How Much Can You Make in Foreign Rights? My Story (with Actual Dollar Amounts!)
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Episode Transcript
Today, I want to talk about how much I made in foreign rights, because there is money to be made outside of the US for authors! A lot of money, actually!
First, I’ll tell you the story of how foreign rights played out for me personally with my first novel. Then, I’m going to share how much I made in each country outside of the US—the size of my advance there, how much I paid in agent fees, and any royalties I’ve gotten from abroad. Because I think the more transparent we can be about how much we make on our books, the better.
Let’s go.
So to start, a confession: I didn’t know foreign rights were a thing until I got my first offer from a publisher for my novel. I’ve told this story elsewhere on other episodes so I’m not going to get into the full thing here, but basically, my agent called after my book had been on submission for about a month and said, we have an offer.
The offer was from a “Big 5” publisher, it was for $60,000, and was for worldwide rights. My agent said, “We’re not taking it.” Which…freaked me out. But I trusted her, and I’m glad I did.
Not long after, my novel sold at auction in the US, which isn’t the story I’m telling in this episode. But what’s important for you to know for this discussion is that my agent negotiated only to sell North American rights in that auction. Meaning, the US and Canada. That was for $155,000.
Which I thought was high until I started getting to know more authors who shared their advance sizes with me and, honestly? A lot of them made three to four times that. Anyway.
In terms of rights, this left THE ENTIRE WORLD outside of the US and Canada, and over the coming months, my agent worked with co-agents in various countries—which is how that works, on more on that shortly—to see my novel there.
So let me break down how selling your book abroad works, what countries my novel sold in, and how much I made in each one.
How Selling Your Book Abroad Works
Let’s talk about how selling your book abroad works. A moment ago I mentioned co-agents abroad. You don’t have to find these people. (I know, than God, right?) Your agent does. Your agent in the U.S.—I’m going to speak to U.S. authors because that’s what I know, although I assume it’s similar elsewhere—partners with agents in other nations and you never interact with these agents for the most part. Now, I did end up getting lunch with my UK agent once, but that was unusual.
Because there are two agents, not one, involved, the standard commission rate goes up for 15% to 20%. That covers your co-agent’s fee.
So for all the dollar amounts I’m about to share with you, 20% came out to cover both agent fees. Now for the juicy stuff… how much I made.
How Much I Made
The two biggest checks I got outside of the US were actually two-book deals. WHAT? I know. Crazy. I hadn’t written the second book yet, not officially—in truth, I’d shared some draft pages of Privilege with my agent. But she didn’t send these out. She just pitched the book as a concept. And along with her co-agents in the UK and Germany, she got me two-book deals in both countries.
In Germany, I got $156,000 for both books. In the UK, which included the right to sell my books in Australia and New Zealand, it was $110,000 for both books. Not that it matters, but these amounts were actual in Euros and Pounds, respectively, so I just converted to dollars here.
Was it weird my second novel had sold abroad but not in the US? Yes. I asked my agent about that. I said, “So there’s a chance I could have a novel published in Germany but not here?” She said, that won’t happen. We’ll sell it here. I appreciated her confidence.
The rest of the checks I got were for only one book and were much smaller. Here they are:
France - $8,200
Brazel - $3000
Sweden - $3000
Portugal - $3500
Czech Republic - $3600
Italy - $3500
Israel - $1000
Hungary - $2,200
So if we add in Germany and the UK:
Germany - $156,000 for 2 books
UK (+ Australia & NZ) - $110,000 for 2 books
The total for FOREIGN RIGHTS was $294,000. After taking out 20% in agent fees, I made $235,000 in advances. More than I made domestically.
And here’s the thing—that’s not all I made abroad on that first book, because that was just advance money.
Advance money is just what it sounds like—it’s an advance on your royalties. Now, because advances have gotten so large, at least they have for the big publishing houses, around 95% of authors don’t earn out our advances. So for most of us, the advance money is the money we make; we don’t have to pay it back, but we don’t make more.
Like the other 95% of authors, my first novel did not earn out its US advance. But abroad, it has!
From both Hungary and the Czech Republic, I’ve gotten royalty checks of about $1,200 each, and that’s after agent fees—now, it took around three and a half years to get them. But I got there. So we can add to the $235,000 another $2,400. Which brings us to $237,400.
In sum, there’s money to be made in foreign rights, and it’s not a small number.
It’s also really fun to have publishers abroad. A lot of times they create new covers for your book which is super fun. I hung out with my Swedish publisher when she came to New York and we got drinks. So there’s more to be gained than just the money.
What’s the takeaway for you?
I want to be clear that I don’t think the takeaway is that you should never sell worldwide rights. Every book is different, and your agent is going to be the expert in recognizing a deal you should take versus a deal you should not.
For instance, perhaps your agency isn’t positioned to be able to sell your book abroad in terms of its resources or connections. That begs the question, “Shouldn’t I get an agency that does then?” Well, sure. But easier said than done. Getting an agent period is a uphill battle, and once you have a decent offer from a legit agency, you’re pretty foolish to turn it down.
Further, not all books are going to have a market abroad in same way certain subjects or genres will.
But I do think there are two applications here that you can walk away with.
One, it would be worth asking an agent you’re considering signing with what their approach is to foreign rights. Knowledge is power. Get your mind around what you’re working with when it comes to your book’s potential outside of the U.S.
And two, ask questions about the rights and territories when you do get an offer. Is it negotiable? Is it worth negotiating? Why or why not? These are questions you’re entitled to know as the author and that are negotiable terms, generally speaking. So get involved in that aspect of the negotiation, at least so that you can understand what the strategy is and why.
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