvia for that matter – and some authors are better known overseas than in their own country. But then again, it’s also a world of choice for international publishers: they can, and do, scour the world looking for the perfect book for their list.

Having said this if you believe in your writing and want to turn it into a career maybe now, with the huge impact of self-publishing, is the time to make that investment in your own work.

There are huge opportunities to be had for authors to both increase readerships and make money from potential advances and on-going royalties in foreign territories (not to mention publishing in different formats, TV and Film, media rights, permissions and so on). The key is being switched on to all the potential opportunities.

The most successful indie or self-published authors have embraced being a small business as opposed to being ‘just’ a writer.

Of course the writing will always be at the epicenter of this business but it’s vital to be aware of the bigger picture. And the bigger picture, especially on the sales side of the business, is rights and licensing – internationally as well as domestically.

Rights and licensing is still largely perceived as being a complex market, full of the dark arts and mysterious forces.

When mentioning rights and licensing you can see many authors suddenly break out into a cold sweat. And then when you throw in the word international – while their eyes immediately light up at the prospect – a realization/fear swiftly follows regarding how intimidating it can be to break into the unknown, in this case an unknown country.

The reality is that rights and licensing remains a grey and somewhat scary area for far too many authors. Not that it’s necessarily their fault.

Historically these areas have been boxed off by traditional publishing houses without authors having to be involved. Essentially these have been managed by in-house rights people with contacts all over the world to handle all negotiations and the placement of work in different territories across different mediums.

But times have changed.

Rights may not be a physical product but they can hold within them a huge and renewable revenue stream.

The fact is that many indie authors don’t just own a potentially valuable book, they own the rights to their work and these can be licensed to produce the same book, in English, into different territories around the world – whether US, Australia or India.

And rights can also be licensed for the book to be published and translated into different languages – French, Spanish, German and, back to India – Hindi, Marathi, and many more besides.

So let’s break down a few international boundaries.

We compile a regular report for the Publishing Perspectives website on how territories are performing and any hot trends from a range of industry experts. Below are a few snippets from these reports to help gain some further insight across a selection of foreign territories.

Italy – “Fiction and memoirs related to World War II continue to sell well. In addition, the market is opening to new adult fiction, with acquisition of the translation rights of best-selling self-published books, mostly from the US.”

Spain – “Science fiction and fantasy has been one of the few notable growth areas, with new imprints springing up in response.”

Sweden – “For the first time in years the best-seller lists are not dominated by crime. Instead wry humour, erotica and upmarket women’s fiction have come to prominence.”

Russia – “‘Light and fluffy’ detective novels, are being treated more snobbishly by critics but nonetheless sell in the millions.”

Israel – “Historically a literary market, Israel has recently begun to embrace thrillers and Scandinavian crime. In general, publishers in Israel look for enduring, high quality books.”

South Korea – “With a quarter of the market made up of fiction in translation there is huge potential to for international authors/publishes to forge closer links with their Korean counterparts.”

Arabia – “When it comes to printed books, the best-sellers are religious books about Islam followed by novels, both Arabic and in translation. Authors such as Dan Brown continue to sell very well.”

But the question remains how authors can breach these boundaries?

The first important point to make is that:

It’s vital to understand what rights you hold to your work

… especially if you’re considering signing with a self-publishing company rather than going independent. Check out this post if you are unsure on the rights you have already sold or exploited.

For example, if using a self-publishing company to print a book in English in England, make sure you don’t let them have world rights, including all languages, as this will allow them to profit from your work internationally where you could have sold the rights directly and retained 100% of the revenue.

Technology and the internet in particular is proving itself to be a great leveler for authors.

Research tools, useful resources, platforms on which to showcase your work, social media interaction, Skype, email and other communication methods have all made the world seem a much smaller place.

Following specific rights related news is also important in terms of knowing which types of books are selling in which areas. Above are some examples but publishing markets around the world fluctuate frequently based on trends hitting at different times and cultural differences meaning that (for example) while Germany may not currently be buying anything other than paranormal romance, India might be desperate for historical fiction.

And it stands to reason that domestic and international publishers can only buy the rights to your work if it is visible and they know exactly what’s available. Again technology can help make this happen.

If using a digital platform to showcase your work on a global scale, upload and add all possible information, previews and rights available. Also ask that your book be put forward for any platform bulletins or other promotions.

If you’re aiming to sell direct then start generating a strong list of relevant potential publishers worldwide and begin the contacting process. And at all times it vital to remain professional and accept that rejections are going to come.

A question we frequently get asked is – should I adapt my work to fit international markets?

There is no definitive answer to this. A general rule of thumb is to write the book you want to write and if it proves relevant to a particular international audience then great.

The next prudent step is to make a list of a) the rights you own and b) why your work might appeal to different territories, languages, formats etc as appropriate – Think about the places that feature in your book, the origins of your character, anything that might connect your work to other countries.

Then take a step back to evaluate this list and use it to target some potential publishers, rights agents who act in these particular fields.

Alternatively you could join a platform such as IPR License and let us do some of the work. But whatever route you’re considering, internationally or domestically, know your rights and investigate the various ways to get your work to the widest possible audience. And the best way to do this is by maximizing and monetizing the world of right and licensing.

Do you have any questions or comments about international rights or specifically around IPR License? Please leave a comment below.

Tom Chalmers is Managing Director at IPR License. IPR License was launched in 2012 and is the global, digital marketplace for authors, agents and publishers to list and license book rights. You can contact Tom directly: tom.chalmers AT iprlicense.com or tweet me @Tom_Chalmers.

IPR License is a partner member with the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Top image: Flickr Creative Commons globe by Judy Van der Velden