perimenopause and menopause health guide, The Feel Good Fix, sold to Penguin Life; Matilde Pratesi’s début literary novel about toxic female friendship, Pig, snapped up by Corsair; and Rachel Rowlands’ rom-com Snowed in at the Cat Café, won by Hodder at auction. The SLA job appealed as the culture “was the right fit” for the multilingual Belgium native who first cut her teeth in rights. Coen says: “There was the opportunit to have the freedom to run an office as part of a bigger, though really collegial, company. But I liked that SLA has such an international outlook—everyone speaks different languages, everyone’s a hyphenate, you know, half-Swedish/ half-Japanese.
“But also that most everyone does their own translations rights. Susanna [Lea] does an amazing amount; I still do my own translation rights and I run some countries for everyone across SLA. In the UK, agents tend to do one or the other: translation or primary. So we’re quite an unusual model but it makes sense. Who is beter placed to sell a book around the world than the agent closest to it?” As with many, the earlier London
SLA’s LBF hotlist
It makes sense for British publishers to explore [export sales]. But it doesn’t benefit authors are missing out on foreign language deals
VIOLAINE HUISMAN
One hot-buton issue that will undoubtedly be discussed in the aisles of Olympia—inexpensive UK export editions sold into mainland Europe that have cut the knees out from local publishing in many territories—is near and dear to her heart. Coen says: “My family is in Belgium and every time my mother, very sweetly, sends me a picture of one of my authors’ books in a shop, it’s always the English export edition. Every time, it makes me want to get the bosses of all the big UK publishers around a table to justify [their export policy].”
Book Fair has not been greeted particularly warmly in the SLA offices. Coen points out that 2023’s later Frankfurt Book Fair adds to the pressure: “It’s bad for agents; I feel worse for the editors who have had to read all our submissions in a shorter window. What you might see is a lot of agencies with rights guides for this LBF that will look very similar to Frankfurt’s.” She adds: “But the fairs sort of bleed into a publishing year that doesn’t end anymore. I was finishing two auctions in the week before Christmas; everyone keeps working throughout the summer. Not everywhere; just try and contact a Swedish publisher in July and they’ll be having a lovely time at their lakeside cabin. But in the UK we just have to work around the clock. That might not be a bad thing if it was coming from a place of ‘this is really lovely, and I want to keep acquiring books in the summer’. But I think it’s more that everyone is overstretched and are working all the time just to catch up.”
RACHEL ROWLANDS
TheBookseller.com
Coen adds: “I understand that export editions do well for UK publishers’ earnings. And perhaps UK domestic sales aren’t what they used to be so it makes sense for British publishers to explore other avenues. But it doesn’t benefit authors who are now missing out on foreign language deals and sales—and losing revenue. And that’s not even talking about what this is doing to local language publishing, the long-term effects of which could be quite depressing.” Coen was born in Leuven, grew up on the Flemish side of Belgium (but spoke French at home) and came to the UK with her family as a teenager when her father, who was in the air force, accepted a European Air Group post in Oxfordshire. When her family moved back home, Coen stayed on to do a history undergrad and master’s at Universit College London. She jokes a “post-graduation panic” of coming out of universit during the credit crisis had her thinking: “Hey, I like books, why not publishing?” Editorial was a first inclination but with her facilit with languages she was drawn to rights, first at A&C Black, and then the wider Bloomsbury group. She crossed the aisle to agenting when a foreign rights maternit role came up at Ed Victor and aſter a stint at Madeleine Milburn was brought to Hardman & Swainson to establish its rights department, and began building her own list. Coen has of late been thinking of SLA London’s next stage, as she’s just signed a new five-year Somerset House lease. One priorit is increasing the head count as SLA UK is currently a team of two, Coen and Una McEwan, who joined in 2022 shortly aſter graduating from Cambridge. Coen says: “Personally, I want to build my list, work with my authors to find and develop the right sort of books and find the perfect homes in the UK and in translation. For the agency, we want to add some fun people—but it has to work within our framework, and with them we can help make SLA UK as well-known here as it is internationally.”
The Monuments of Paris Violaine Huisman A daughter’s loving yet honest confrontation with her family’s heritage, exploring the public glory and private indignity of Holocaust survivors.
Agent Susanna Lea Rights France (Gallimard), North America (Penguin Press)
The Widow Spy Megan Campisi “Rousing, propulsive” novel based on the astonishing true story of the first female Pinkerton detective whose next assignment could end the Civil War.
Agent Stephanie Cabot Rights North America (Atria)
Snowed in at the Cat Café Rachel Rowlands Christmas rom-com in which two people get snowed in at a café in the Lake District, and have to contend with 12 cheeky resident cats.
Agent Térèse Coen Rights World English (Hodder), Italy (Garzanti), Germany (HarperCollins), the Netherlands (Bruna)
Jesus Wept Philip Shenon “Riveting” investigative history of the modern Roman Catholic Church.
Agent Kathy Robbins (Te Robbins Office) Rights North America (Knopf)
The Happiest Diet in the World Giulia Crouch Simple wisdoms from the world’s super-agers and a diet for life; taps into the Netflix’s “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”.
Agent New River Books Rights UK (New River)
09
© Laura Brunellière
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