December 12, 2024 • 39 mins
In this episode of "Smith Publicity's All Things Book Marketing," host Sandy Smith, CEO of Smith Publicity, welcomes Annie Oswald, the former Vice President of Publishing at Franklin Covey, now a motivational speaker and publishing consultant.
Annie and Sandy discuss insights on the power of international rights and their significance for authors and publishing professionals. Throughout the conversation, Annie discusses:
Listeners will gain practical tips on navigating the international book market, safeguarding their rights, and boosting their global presence. Annie’s extensive knowledge and passion for the publishing industry make this episode a must-listen for authors and publishing professionals looking to expand their horizons and achieve greater success.
Tune in to discover how to turn your book into a global phenomenon!
ABOUT OUR GUEST: Annie Oswald recently retired (May 2024) from FranklinCovey where she served as the Vice President of Publishing. She retired to pursue her passions as a motivational speaker and publishing consultant. Her role at FranklinCovey included everything frombook proposal writing and presenting to major publishing houses, rights management, and sales and marketing. Currently, she is working with Sean Covey on The 7 Habits of Teens Graphic Novel. Annie graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Communication. Annie has accepted numerous invitations as a keynote speaker for various groups around the world. Annie and her husband reside in Lehi, Utah, and are the proud parents of four daughters.
ABOUT SMITH PUBLICITY: Since 1997, Smith Publicity has been a global leader in creative publicity and public relations, helping authors and experts expand their influence and build authority beyond the pages of a book. Their clients include New York Times bestsellers, debut authors, CEOs, speakers, academics, and subject matter experts. Smith Publicity secures media appearances that boost visibility, build credibility, and fuel business and platform growth. Recognized in PR News’ “Agency Elite Top 100” and as top publicists by Qwoted, Smith Publicity’s team continually innovates with clients and their teams to build strategies that amplify their ideas for lasting impact. Recognized in PR News’ “Agency Elite Top 100” and as top publicists by Qwoted, the team speaks at events worldwide like Frankfurt and London Book Fairs, continually innovating to amplify their clients' voices and impact.
Annie and Sandy discuss insights on the power of international rights and their significance for authors and publishing professionals. Throughout the conversation, Annie discusses:
- the critical role of international rights in expanding an author's reach and credibility,
- the various elements that authors need to consider when exploring foreign rights for their work, including market-specific strategies,
- the importance of reputable foreign rights agents, and the nuances of translation.
- the growing demand for English-language books in India, the rising interest in Spanish-language books in the U.S., and the powerful impact of audio books.
Listeners will gain practical tips on navigating the international book market, safeguarding their rights, and boosting their global presence. Annie’s extensive knowledge and passion for the publishing industry make this episode a must-listen for authors and publishing professionals looking to expand their horizons and achieve greater success.
Tune in to discover how to turn your book into a global phenomenon!
ABOUT OUR GUEST: Annie Oswald recently retired (May 2024) from FranklinCovey where she served as the Vice President of Publishing. She retired to pursue her passions as a motivational speaker and publishing consultant. Her role at FranklinCovey included everything frombook proposal writing and presenting to major publishing houses, rights management, and sales and marketing. Currently, she is working with Sean Covey on The 7 Habits of Teens Graphic Novel. Annie graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Communication. Annie has accepted numerous invitations as a keynote speaker for various groups around the world. Annie and her husband reside in Lehi, Utah, and are the proud parents of four daughters.
ABOUT SMITH PUBLICITY: Since 1997, Smith Publicity has been a global leader in creative publicity and public relations, helping authors and experts expand their influence and build authority beyond the pages of a book. Their clients include New York Times bestsellers, debut authors, CEOs, speakers, academics, and subject matter experts. Smith Publicity secures media appearances that boost visibility, build credibility, and fuel business and platform growth. Recognized in PR News’ “Agency Elite Top 100” and as top publicists by Qwoted, Smith Publicity’s team continually innovates with clients and their teams to build strategies that amplify their ideas for lasting impact. Recognized in PR News’ “Agency Elite Top 100” and as top publicists by Qwoted, the team speaks at events worldwide like Frankfurt and London Book Fairs, continually innovating to amplify their clients' voices and impact.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Smith Publicity All Things Book Marketing podcast,
offering tips, insights, and advice from the best in the
publishing industry.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi, and welcome to this episode of Smith Publicity's All
Things Book Marketing. Welcome, and today I'm excited for our
conversation with Annie Osworth. Annie is recently retired just May
of this year from Franklin Covey, where she served as
(00:31):
the vice president of publishing. She retired to pursue her
passions as a motivational speaker and publishing consultant. Her role
at Franklin Covey included everything from book proposal writing and
presenting to major publishing houses, rights management, and sales and marketing. Currently,
(00:53):
she's working with Sean Covey on The Seven Habits of
Teens graphic novel. Annie graduated from Brigham Young University with
a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in communication,
and has accepted numerous invitations as keynote speaker for various
groups around the world. Annie her husband reside in Utah
(01:15):
and the proud parents of four very accomplished as we
just spoke daughters. Welcome Annie to our podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Thank you Sandy. It's a pleasure to be here, yeasitation.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Oh yes, And I have to say that my colleagues
Kurran Mulder and Marissa Eigenbrun met Annie at the Frankfurt
Book Fair last month in Frankfurt, Germany and said, Sandy,
you have to meet Annie.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
You're going to love her.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So I'm excited to have this conversation because Annie has
a whole host of topics that I think authors will
publishing professionals will really enjoy learning different slices of this.
I don't want to say the crazy world of publishing,
but it kind of is right, many different different aspects.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
So Annie, why were you with the Frankfurt book Fair?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Like what drew you to the event?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Past here? I'd hate to use the word I've retired.
I just like to say I moved on to pursue
other things. Retired makes me sound old, so we won't
go there. But okay, I went to Frankfurt because, in
addition to stepping away from the full time, high pressure
executive rule, I wanted to just pursue what was fun
(02:37):
for a while. So I am still representing Franklin Covey
and their foreign rights, in addition to some other outside partners.
I've got some other books I'm representing, so I was
there in order just to sell rights, to connect with partners.
