But it makes me sad when I realise there’s this whole wealth of fantasy and SF I’m probably missing out on because the US markets are so translation aversive.

Since Magic Lesson has already been translated by the same translator but the rights have reverted to me I’m hoping another French publisher will give the trilogy a go with a more contemporary cover.

Rachel: Esmeralda most definitely wears designer clothes. She likes the finer things.

Also Esmeralda clearly wears designer clothes, because in my opinion Tom counts.

The book got picked up by a French publisher name of Panama [incidentally, this is probably a reference to an old slang term for the city of Paris rather than the canal-ensconced country a bit south of the USians]. This was how I discovered your writing, in fact. My eldest daughter got the book for her youngest sister as a present. I — of course — picked it up and loved it. I have since re-read it three or four times. Curiously enough, my youngest daughter didn’t like it, but that’s life.

Anyway, back to the subject…

On the good side you got a lovely translation, courtesy Anne-Judith Descombey. You should be happy with that, I have read some abominal translations over the years…

On the down side, the cover, while technically proficient was more than curious: a sort of Arthur Ransomesque illustration of a lady in a flowing robe in front of a overlarge toad, with a rather optimistic cat looking up from the foreground. All this against a delicious mud-coloured background and a small twisted tree. The rest of the book is a rather old red-brown colour, the sort that you might see as an accompanying colour on 1930s prints for the Royal Mail. It is not the sort of thing that
a) gives an accurate picture of what the book contains
b) makes a potential buyer want to grab the book off the shelf and run to the checkout shouting, “I don’t know what is in this book, but I just have to buy it.” [Does happen, I assure you. Just not with _this_ cover...].

Also, there was also practically no promotion around the book. I really got the impression that the publisher just sort of pushed it out, and decided to see if it could survive in the wide world all by itself. Additional proof of this is that while the book is labelled ‘Volume 1″ [of what, we are not told], Volume 2 is still MIA, and has been for even longer than the publisher’s web site has not been updated.

BTW, how can I affirm that there was no promotion about the book? Well it just so happens that we are big YA fiction fans, and regularly ransack our local bookstores and book fairs and lending libraries looking for new books and new authors. This was how we found the Tally Youngblood books for example [it took me some time to realise that I had already read -- the not-so-YA novel -- 'Evolution's Darling' by the same author, and it took me even longer to realise why he was getting thanks in your books... oops!], so if a book is out and about and stocked and promoted, we get to find it.

In French, Magic or Madness is called ‘Au-delà de la porte’ ( ‘Beyond the door’ for the non-francophones), and while reflecting an important idea of the book, doesn’t really give the idea of how they planned on getting the series effect that you have in English with the series’ titles. But there again, Magic or Madness translated into French would not have the same alliterative quality. Oh, and you also got a subtitle, ‘Dans les griffes de la sorcière’ (In the witch’s claws)… I suppose that this might be the origin of the cover illustration, but even so, what gave Magic or Madness a particular special flavour was the everyday setting for the magic and the events. The ‘witch’ was not huddling round cauldrons with toads and cats, but reading the N.Y.Times, and wearing designer clothes [well, not rags at any rate]. So altogether a curious affair…

So, yay for foreign rights, but here’s a question: when you sell these overseas rights, how much say [or consultation] do you have in things like promotion and book covers?

Tell me more about the UK – are they trying to get laydown dates in the rest of Europe to match with theirs or what?

Alberto: Editora Record have been lovely to me. Good luck with your book deal!

Editora Record is a great publisher, specially because they are publishing books that, normally, would not go to print here. Like the books from David Levithan (GLBT). And Also because i might have a book deal with them! haha.

Good Work, keep on writing, loads.

CONGRATS AGAIN!!!