Q&A Karen Sullivan


the new trends that are emerging. It’s a great place to meet authors, too, and investigate the marketing strategies of other publishers. We bring along loads of proofs and even finished books to give away, both to spark interest for rights sales, but also to support the development of Orenda as a brand.


What are some of your big titles for the next year or so?


Next month we’ve got Icelandic author Lilja Sigurdardótir’s début thriller Snare (trans- lated by Quentin Bates), the first in the Reykjavik Trilogy. It’s a fresh and exciting addition to the Nordic Noir genre, and we’re expecting big things. In January, we’ve got Deep Blue Trouble by Steph Broadribb, an action-packed thriller-cum-romantic suspense and the sequel to her début Deep Down Dead. Mat Wesolowski’s Hydra is the prequel to his début Six Stories, a thriller told in a series of “Serial”-stle podcasts. Thomas Enger’s Killed (translated by Kari Dickson), the final book in the critically acclaimed and bestselling Henning Juul series, is out in February. It’s a stunner. We’ve got lots in translation, including French-Canadian Roxanne Bouchard’s We Were the Salt of the Sea (translated by David Warriner), Simone Buchholz’s Blue Night (translated by Rachel Ward), Kjell Ola Dahl’s The Ice Swimmers and Gunnar Staal- esen’s The Big Sister (both translated by Don Bartlet), and Johana Gustawsson’s as-yet- untitled sequel to Block 46 (translated by Maxim Jakubowski). We’ve got brilliantly imaginative thrill- ers from new recruits Doug Johnstone and Louise Voss, and lots coming from our existing authors, such as Sarah Stovell, Paul E Hardist and Lucy V Hay. The title I’m perhaps most excited about for this autumn is Anti Tuomainen’s The Man Who Died (translated by David Hackston), which is probably the funniest book I’ve read in… well, forever. Someone summed it up as “Wes Anderson meets the Coen Brothers”. It is unforgetable, darkly comedic noir.


You’ve had a couple of changes from early 2017: the launch of your own e-book store and partnering with Curtis Brown for translation and film/TV rights. How are both initiatives going? The e-book store is an excellent addition to the site, and we’ve had strong and steady sales since it opened. We did a 99p sale for one day across all titles, and sold around 800 in that period. Curtis Brown is brilliant. [Book-to-film agent] Luke Speed has sold TV rights for Ragnar Jonasson’s Dark Iceland series to [production company] On the Corner, and major motion picture rights for Six Stories to a big Hollywood studio. I can’t divulge the details, but the director is huge. On the translation side, the big books are Deep Down Dead and Deep Blue Trouble; the Six Stories franchise, which is selling every- where; Michael J Malone’s House of Spines and Louise Beech’s Maria in the Moon. I’m delighted with what Curtis Brown has achieved, and there is lots in the pipeline. This will be its first Frankfurt with our


orenda books’ highlights 376,042


The value of Orenda Books’ sales through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market in the UK since the publisher’s inception in 2015


18


Ragnar Jónasson Snowblind


9781910633038, June 2015 First in Jónasson’s D featuring detective Ari Thor, this topped Amazon. co.uk’s Kindle charts. The three others in the series are Orenda’s third to fifth bestselling titles.


June 2015


on’s Dark Iceland series ctive Ari


ed Amazon. charts. The the series


hird t es.


10,520 0


COPIIES D


COPIES SOLD


S


Amanda Jennings In Her Wake


9781910633298, March 2016 March 2016


The third psychological thrillhological thriller from ennings,


London-born Jennings, In Her Wake was featured in the W H Smith’s


Fresh Talent promotion of new and emerging authors.


erging 8,195


COPIES SOLD


OPIES OLD


as featured th’s


Agnes Ravatn The Bird Tribunal 9781910633359, September 2016 Norwegian Ravatn’s début sees a chilling, obsessive relationship develop between a young housekeeper and her “silent, surly” employer in an isolated house.


September 2016 atn’s début sees a chilling,


tionship en a


eeper , surly”


. 3,991


COPIES SOLD


OPIES OLD


11th October 2017


Orenda authors Thomas Enger and Johana Gustawsson both have upcoming titles in translation


books—expectations and excite- ment are high.


You have a lot of books in translation; is the UK market


becoming better for books in translation? I think it is! One of the things we set out to do was demystify translated books. It’s not a highbrow form of literature, but a way to read the best books from around the world. Our translated titles—Ragnar Jónasson, Kati Hiekkapelto and Agnes Ravatn, in particu- lar—are some of our bestselling books, and we sometimes have to remind readers that they are translated, with a big nod to excel- lent translators. We bring our international authors [to the UK] a lot, and it helps for readers to see that they are funny, interesting and clearly very talented. With a list that is roughly half in translation, we are well placed to see growth. Interestingly, Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal (translated by Rosie Hedger) was one of the top-selling Fresh Talent picks at W H Smith Travel, and I’m not sure we ever mentioned that it was a translation.


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