I have been in the business for a couple of decades,
(02:58):
and you know, you you create these lifelong friendships and
you see these people maybe once a year, twice a year,
and it's just it's so invigorating to go to these
book pairs and see your lifelong friends that you haven't
seen for six months.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
And I bet for a while with COVID there was
a little bit more of a time when you didn't
get to see them.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Oh yeah, it was. It was so difficult for me
to Yeah, that was a tough time for all of us.
But boy, when you go to book fairs, that was
really hard for all of us. And it's interesting because
it's taken years to get back up to the same
numbers that we used to have.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Absolutely and we all miss book Expo. That was a
place where we could come and, as you said, see
those connections that we have made for many, many years.
And I know Kurn especially loves versa. It's just a social,
social out extrovert. But Courvin especially loves that in person
(03:58):
connection and going She went to the London book Fair
last year and again Frankfort this year, and she comes
back so energized and with ideas and people that zooms
are great. We're doing a zoom now, but seeing people
in person as a whole new level of connections in
the publishing world, in any world.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And it's true, there's something about I mean, you know,
people say, oh, you still eye to eye, but there's
something about that spirits connecting or or our souls or
whatever it is when you meet somebody in person and
you know, you feel the energy. I'm a firm believer
in we we exude energy.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Going back to Frankfurt, international rights what
from an author's perspective? If you want to give a
one sentence uh description of exactly what international rights are
from an author's perspective, and then talk about if you
(04:59):
are an author of a book, when and how should
you think about an international rights path for your own work?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Okay, we have to I specifically, I spent a lot
of time talking about rights. It was book rights and
audio rights. You know, there's more than that. You know,
there's condensation, there's book clubs, there's movie and film. But
specifically today let's talk about you know, the book and audio.
(05:31):
What it means is that sub rights are And this
is interesting because as you new authors enter into contracts
and agreements, you have to think long term. If you
have any kind of international connections, then when you enter
into an agreement with a publisher, look very carefully and
see who owns those rights, because if the publisher owns them,
(05:55):
you know you will eventually become backlist for them. You're
part of their cal But you're always going to care
more about the rights of your book internationally than any
publisher is. And it's not to put traditional publishers down.
They're fantastic, but they have hundreds of titles they release
every year, and so I have to admit that I
(06:16):
just the stars must have been perfectly aligned for me
because at Franklin Covey I represented the seven habits of
highly affecting people. And you can't choose a better book
to sell foreign rights for everybody wants it. Yes. In fact,
I have a friend who said to me, well, what
do you do when you go to book fairs? Do
you take people out and wind them and dine them?
(06:38):
And I said, oh no, no, no, no, they're taking
me out and they're whining and dining meat because they
want the book that I represent, and so that everybody
should have such a perfectly aligned life would be wonderful.
So I like to tell people, but it's not that
I'm brilliant. I just had the right book and the
right company to support me.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
No.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I from a publicity perspective, we have the same model.
There are some books that we work with where the
media is, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Coming to us, Yes, give me a piece.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I want some, and then other times we're like, please
take a look at this author.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So it's like going to Costco and our green samples.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yes, it's so nice exactly to be on the other
side of it when you have, you know, a product,
a book, a brand that.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
People are right, that people want, people want.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
And at what stage or do most publishers or should
most authors be obviously setting up at the beginning and
legally contractually having a plan for foreign rights? Does foreign
rights negotiations so that happen at the beginning after it's
had some success in a certain market. How does that work.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
For most authors? It's going to work where they've had
some success already. Again, I work at Franklin Covey and
we had more than just the Seven Habits. We had
other titles which I did have to I did have
to sell, you know, So don't think that everything I
did was just all, you know, easy peasy. It wasn't.
But most authors, they're going to have to have some success,
(08:20):
and maybe not necessarily success with the book, but they
themselves have to have success. They have to have a
huge following. They have to have some some some wedge
that an international publisher would want them. Maybe they were
maybe they've done a speaking engagement in Germany so that
they have some kind of following. Maybe the person I'm
(08:43):
actually representing a man right now who used to be
an executive at Dell, So that in itself was enough
of a shoe in because it's a global company. So
and I've worked with a woman who was a senior
executive VP at at and two. Again, you have to
have some kind of wige that gets you in the door.
(09:05):
That's typically it. Or start building your social media following today, yeah, yesterday, Yes,
you're right. It's like it's like planting a tree twenty
years ago would have been best, but the next best
is today.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Oh I might steal that, Annie, I'll give you full credit,
but I like that analogy because it's very true with
social media building fans, followers, and the media they like
to see. They ask for newsletter numbers and volumes, whether
it's on LinkedIn, in your own newsletter, So giving that
(09:39):
kind of social proof that people care what you're talking about,
so international rights is the same. Then they want they
want to know that what are there any hot markets
or places that are interested in the US books right
now or any trends in that.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yep, right now I'm seeing it huge interest from India.
And it's interesting because you know, there's i think there's
like thirty two languages in India. Wow. Yeah, and there's
a few that are big, you know, Hindi and Bengali,
but mostly in India it's English language. So the Indians,
(10:21):
you know, you'll see it in the tech business that
there's a lot of Indians that are coming, you know,
to Western countries to get their education and they're going
back to India and so they're reading English. So there's
a huge market there and you know, they're millions and
millions and millions of readers there. So so that's really interesting.
And what's really good about that is if it's in English,
(10:44):
you don't have to worry about the translation rights or
whether they're even translating it correctly. I mean, that's another
piece that a lot of people don't think about, is
you don't just get to put a book through AI
and have it translate and capture the spirit of the book. Yeah,
so that's a big one. That's a big one.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So if I'm an independently published author and I don't
necessarily have or even a traditional publisher, and I want
to say I'm ready to explore getting my book in India,
how do you go about it? Do you hire someone
like you? Do you hire a foreign writes say attorney,
(11:25):
or is there somebody.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
The publisher who can do this for you.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
If I'm an author and I say, you know what,
I've got a nice following, I've got a topic that
should be of interest to say people in India, how
do I start?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Oh, that's a tough one. Its exactly there you go.
That's the answer. Two words. It depends. It's like trying
to write a book and getting it published by a
traditional publisher. You almost can't get in the door without
an agent. Doesn't mean it's impossible, but it's the likelihood
is really low. And the same thing going overseas. There's
(12:02):
a chance that the stars may be perfectly aligned, but
you probably really need, you know, a foreign rights agent.
