How globalization hurts publication

Lindsey Davis is best known for her series starring itinerant Roman PI Marcus Didius Falco. The books, which sell incredibly well in the UK, aren’t doing nearly the same business in the US, judging by the news that her publisher, Mysterious Press, has dropped her. The explanation, as she relates on her website, is a most interesting one:

Among their reasons is that they have failed to increase

sales. Of course they were never going to do this while so many

US readers bought the UK versions, and while little was done to

promote the American editions. I am now greatly saddened for

those of you who do not buy from England, but I assure you that

every effort is being made to find a publisher in the

States, both for future books and for the backlist which is

currently out of print.

I am very disappointed, and I know that you will be. I’m

afraid we all have to recognise that British authors have a very

hard time getting published in America. While the trade rules

exist which prevent British publishers sending their copies to

you, the real losers are American readers. It is a travesty that

my work is translated and published in small and remote

countries – and yet it will be at least temporarily unavailable

in one of the great English-speaking areas, where I know there

is an avid audience.

Davis is far from the only author who’s suffered from this problem, but it was especially pronounced because of the time lag between UK and US publication. If Book X is available now in the UK and won’t be published in the US for at least another twelve months, why should US-based readers stay patient when they can get the original edition by a simple click over at Amazon UK or by ordering from one of the British book dealers? The same goes when such books are reviewed. For example, Ruth Rendell’s THE ROTTWEILER was published in the UK 19 months ago, and there were reviews a-plenty of the book (many of which are found here.)  So by the time it was released in the US and getting reviews in major papers (with one forthcoming from, um, me) it felt rather stale. Especially because her new book, THIRTEEN STEPS DOWN, is now out in her home country.

Although it would be a lot easier if the English-language publication

date for any book was the same in every country, there are other points

to consider, especially that most people aren’t going to be curious

enough about a book to go searching for its original edition and will

only hear of it through friends close by or browsing through a

bookshop. Never mind that the sheer numbers favor the US, a much larger

country than Britain or Canada or Australia. The amount of books sold

to make a book a bestseller in the UK is so much less than what’s

needed in the US, after all.

But as globalization becomes more commonplace, I can’t help but think

that Davis’s situation will also become more commonplace. And it seems

to be a real shame to take that route when perhaps finding ways to

streamline publication dates so that every potential fan has access to

the book at the same time would be far more beneficial.

Still, Davis is looking for a US publisher, and she asks people to fill

out a survey to help her and her US agent better understand who’s

buying and where they are getting her books. I’ll reprint it here

because it probably wouldn’t hurt most writers–wherever they are

based–to ask these questions of their fan base as well.

1. What State do you live in?
2. Do you read the US or the UK editions?
3. New? Second hand? Library volume? Audio?

4. If you obtain your own copies, where do you get them

   (mainly)?

5. Have you seen the American copies in shops? (eg

   ‘Scandal’, published now, should be available on store

   shelves) Or have you ever had difficulty finding them when

   you were looking? Names of shops concerned would be useful.

6. Have you ever noticed advertisements or other promotions

   for the US editions?

7. Did you ever attend one of my signing events in the US?

   (or want to, but couldn’t go?)