Bringing an Israeli children's book to America

One man's advice
by: Steve B. (webmaster)

Hi, Rina. It's great to hear of your success! (And thanks, by the way, for purchasing my children's behavior books. I'd be eager to know what you think.)

With a caveat that you should never EXPECT to "break in with ease," my first thought is to approach agents rather than publishers, and to be fully able to communicate the things you have going for you, namely that you're representing a successful product with an established platform.

Your product is a book that sold 100,000 copies in a small country. Impressive! Additionally, there are 8 more books to follow. And, presumably, you have the rights - I'm assuming this is the case - to translate them into English. (Hopefully you're the only person with those rights and can prove it!)

"Platform" is a big word in publishing these days. To my mind, the best way to define it is, "possess an existing audience." In other words, can you sell copies of the book, because publishers like authors who do that for them these days!

Your platform consists, I would think, of Dr. Rosenberg's existing audience, his website (which looks substantial), and those teachers and therapists - the audience YOU'VE established. I would try to accumulate figures - primarily on those first two - that sound impressive.

Just the fact of your having marketed the play here speaks well for your ability to reach an audience.

These days, I'm afraid, that platform is as much - or more - important than what they think of your execution of the book. Here's an example:

I know an aspiring author who was recently contacted by a publisher. She was told she was one of 20 authors being considered as one of the 10 whose books would be published next year. "Tell us how you're going to market the book," they asked.

It's a disturbing thing to hear for the purists among us, but it's reality. It could even be that your best chance to sell your translation is without showing it!

Get your facts together, study the markets for related books, then start contacting agents. I always advise researching agents, THEN contacting them one at a time. Make a study of your querying process, rather than just contacting a ton of agents at once. You want to be able to learn from failure, rather than ruin your chances with every agent at once!

Like I said, just one man's opinion. Please let us know how it goes!

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Submitted by: Steve B. (webmaster)

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Hi, Rina. It's great to hear of your success! (And thanks, by the way, for purchasing my <A HREF="http://www.best-childrens-books.com/problem-behaviors.html">children's behavior books</A>. I'd be eager to know what you think.) With a caveat that you should never EXPECT to "break in with ease," my first thought is to <A HREF="http://www.best-childrens-books.com/childrens-book-agents.html">approach agents rather than publishers</A>, and to be fully able to communicate the things you have going for you, namely that you're representing a successful product with an established platform. Your product is a book that sold 100,000 copies in a small country. Impressive! Additionally, there are 8 more books to follow. And, presumably, you have the rights - I'm assuming this is the case - to translate them into English. (Hopefully you're the only person with those rights and can prove it!) "Platform" is a big word in publishing these days. To my mind, the best way to define it is, "possess an existing audience." In other words, can you sell copies of the book, because publishers like authors who do that for them these days! Your platform consists, I would think, of Dr. Rosenberg's existing audience, his website (which looks substantial), and those teachers and therapists - the audience YOU'VE established. I would try to accumulate figures - primarily on those first two - that sound impressive. Just the fact of your having marketed the play here speaks well for your ability to reach an audience. These days, I'm afraid, that platform is as much - or more - important than what they think of your execution of the book. Here's an example: I know an aspiring author who was recently contacted by a publisher. She was told she was one of 20 authors being considered as one of the 10 whose books would be published next year. "Tell us how you're going to market the book," they asked. It's a disturbing thing to hear for the purists among us, but it's reality. It could even be that your best chance to sell your translation is without showing it! Get your facts together, study the markets for related books, then start contacting agents. I always advise <B>researching </B>agents, THEN contacting them <I>one at a time</I>. Make a study of your querying process, rather than just contacting a ton of agents at once. You want to be able to learn from failure, rather than ruin your chances with every agent at once! Like I said, just one man's opinion. Please let us know how it goes!

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Bringing an Israeli children's book to America

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