I don't know necessarily that a foreign rights attorney will
do any good, but an agent who already has contacts, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And how do you find a foreign rights agent? Is
there a directory, a listing, a association too, or do
you simply google and try to find people who are
kind of representing similar genre.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yeah, I would just simply google it. I mean, I
know there's registries in different places, and there are some
public there are some rights agencies that are pretty big
where it's not just an individual agent, but it's a
whole company and they'll post your book, they'll list it,
and then they will share it internationally. So there's different
ways to do it. Doesn't have to be one on one,
(12:56):
but you can join a marketplace excellent. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
One question I always had is if a book is
available on Amazon US.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
And if you don't, it's okay? Is it automatically available
on Amazon UK or is that something that you don't
want to do and wait for foreign rights or do
you want it on all the Amazon's or how does
that work, because I know some authors have asked this question.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, it isn't necessary on all of them. Okay. Yeah,
just because it's in US doesn't mean it goes to
Australia or the UK. I don't you know Amazon keeps
so many of their their formulas secrets. Yeah, they're all
run by robots, so I don't know how they but
(13:47):
you know, if it's hugely popular, there's a good chance.
But just you know, your your typical book that you
put on Amazon doesn't mean it's going to be picked
up in the UK. Okay, A traditional publisher will probably
get it into all those they'll get it into the UK,
in Australia and New Zealand, Hong Kong in theost English languages. Okay,
(14:08):
but the average book probably not okay.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And going back to India, do you have any being
such a big market and on what I understand, really
hungry for books, which which of course we all love
anyone who wants books from from a specific Indian India strategy,
(14:34):
Are there any tips that you would give authors or
India specific in terms of building presence or making a
book more appealing or a brand more appealing to that
large audience.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Well, make sure that you that you work very closely
with the publisher. Don't just throw the book over the wall.
You know, get their input on you know, you know
your market better than I do. Tell me what colors
are appealing. We know that in China the color red
is more appealing. You know, it's a lucky color. The
number seven is a perfect number for China. So do
(15:14):
your research, you know, find out what is selling well.
And I would caution every author to be extremely careful
when you're taking a book to somewhere like China or India.
Make sure you choose a reputable publishing house, and you
do that by checking references. Ask them to tell you.
Tell me about your company. Who else do you publish,
(15:35):
do you have other do you have references? Because places
like Indian China separate, there's still a lot of piracy.
So you just have to do your homework. Make sure
you choose somebody highly reputable. And make sure too when
you're asking in your checking references, how thorough are these
publishers at paying their royalties? Are they on time? You know,
(16:00):
because once you get it out there, it's really tough
to you know, you can tell them to stop and
you can terminate the contract. But to get them to
stop selling this a hard part. So really careful about
making sure that there's a reputable company that you're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
That's a great point. We have an author who worked
with us a few years ago who came to us
for help because they heard they were a number one
best seller in India and they had no foreign rights
and what do I do about this?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Right?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
And so somebody must have picked up their book and
without their knowledge, and it was quite successful, but they
didn't receive any financial rewards from that. So I know
every market piracy is a concern, but I like your
point about making sure when you're getting your references that
(16:56):
the company's paying and paying regularly and fairly. Yeah, and uh,
that they've represented other authors successfully and especially in your area.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Do they get in India?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Is there a much in person, in store on shelf
book traction or is it primarily online?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Primarily online? Now? Yeah, okay, some stores there are, you know,
but but because there's so many languages, you know, you'll
pland English and most of the stores. But if you're
talking about translation, right then then that's a little bit
more difficult. But most of it is online now okay.
And there's one more market I was going to tell
you about that's really well, it's it's Spanish language in
(17:43):
the US. Oh, okay, okay. So you know we've all
thought about, you know, Latin America and Spain and the
European Spanish and even Spanish and Africa. But there's a
whole new pipeline now for Spanish language books and the US.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So and so this is say, US published books being
translated into Spanish rites.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yeah, So it's just something that we haven't thought about
in the past. But now that there's such a large
Spanish speaking population, yes.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
That it's a very viable. And what about audio the same,
but the audio with Spanish, Yes.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
With Spanish, you know, for US in America, in the
US mostly you know, audio is growing so fast, and
I think it came about because of COVID. We all
started listening to more audio, you know. I found that
I was making more but listening to audio. Yes, yes,
and you know I have switched. I used to be
(18:45):
probably seventy five percent print read and then twenty five
percent audio. Now I'm probably seventy five percent listening, you know, audio,
and twenty five I really only read books anymore when
I'm on an airplane. Other than that, I'm listening.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yeah, And you just described my exact reading. And I
read a book when I was on my flight to
Boston this week, like oh, it was almost odd to
sit and read, but I couldn't do the audio and
just stare at the window. So I'm always multitasking and
I'm reading so much more. And I've been doing audiobooks
(19:20):
so long that I call them on my head books
on tape? How's that for aging myself? And I on
tape and always got them at the kids at the
library when they were young, and then obviously CDs, and
it's just a beautiful way. I when I come to
the office here, it's about a forty minute drive and
I always have an audiobook going, and I'd bake, I cook,
(19:42):
clean out my closet, to do my laundry, go for
a walk.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Everything on your book. And I wish, I wish I.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Was bilingual so I could enjoy Spanish on your books.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Well I am. I am doing the dual lingo learning German.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
So wonderful, wonderful, But my my son especially is pretty
fluent in Spanish, so.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I don't know if you'd ever pick a Spanish.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Audiobook, but that would be kind of cool to continue
his his language skills. But are Spanish audio books just
as in demand as the print or ebooks or not
or not quite.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Well, the Spanish audio is greater than the demand for digital,
but okay, print book is still in the Spanish language.
The print is still doing better than the audio.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Wonderful. So if I am an author, I go to
my rights person and say, let's talk about a plan
for Spanish and when you have a book, Because this
kind of goes back to all, do people ever change
the book based on a translation or a market? For
(20:52):
an example, maybe a case study in a in a
nonfiction book might not make sense to that the Indian market.
