Sprechen sie Deutsch?
Woke up to the delightful news that Luebbe, a German publisher, has made an offer for both
Doppelganger and Warrior and Witch. I’ve always been tickled by the idea of a
German translation of Doppelganger — all they have to do is slap an umlaut back on the
title and it’s good to go! (The title is, anyway. The rest of the book would need some
actual translation.)
This also highlights two interesting facts about the Life of the Writer. First, foreign
sales are your friends, because then people give you more money without you having to write
more books. It isn’t much, but by such things do writers make their livings. Second, this is
why one acquires an agent. Every so often you get new writers kvetching over the way agents
take a cut off the money their clients earn, but they absolutely deserve it; I wouldn’t have
the first clue how to start marketing translation rights to my novels. (Let alone all the
other useful things an agent does.)
So, life is pretty good.
Now back to work, I suppose.
