An indie author’s guide to selling foreign rights

Every author dreams of seeing their book translated into many languages so that readers in far-off lands can enjoy and learn from it. But how does an indie author sell their publishing rights abroad? And what can a traditionally published author do to be sure they are getting the best deal?

I asked Kelvin Kong, Rights Manager for Toronto-based agency The Rights Factory, to explain how book rights are sold into foreign markets.

 

What exactly are foreign language / foreign territory rights? What are the various component... keep reading


German-Language Edition of Vaporized by Robert Tercek Now In Stores

The German-language edition of business book Vaporized: Solid Strategies for Success in a Dematerialized World, written by Robert Tercek and originally published by LifeTree Media in 2015, is now available for sale in Germany.

Vaporized was acquired by Wiley-VCH in 2016 after being awarded the 2016 getAbstract International Book Award at the Frankfurt Book Fair, having been chosen from a... keep reading


How to Boost Your Public Speaking Fees by $10,000 or More

Everybody knows that a successful book can launch a career as a public speaker. But what is less widely understood is how publishing a book can turbocharge an already successful speaking career.

Here’s the problem. Every professional public speaker will eventually hit a plateau. The market gets saturated, or everyone has heard your speech, or the event planners seek a new topic, or the conferences evolve. If you are a professional speaker, you must practice continuous self-reinvention. I know this because many of the authors we work with at LifeTree Media are professional public sp... keep reading


Is it worth it to pay to publish? Six ways to recoup your investment, beyond the bookstore

If you’re thinking of investing money in publishing your book through a hybrid publisher or by self-publishing, you’re likely trying to work out whether you’ll get a strong enough return on investment to make the endeavour worthwhile. And rightly so: publishing a book to a professional standard is a significant investment, especially if you are considering using a ghostwriter.

Most authors think online and in-store book sales will be their primary revenue stream, an understandable but overly limited assumption. There are many other ways in which your book-publishing venture ca... keep reading


7 Creative Ways to Fund Your Book

“I can’t afford to publish my book right now.” We hear this a lot. And we get it–publishing can be a large investment for many people, and sometimes publishing seems like it can wait. But when we hear authors shying away from a publishing project because of funding, we simply smile and say, “Not so fast!” There are plenty of creative ways to finance your publishing project, so if you’re looking to publish but don’t have the means, consider these seven creative ways to fund your book.

Use a crowdsourcing website

<... keep reading

Professionally Self-Published Authors Now Eligible for the Writers Union of Canada

Did you know?

Over the last three years, the Writers Union of Canada has changed its eligibility criteria, opening up its membership to authors who are professionally self-published. Previously, to be eligible for membership in the WUOC you were required to have “a trade book published by a commercial or university press” under your belt. Now the requirement is a professionally self-published book that successfully demonstrates commercial intent.

Self-published authors haven’t always been eligible because the trick is, to be a professional writer, you have to publish pr... keep reading


LifeTree Media licenses rights for Dai Manuel’s Whole Life Fitness Manifesto to India’s Embassy Books

Embassy Book Distributors has acquired the Indian
 Subcontinental rights for health and wellness book Dai Manuel’s Whole Life Fitness Manifesto: 30 Minutes a Day for a Healthier Body, Mind and Spirit, written by Dai Manuel and first published by LifeTree Media in January 2016.

Dai Manuel’s Whole Life Fitness Manifesto showcases a fitness lifestyle that blends mindfulness an... keep reading


LifeTree Media licenses rights for The Digital Matrix to Grand China Publishing House

Grand China Publishing House has acquired Simplified Chinese rights for business book The Digital Matrix: New Rules for Business Transformation Through Technology, written by Venkat Venkatraman and published by LifeTree Media.

The Digital Matrix—the Indian rights of which were acquired by Penguin Random House India in March 2017—shows business leaders how to rethink their business model, assemble the right team for necessary change, and make bold strategic choices along the three phases of digital transformation.

Venkatraman is the David J McGrath Jr ... keep reading


The Sacred Path of the Soulmate: An Interview with Existential Philosopher Gerald Sze

At any moment, millions of women and men are ending romantic relationships. This made Gerald Sze wonder: “Where did the passion go?”

Gerald understands passion. An award-winning spirituality author and existential philosopher, Gerald has studied and conducted research in the fields of spirituality and existential philosophy for nearly 30 years. Not only has he written the book on love—The Sacred Path of the Soulmate—his own passion was the driving force behind its publication.

The Sacred Path of the Soulmate comes from Gerald’s studies on the nature... keep reading


How to write a world-changing manifesto

When I sit down to work with a new author, I always ask them about their goals for their book, and invariably I get a version of the same answer: They want to make a difference in people’s lives. Very often, they want to change the way people think, elevate a conversation, and bring new understanding to a vexing problem.

That’s a great mission. We all want to have an impact on the world, and most of us would like that impact to be a positive one. But changing the world through a book begins with changing the mind of one reader, and then the next. Most of us are stubbornly attache... keep reading