Oh I have an Indian company, I can highlight or
and uh say a Spanish translation of say a children's
book that maybe they would have maybe a Spanish heritage
(21:18):
meal and illustration as opposed to something different. I don't know.
Do people change their book based on translations or geopra.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
I'll give you a couple of examples. And working with
Franklin Covey, we did some children's books Seven Habits of
Happy Kids, which which I am a crowd owner loved it. Good,
Thank you you kept me in business. We we have
some characters. We have porcupine and skunks, and we got
pushed back that in some countries they don't you know,
(21:49):
skunks are very North American kinds of animals. They aren't
the porcupines. You know what, we you know what to
us was very common and so yes, we did work
with them to allow them to slightly customize. We had
a name for the porcupine which was pokey, and apparently
that was a vulgar term. Yes, exactly, exactly, Yeah, we
(22:13):
had to allow them to change that. And then and
this is a business model that has worked well for
Franklin Covey. So I'm hoping some of your listeners might
be business people. But we found it extremely helpful to
sell a book if we allowed a local expert to
either write the forward of introduction and then put their
(22:34):
name on the front cover. Then you have your local
people that want to support that famous local person or
a part of their business. Say, you know, you have
a CEO and a business who maybe loves we have
a book called Speed of Trust. Maybe he loves Speed
of Trust. He wants to write a forward once you
put his name on it, you've now increased your sales
(22:55):
opportunities in these other countries.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Oh Annie, that's a beautiful gold nugget there. And if
I'm an author, do I kind of use the same
techniques I would to asking for a blurb?
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yes, yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Go out with a very personalized message and ask and
see what happens.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Yeah, exactly. I admire what you do. I see that
you're a high person of trust. I think you'd be
perfect to write an introduction to this book about trust. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yes, And then that gives a whole other level of
credibility right at the get go.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
And then that person too will have skin in the game.
They'll be out there talking about it. Oh my name
is on this book, you know, or you know, let
me buy it for all my employees, or let me
give it away as a gift, or there you do.
So there's there's a secret nugget we occasionally use to
expand our marketing.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, that's fantastic, and so I like that. There's some
thought to making the book more personal to the market,
both in terms of the actual production and marketing and
packaging blurbs type of thing and also for the content
(24:13):
to make it more valuable and meaningful to the reader,
which is what the author would like in the first place,
to have that, which which which kind of leads into translations.
How how do you know that your book is being
translated accurately? Is a the Do you find a translator
(24:33):
who's reputable and then have someone else read it? Tell
me about that process, because you said you can you
can't use AI and do you want to make sure
it picks up not just the literal words but the
spirit of the book.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Typically when you when you contract with a publishing house,
they have their own translators, so you don't go looking
for you I mean, you could go look at your
own translator. You only want to put it on Amazon,
you know, And in that case, yes, make sure you
get a reputable one. It's like everything you have to do.
You have to research and make sure you've gotten good reviews.
(25:11):
If there's any way possible, it's to ask somebody else
who is bilingual in that language to read it for you,
or you maybe even could go to a university, you know,
and see, you know, do you have any students that
could you know, are willing to read it at a
phenomenal fee or whatever. It's everything you have to do.
(25:33):
You have to do your research, so you can't just
go it over the wall and think it's going to
be fine. It's it's like writing a book and thinking
the world's going to buy it if you.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Isn't that what happens, Annie, I just put it on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
People will find it. Yeah, look at jk Rowling. It
worked for her. Right, Yes, I.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Always say the only person that works for people who
are famous in other ways, like I don't know Prince Harry.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yes, even he had to do a lot. Yes, yes, yes,
it's so that's it.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Just put it up, it'll be fine.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Really, sub rights and foreign rights are I'd like to
to say it's complicated. It's not complicated, but it's labor intensive.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Okay, and from and I don't necessarily want you to
share sales figures. But for authors that you know, what
can foreign wright do financially for them from a book
sales perspective, or even maybe in the non fiction space,
job opportunities or networking speaking new clients? What can foreign
(26:42):
rights do for authors what they've seen?
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Perfect question, because your first was financially and do not
think selling foreign rights is going to make you any
money on book sales, because it's not when foreign rights
does or subwrite. Turn. The other kind of right is
that it gives you credibility. It gives you credibility to
(27:05):
say my book has been published in seven languages or
you know. It also opens the door if it's nonfiction,
it opens the door for speaking engagements. You know, where
you are a global village, there are people all over
the world, and with Zoom you can do speaking engagements
just to be a Zoom without having to travel. Right,
So it opens up the opportunity for keynote speeches. It
(27:27):
opens up the opportunity to maybe even sit up. There
are training companies all over the world that license training materials.
You may have a nonfiction book and you've done a
work book. It may open that door for you. Oh yes,
but I would really one percent caution you don't plan
on making money from book sales internationally. If you do,
(27:49):
then it's icing on the cake. You're doing it because
at the very beginning you said this, what you guys
do is you create something beyond the book. Yes, yes,
that's what you're looking for is the credibility and just
to open new doors of opportunity.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yes, that's what we hope publicity does is Yes, book
sales are great. Most of our authors will say book
sales is one small metric of the success of the book.
It's growing their credibility, sharing their ideas, becoming a thought
leader or a subject matter expert. That opens up doors
(28:29):
to new clients, new speaking, new new opportunities. And that's
what Foreign Rights sounds like it does as well. It's
it's another, it's an it's another I don't want to
say not on your belt, but it's another accomplishment that
you can share and your and your bio and your credibility,
differentiating you from others who are competing for that same
(28:54):
audience and attention.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, And it's just like writing a book.
A lot of people write, but not because that you
have this birding desire. The show is discipline. It shows
you know a different way of that you're thinking a
step above maybe the normal typical you know person out there.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Excellent, excellent, well, and your experience and in your career shift.
I would love to hear maybe even some of the
principles that you learned from your books that how did
you know in your publishing career. That was time to
(29:37):
make a change. And what what has happened since and
what are you excited for in the next you know,
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Thank you. That's a great question. You know. Uh, I
started with Stephen Covey many thirty thirty some years ago,
and it was a very small company, you know, it
was it was kind of a startup, and I loved
that part of the job. I loved, you know, the
(30:08):
building of a company. And as the company grew and
we merged with Franklin Quiest and then it became a
publicly held company. For me, it just became time because
it was a matter of you know, I didn't want
to work for the corporate world. Nothing wrong with that,
just I was just I've reached a stage of my
life where I don't need to be doing that anymore.
