Selling in France and the UK

Catherine Delors · Post by **Catherine Delors** » Fri October 24th, 2008, 7:53 pm

Oh, I wish, EC2!
But a UK publisher just told my agent that he really, really liked my second novel (hist. thriller, Paris, winter 1800-1801) but didn't want to touch it with a ten-foot pole because French-themed stuff repeatedly flopped there. He cited as examples the Max Gallo series on Napoleon (very well reviewed, though) and Cosette, the sequel to Les Miz.
Do you think this is true?

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Fri October 24th, 2008, 8:14 pm

[quote=""Catherine Delors""]Oh, I wish, EC2!
But a UK publisher just told my agent that he really, really liked my second novel (hist. thriller, Paris, winter 1800-1801) but didn't want to touch it with a ten-foot pole because French-themed stuff repeatedly flopped there. He cited as examples the Max Gallo series on Napoleon (very well reviewed, though) and Cosette, the sequel to Les Miz.
Do you think this is true?[/quote]

Catherine,
Yes, I do.

While one can say never say never and some readers are out there, witness Sandra Gulland's Josephine B series the cross-fertilisation between France and the UK is generally speaking not good. My agent told me that the French are very parochial in their outlook to what they publish and the UK ditto. She can sell far more easily to countries such as Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, but France is always a hard sell. The same applies in reverse. If the UK buys in from overseas then it's usually from the USA and they're a lot more cagey about the rest of Europe than Europe is about them. French-themed historical material is generally only popular if it's at the 'Sharpe' end i.e. military and seen from a British perspective. A murder mystery set in London or Jane Austen country in that period would probably fly off the shelves, but France immediately makes it a lot more difficult.
Have you sold in France? You must have done!

The best selling French authors I can think of re historicals (other than Misfit's Dumas!) that have, or had strong popular appeal in the UK were the Angelique novels of Sergeanne Golon and the Juliet Benzoni Catherine novels. And Christian Jacques of course with his mysteries, but they are Ancient Egyptian. I've never heard of Max Gallo, or Cosette, so I don't think they've filtered through into broader awareness.

Catherine Delors · Post by **Catherine Delors** » Fri October 24th, 2008, 8:33 pm

No, I haven't sold in France!!!

I have in Germany in Scandinavia, though. So it may be quite true that the French and UK markets are both parochial.
Angelique was a huge bestseller in France (the films with luscious Michele Mercier helped a lot too) and so are all of Benzoni's books. So maybe it takes this level of sales to cross the Channel.

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Fri October 24th, 2008, 8:44 pm

[quote=""Catherine Delors""]No, I haven't sold in France!!!

I have in Germany in Scandinavia, though. So it may be quite true that the French and UK markets are both parochial.
Angelique was a huge bestseller in France (the films with luscious Michele Mercier helped a lot too) and so are all of Benzoni's books. So maybe it takes this level of sales to cross the Channel.[/quote]

I am astonished to hear that you haven't sold in France. That's BOUND to come sooner or later though. Preferably sooner.

Catherine Delors · Post by **Catherine Delors** » Fri October 24th, 2008, 8:56 pm

Exactly! I was hesitating between

and

xiaotien · Post by **xiaotien** » Fri October 24th, 2008, 8:59 pm

*chuckles* there truly is no love
lost between france and england...

ec2, i think every writer's revision process
will vary. let's all just hope for a positive one!
and gosh, i would love to sell in the uk...

happy weekend, all!
good luck to you, too, catherine!!!

Catherine Delors · Post by **Catherine Delors** » Fri October 24th, 2008, 9:10 pm

Oh, Cindy my

and

were for French publishers. So far. Of course, they'll come around with my second novel. Much easier to sell there, my agent says, because it is shorter (100,000 words, less paper, less ink, less $$ to pay the translator, etc.)

Ariadne · Post by **Ariadne** » Fri October 24th, 2008, 9:44 pm

Catherine, alas, I've heard the same thing re: the difficulty of selling historical novels with a French setting in the UK market. Sharan Newman (she's written mysteries set in medieval France) has said that she's had no luck with UK publishers, although her novels are available in France, in translation.

There is a very new publisher called Gallic Books that's based in the UK and which specializes in English translations of French titles - you may have heard of them. I hope they succeed. I just bought one of their books, called The Sun King Rises.

I hope it works out for you too!

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Fri October 24th, 2008, 11:31 pm

[quote=""Catherine Delors""]No, I haven't sold in France!!!

[/quote]

I haven't sold in France, either. I sold both books in the UK (they really liked Catherine de Medici, btw, and it takes place almost entirely in France) but whenever my agent sends my foreign submissions reports, I see 4 to 6 copies of The Last Queen being submitted over there almost monthly and so far, nada. I'm told French publishers are very wary of historicals these days, but who knows? It can often seem like a crap shoot.

Catherine Delors · Post by **Catherine Delors** » Sat October 25th, 2008, 10:31 am

Ah, CW, you just can't beat German efficiency...
And thank you, Ariadne, I will definitely ask my agent to look into Gallic books. With a name like that ...

After the US election, that is. Everything seems to be in suspended animation until then.