This follows on nicely from my post a couple of days ago, where I spoke about the magic ingredients which go into a successful writing career. (That's hard work and persistance, if you weren't paying attention.)
Well, here's proof.
First, Karen Miller's Kingmaker/Kingbreaker duology is a gripping fantasy tale which has been storming bookstores across Australia and NZ. In a very smart move, Orbit Books has snapped up the UK publishing rights and will release the books there in 2007.
Second, and hot on the heels of that announcement, Orbit Books has also signed Glenda Larke's fantasy series 'The Mirage Makers'. This series debuted in Australia recently and has been doing very well by all accounts.
So, well deserved success. And when you hear great things about these authors, don't kid yourself it all happened overnight. Read their blogs and websites, and you'll see years and years of hard work and setbacks. Bet they're not thinking about that now ;-)
It's also a reminder to Australian writers to look in their own backyard. Many Aussies reach out to overseas publishers, thinking their local market isn't worth the bother. On the contrary, a good reception here might very well hasten your move into the UK and US.
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Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)
2 comments:
I agree, Simon, with the bit about looking in Oz first. I actually started overseas because I happened to be living in Europe at the time - and then, because I had a UK agent, she obviously concentrated on the markets she knew best. So I had a book published in UK - but it didn't seem to lead anywhere.
Finally we turned to Australia and books which were turned down in UK and US were accepted in Oz. Does that mean that Oz takes inferior stuff? Nope, I don't think so, because the very books that were first turned down in UK and US, are now being published there - after they were brought out in Australia!!
It's one of those delicious ironies one seems to find such a lot of in the publishing world.
I think it's tougher to get published here than overseas, because there are less publishers and it's a smaller market to sell to. Then again, it's bloody hard to get published everywhere.
Australia is the third largest market for English books after the USA and UK, so it's not like we're getting published in Unknownistan or something. And if your book succeeds here it's a great way of catching a juicy overseas deal.
And congrats on the sale, too. I remember when you and I were sitting at a signing table at Swancon 2003. Seems a long time ago now ;-)
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