(30:30):
You know. I reached a certain level and I was
content and happy and I wanted to see if I
could do it by myself, which has been really exciting.
It's been really fun, and I'm grateful to Franklin Covey
for getting me where they did. I mean, that was
a platform that created, you know, brands from all over
the world. What I'm most excited about is is in
(30:55):
this new role, It's given me opportunity to meet people
like you, more of the end up people, more of
the people that share the same passion and drive. My
company has become it's more training and consulting. And I
was really invested in books and books were a calling card.
And but you know, Franklin Covey isn't a publishing company.
It's a training consulting company. And I just have found
(31:20):
had so much fun going on LinkedIn making new friends,
chatting with new people, creating these new opportunities. And the
other thing I'm very passionate about is I've been traveling
for thirty years, and even before our cell phones were
a big deal, or before you could use Google Maps
to go to a strange city and figure out where
(31:42):
you were going. Oh yes, yeah, having reil Maps, real
maps exactly had that datus. But that's okay, it's a
good kill. It's a skill I'm proud of, exactly. But
I have found that for me, I would come home
and you know, I have a network of friends that
I do things with and they would always say to me,
(32:04):
aren't you afraid to travel alone? And that's kind of
an old school thought, but I would say, you know,
I'm not. If you're prepared, everything is doable. Everything is doable,
you know, if you go and it's like we just
talked about with foreign rights, if you do your research, yes,
(32:24):
they're safety in knowledge. Yeah, yes. And so I have
been doing a lot of speaking just the last three
and a half months on not just women and travel,
but women and vision boards and setting goals and how
to achieve those goals and how to do more than
just the day to day. And that's one of the
(32:47):
things I learned from the Seven Habits specifically was habit
to us begin with the end in mind. And so
I'm a real big believer in manifesting things and putting
it out to the universe and creating goals of and
achieving those goals. So that's you can probably tell this
is what I'm really passionate about.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Yes, yeah, it's so appealing, especially for women who are
I just know personally and with my friends, you get
so easy to get caught in the day to day. Yes,
no say rut, but things that have to get done right,
not that you've you know, especially women seem to wear
(33:28):
a lot of different hats and professional and personal relationships.
They're the kinkeeper I know personally, and if my husband
listens to this, we get invited to Thanksgiving about a
month ago, his side of the family, and I purposely
did not answer the text. I'm like, you pull the kids,
you see who's coming, you figure out what to bring in,
(33:49):
and never happened. So every week did you text back?
Did you call them?
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, I've been meaning to do that. And inside I'm
dying because I know what it's like to have to
get information on the other end. But I'm trying so
hard to like not take that on because then that
will give space too something that's not Thanksgivings lovely and all,
but you know, it's saying to have the luxury of
(34:19):
thinking about other things and getting through you know, the day.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And we need to and I don't.
This is my personal opinion. I don't blame men for that.
I blame myself for for sometimes enabling too much. And
it's not just a husband, but it could be children
or even a work partner. You know, we tend to
want to fix it and make it right. Yes, yes,
(34:47):
And that's what's so important about the vision board or
a mission statement is it's easy to say no when
you have a deeper yes burning inside. And my deeper
yes may be my independence, or building a bank account
or building a cabin, So I can say no to
those other things because you know what, not serving that's
(35:09):
my that's my goal, and if it's in front of
my face, then that's my goal. That's what I'm after.
So good for you. But this is what I'm going.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
For right right and in the in the foreign rights world.
If this is your goal, then you can say no
to some other distracting but maybe tempting activities or goals
and you can put that on your vision board for example,
So whether it's traveling to some new place or or
(35:41):
for me, I would love to tackle some more sophisticated cooking.
I would love to have some time for that and
to get back to painting. I love oil painting and
acrylic painting, but it just seems that something else always comes.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
First, right, Yeah, yes, yes, that vision.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Is leaving space to make that a priority is is
pretty pretty exciting. And are you do you feel freedom
after kind of leaving and changing the Oh?
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Absolutely yes, I can. I tell my friend. My friends
are like, oh, do you I said, I don't. I
was afraid I would go through a little bit of depression,
a little bit of a let down. And it hasn't
happened yet. You know, it's from June first on and
I just keep thinking, Okay, when am I going to
think they're going on without me? And it just I
(36:37):
have just the freedom is just so empowering. It's very
we should all we should all want that, you know,
that that sent of empowerment, that we can do more
and that we should do more.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
So so Annie, I'm going to have you buy Smith
Publicity so that I can then go off and have
that feeling.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
I recommend it.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
A new direction, a new a new passion. And yeah,
but that sounds absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Yeah, And then you're going back to you know, Frankfurt,
and you're seeing old friends, and I know that you'll
be in New York coming up soon and continuing to
grow your network and work with authors.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
And but it's about focusing on what I'm passionate about. Yeah,
you know, when you work for a big company and
sometimes there's so much security in that. So I don't
want people to think that I'm saying it's not a
good thing, right, there's just something that makes life worth
living when you're pursuing what you're passionate about. So yeah, well,
(37:44):
I think we're running out of time here.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I could keep talking to you all day, this is fantastic,
but I will.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Connected like we're sisters, you know, sisters, long lost sisters.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yes, yes, sisters from another mister. Right, it's the expression there, Well,
thank you for your time. I think you've given us
such beautiful nuggets of knowledge for authors trying to understand
foreign rights, international rights translations. And I know we probably
just scratched the surface, but boy, these were great takeaways.
(38:19):
If people want to reach out to you, what's the
best way for them to find you is at LinkedIn?
Your website? How would you like people to connect?
Speaker 3 (38:28):
You know, probably LinkedIn? Go to LinkedIn that LinkedIn. I
also have a Gmail that's Annie's Traveling feet at gmail
dot com. Wonderful. Yeah, so that's kind of my signature
thing is to take pictures of my feet all over
the world.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Sounds like a beautiful picture book. Are you a shoe
person as well? Like shoes as well? Is that one
of your Yeah, yeah, there I go.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
That's like a nice little coffee table book.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
We'll talk.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
I've a good idea. You know that's not a bad idea.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
All right, great, Well, thank you, thank you for your
your time, and we will continue our conversation. And thank
you all for listening.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Smith
Publicity All Things Book Marketing podcast. To reach us and
learn about our many services, visit Smith Publicity dot com
or send us an email to info at Smith Publicity
dot com
Welcome to the Smith Publicity All Things Book Marketing podcast,
offering tips, insights, and advice from the best in the
publishing industry.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi, and welcome to this episode of Smith Publicity's All
Things Book Marketing. Welcome, and today I'm excited for our
conversation with Annie Osworth. Annie is recently retired just May
of this year from Franklin Covey, where she served as
(00:31):
the vice president of publishing. She retired to pursue her
passions as a motivational speaker and publishing consultant. Her role
at Franklin Covey included everything from book proposal writing and
presenting to major publishing houses, rights management, and sales and marketing. Currently,
(00:53):
she's working with Sean Covey on The Seven Habits of
Teens graphic novel. Annie graduated from Brigham Young University with
a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in communication,
and has accepted numerous invitations as keynote speaker for various
groups around the world. Annie her husband reside in Utah
(01:15):
and the proud parents of four very accomplished as we
just spoke daughters. Welcome Annie to our podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Thank you Sandy. It's a pleasure to be here, yeasitation.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Oh yes, And I have to say that my colleagues
Kurran Mulder and Marissa Eigenbrun met Annie at the Frankfurt
Book Fair last month in Frankfurt, Germany and said, Sandy,
you have to meet Annie.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
You're going to love her.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So I'm excited to have this conversation because Annie has
a whole host of topics that I think authors will
publishing professionals will really enjoy learning different slices of this.
I don't want to say the crazy world of publishing,
but it kind of is right, many different different aspects.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
So Annie, why were you with the Frankfurt book Fair?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Like what drew you to the event?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Past here? I'd hate to use the word I've retired.
I just like to say I moved on to pursue
other things. Retired makes me sound old, so we won't
go there. But okay, I went to Frankfurt because, in
addition to stepping away from the full time, high pressure
executive rule, I wanted to just pursue what was fun
(02:37):
for a while. So I am still representing Franklin Covey
and their foreign rights, in addition to some other outside partners.
I've got some other books I'm representing, so I was
there in order just to sell rights, to connect with partners.
I have been in the business for a couple of decades,
(02:58):
and you know, you you create these lifelong friendships and
you see these people maybe once a year, twice a year,
and it's just it's so invigorating to go to these
book pairs and see your lifelong friends that you haven't
seen for six months.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
And I bet for a while with COVID there was
a little bit more of a time when you didn't
get to see them.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Oh yeah, it was. It was so difficult for me
to Yeah, that was a tough time for all of us.
But boy, when you go to book fairs, that was
really hard for all of us. And it's interesting because
it's taken years to get back up to the same
numbers that we used to have.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Absolutely and we all miss book Expo. That was a
place where we could come and, as you said, see
those connections that we have made for many, many years.
And I know Kurn especially loves versa. It's just a social,
social out extrovert. But Courvin especially loves that in person
(03:58):
connection and going She went to the London book Fair
last year and again Frankfort this year, and she comes
back so energized and with ideas and people that zooms
are great. We're doing a zoom now, but seeing people
in person as a whole new level of connections in
the publishing world, in any world.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And it's true, there's something about I mean, you know,
people say, oh, you still eye to eye, but there's
something about that spirits connecting or or our souls or
whatever it is when you meet somebody in person and
you know, you feel the energy. I'm a firm believer
in we we exude energy.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Going back to Frankfurt, international rights what
from an author's perspective? If you want to give a
one sentence uh description of exactly what international rights are
from an author's perspective, and then talk about if you
(04:59):
are an author of a book, when and how should
you think about an international rights path for your own work?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Okay, we have to I specifically, I spent a lot
of time talking about rights. It was book rights and
audio rights. You know, there's more than that. You know,
there's condensation, there's book clubs, there's movie and film. But
specifically today let's talk about you know, the book and audio.
(05:31):
What it means is that sub rights are And this
is interesting because as you new authors enter into contracts
and agreements, you have to think long term. If you
have any kind of international connections, then when you enter
into an agreement with a publisher, look very carefully and
see who owns those rights, because if the publisher owns them,
(05:55):
you know you will eventually become backlist for them. You're
part of their cal But you're always going to care
more about the rights of your book internationally than any
publisher is. And it's not to put traditional publishers down.
They're fantastic, but they have hundreds of titles they release
every year, and so I have to admit that I
(06:16):
just the stars must have been perfectly aligned for me
because at Franklin Covey I represented the seven habits of
highly affecting people. And you can't choose a better book
to sell foreign rights for everybody wants it. Yes. In fact,
I have a friend who said to me, well, what
do you do when you go to book fairs? Do
you take people out and wind them and dine them?
(06:38):
And I said, oh no, no, no, no, they're taking
me out and they're whining and dining meat because they
want the book that I represent, and so that everybody
should have such a perfectly aligned life would be wonderful.
So I like to tell people, but it's not that
I'm brilliant. I just had the right book and the
right company to support me.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
No.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I from a publicity perspective, we have the same model.
There are some books that we work with where the
media is, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Coming to us, Yes, give me a piece.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I want some, and then other times we're like, please
take a look at this author.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So it's like going to Costco and our green samples.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yes, it's so nice exactly to be on the other
side of it when you have, you know, a product,
a book, a brand that.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
People are right, that people want, people want.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
And at what stage or do most publishers or should
most authors be obviously setting up at the beginning and
legally contractually having a plan for foreign rights? Does foreign
rights negotiations so that happen at the beginning after it's
had some success in a certain market. How does that work.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
For most authors? It's going to work where they've had
some success already. Again, I work at Franklin Covey and
we had more than just the Seven Habits. We had
other titles which I did have to I did have
to sell, you know, So don't think that everything I
did was just all, you know, easy peasy. It wasn't.
But most authors, they're going to have to have some success,
(08:20):
and maybe not necessarily success with the book, but they
themselves have to have success. They have to have a
huge following. They have to have some some some wedge
that an international publisher would want them. Maybe they were
maybe they've done a speaking engagement in Germany so that
they have some kind of following. Maybe the person I'm
(08:43):
actually representing a man right now who used to be
an executive at Dell, So that in itself was enough
of a shoe in because it's a global company. So
and I've worked with a woman who was a senior
executive VP at at and two. Again, you have to
have some kind of wige that gets you in the door.
(09:05):
That's typically it. Or start building your social media following today, yeah, yesterday, Yes,
you're right. It's like it's like planting a tree twenty
years ago would have been best, but the next best
is today.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Oh I might steal that, Annie, I'll give you full credit,
but I like that analogy because it's very true with
social media building fans, followers, and the media they like
to see. They ask for newsletter numbers and volumes, whether
it's on LinkedIn, in your own newsletter, So giving that
(09:39):
kind of social proof that people care what you're talking about,
so international rights is the same. Then they want they
want to know that what are there any hot markets
or places that are interested in the US books right
now or any trends in that.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yep, right now I'm seeing it huge interest from India.
And it's interesting because you know, there's i think there's
like thirty two languages in India. Wow. Yeah, and there's
a few that are big, you know, Hindi and Bengali,
but mostly in India it's English language. So the Indians,
(10:21):
you know, you'll see it in the tech business that
there's a lot of Indians that are coming, you know,
to Western countries to get their education and they're going
back to India and so they're reading English. So there's
a huge market there and you know, they're millions and
millions and millions of readers there. So so that's really interesting.
And what's really good about that is if it's in English,
(10:44):
you don't have to worry about the translation rights or
whether they're even translating it correctly. I mean, that's another
piece that a lot of people don't think about, is
you don't just get to put a book through AI
and have it translate and capture the spirit of the book. Yeah,
so that's a big one. That's a big one.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So if I'm an independently published author and I don't
necessarily have or even a traditional publisher, and I want
to say I'm ready to explore getting my book in India,
how do you go about it? Do you hire someone
like you? Do you hire a foreign writes say attorney,
(11:25):
or is there somebody.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
The publisher who can do this for you.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
If I'm an author and I say, you know what,
I've got a nice following, I've got a topic that
should be of interest to say people in India, how
do I start?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Oh, that's a tough one. Its exactly there you go.
That's the answer. Two words. It depends. It's like trying
to write a book and getting it published by a
traditional publisher. You almost can't get in the door without
an agent. Doesn't mean it's impossible, but it's the likelihood
is really low. And the same thing going overseas. There's
(12:02):
a chance that the stars may be perfectly aligned, but
you probably really need, you know, a foreign rights agent.
I don't know necessarily that a foreign rights attorney will
do any good, but an agent who already has contacts, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And how do you find a foreign rights agent? Is
there a directory, a listing, a association too, or do
you simply google and try to find people who are
kind of representing similar genre.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yeah, I would just simply google it. I mean, I
know there's registries in different places, and there are some
public there are some rights agencies that are pretty big
where it's not just an individual agent, but it's a
whole company and they'll post your book, they'll list it,
and then they will share it internationally. So there's different
ways to do it. Doesn't have to be one on one,
(12:56):
but you can join a marketplace excellent. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
One question I always had is if a book is
available on Amazon US.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
And if you don't, it's okay? Is it automatically available
on Amazon UK or is that something that you don't
want to do and wait for foreign rights or do
you want it on all the Amazon's or how does
that work, because I know some authors have asked this question.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, it isn't necessary on all of them. Okay. Yeah,
just because it's in US doesn't mean it goes to
Australia or the UK. I don't you know Amazon keeps
so many of their their formulas secrets. Yeah, they're all
run by robots, so I don't know how they but
(13:47):
you know, if it's hugely popular, there's a good chance.
But just you know, your your typical book that you
put on Amazon doesn't mean it's going to be picked
up in the UK. Okay, A traditional publisher will probably
get it into all those they'll get it into the UK,
in Australia and New Zealand, Hong Kong in theost English languages. Okay,
(14:08):
but the average book probably not okay.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And going back to India, do you have any being
such a big market and on what I understand, really
hungry for books, which which of course we all love
anyone who wants books from from a specific Indian India strategy,
(14:34):
Are there any tips that you would give authors or
India specific in terms of building presence or making a
book more appealing or a brand more appealing to that
large audience.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Well, make sure that you that you work very closely
with the publisher. Don't just throw the book over the wall.
You know, get their input on you know, you know
your market better than I do. Tell me what colors
are appealing. We know that in China the color red
is more appealing. You know, it's a lucky color. The
number seven is a perfect number for China. So do
(15:14):
your research, you know, find out what is selling well.
And I would caution every author to be extremely careful
when you're taking a book to somewhere like China or India.
Make sure you choose a reputable publishing house, and you
do that by checking references. Ask them to tell you.
Tell me about your company. Who else do you publish,
(15:35):
do you have other do you have references? Because places
like Indian China separate, there's still a lot of piracy.
So you just have to do your homework. Make sure
you choose somebody highly reputable. And make sure too when
you're asking in your checking references, how thorough are these
publishers at paying their royalties? Are they on time? You know,
(16:00):
because once you get it out there, it's really tough
to you know, you can tell them to stop and
you can terminate the contract. But to get them to
stop selling this a hard part. So really careful about
making sure that there's a reputable company that you're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
That's a great point. We have an author who worked
with us a few years ago who came to us
for help because they heard they were a number one
best seller in India and they had no foreign rights
and what do I do about this?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Right?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
And so somebody must have picked up their book and
without their knowledge, and it was quite successful, but they
didn't receive any financial rewards from that. So I know
every market piracy is a concern, but I like your
point about making sure when you're getting your references that
(16:56):
the company's paying and paying regularly and fairly. Yeah, and uh,
that they've represented other authors successfully and especially in your area.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Do they get in India?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Is there a much in person, in store on shelf
book traction or is it primarily online?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Primarily online? Now? Yeah, okay, some stores there are, you know,
but but because there's so many languages, you know, you'll
pland English and most of the stores. But if you're
talking about translation, right then then that's a little bit
more difficult. But most of it is online now okay.
And there's one more market I was going to tell
you about that's really well, it's it's Spanish language in
(17:43):
the US. Oh, okay, okay. So you know we've all
thought about, you know, Latin America and Spain and the
European Spanish and even Spanish and Africa. But there's a
whole new pipeline now for Spanish language books and the US.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So and so this is say, US published books being
translated into Spanish rites.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yeah, So it's just something that we haven't thought about
in the past. But now that there's such a large
Spanish speaking population, yes.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
That it's a very viable. And what about audio the same,
but the audio with Spanish, Yes.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
With Spanish, you know, for US in America, in the
US mostly you know, audio is growing so fast, and
I think it came about because of COVID. We all
started listening to more audio, you know. I found that
I was making more but listening to audio. Yes, yes,
and you know I have switched. I used to be
(18:45):
probably seventy five percent print read and then twenty five
percent audio. Now I'm probably seventy five percent listening, you know, audio,
and twenty five I really only read books anymore when
I'm on an airplane. Other than that, I'm listening.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yeah, And you just described my exact reading. And I
read a book when I was on my flight to
Boston this week, like oh, it was almost odd to
sit and read, but I couldn't do the audio and
just stare at the window. So I'm always multitasking and
I'm reading so much more. And I've been doing audiobooks
(19:20):
so long that I call them on my head books
on tape? How's that for aging myself? And I on
tape and always got them at the kids at the
library when they were young, and then obviously CDs, and
it's just a beautiful way. I when I come to
the office here, it's about a forty minute drive and
I always have an audiobook going, and I'd bake, I cook,
(19:42):
clean out my closet, to do my laundry, go for
a walk.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Everything on your book. And I wish, I wish I.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Was bilingual so I could enjoy Spanish on your books.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Well I am. I am doing the dual lingo learning German.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
So wonderful, wonderful, But my my son especially is pretty
fluent in Spanish, so.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I don't know if you'd ever pick a Spanish.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Audiobook, but that would be kind of cool to continue
his his language skills. But are Spanish audio books just
as in demand as the print or ebooks or not
or not quite.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Well, the Spanish audio is greater than the demand for digital,
but okay, print book is still in the Spanish language.
The print is still doing better than the audio.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Wonderful. So if I am an author, I go to
my rights person and say, let's talk about a plan
for Spanish and when you have a book, Because this
kind of goes back to all, do people ever change
the book based on a translation or a market? For
(20:52):
an example, maybe a case study in a in a
nonfiction book might not make sense to that the Indian market.
Oh I have an Indian company, I can highlight or
and uh say a Spanish translation of say a children's
book that maybe they would have maybe a Spanish heritage
(21:18):
meal and illustration as opposed to something different. I don't know.
Do people change their book based on translations or geopra.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
I'll give you a couple of examples. And working with
Franklin Covey, we did some children's books Seven Habits of
Happy Kids, which which I am a crowd owner loved it. Good,
Thank you you kept me in business. We we have
some characters. We have porcupine and skunks, and we got
pushed back that in some countries they don't you know,
(21:49):
skunks are very North American kinds of animals. They aren't
the porcupines. You know what, we you know what to
us was very common and so yes, we did work
with them to allow them to slightly customize. We had
a name for the porcupine which was pokey, and apparently
that was a vulgar term. Yes, exactly, exactly, Yeah, we
(22:13):
had to allow them to change that. And then and
this is a business model that has worked well for
Franklin Covey. So I'm hoping some of your listeners might
be business people. But we found it extremely helpful to
sell a book if we allowed a local expert to
either write the forward of introduction and then put their
(22:34):
name on the front cover. Then you have your local
people that want to support that famous local person or
a part of their business. Say, you know, you have
a CEO and a business who maybe loves we have
a book called Speed of Trust. Maybe he loves Speed
of Trust. He wants to write a forward once you
put his name on it, you've now increased your sales
(22:55):
opportunities in these other countries.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Oh Annie, that's a beautiful gold nugget there. And if
I'm an author, do I kind of use the same
techniques I would to asking for a blurb?
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yes, yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Go out with a very personalized message and ask and
see what happens.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Yeah, exactly. I admire what you do. I see that
you're a high person of trust. I think you'd be
perfect to write an introduction to this book about trust. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yes, And then that gives a whole other level of
credibility right at the get go.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
And then that person too will have skin in the game.
They'll be out there talking about it. Oh my name
is on this book, you know, or you know, let
me buy it for all my employees, or let me
give it away as a gift, or there you do.
So there's there's a secret nugget we occasionally use to
expand our marketing.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, that's fantastic, and so I like that. There's some
thought to making the book more personal to the market,
both in terms of the actual production and marketing and
packaging blurbs type of thing and also for the content
(24:13):
to make it more valuable and meaningful to the reader,
which is what the author would like in the first place,
to have that, which which which kind of leads into translations.
How how do you know that your book is being
translated accurately? Is a the Do you find a translator
(24:33):
who's reputable and then have someone else read it? Tell
me about that process, because you said you can you
can't use AI and do you want to make sure
it picks up not just the literal words but the
spirit of the book.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Typically when you when you contract with a publishing house,
they have their own translators, so you don't go looking
for you I mean, you could go look at your
own translator. You only want to put it on Amazon,
you know, And in that case, yes, make sure you
get a reputable one. It's like everything you have to do.
You have to research and make sure you've gotten good reviews.
(25:11):
If there's any way possible, it's to ask somebody else
who is bilingual in that language to read it for you,
or you maybe even could go to a university, you know,
and see, you know, do you have any students that
could you know, are willing to read it at a
phenomenal fee or whatever. It's everything you have to do.
(25:33):
You have to do your research, so you can't just
go it over the wall and think it's going to
be fine. It's it's like writing a book and thinking
the world's going to buy it if you.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Isn't that what happens, Annie, I just put it on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
People will find it. Yeah, look at jk Rowling. It
worked for her. Right, Yes, I.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Always say the only person that works for people who
are famous in other ways, like I don't know Prince Harry.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yes, even he had to do a lot. Yes, yes, yes,
it's so that's it.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Just put it up, it'll be fine.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Really, sub rights and foreign rights are I'd like to
to say it's complicated. It's not complicated, but it's labor intensive.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Okay, and from and I don't necessarily want you to
share sales figures. But for authors that you know, what
can foreign wright do financially for them from a book
sales perspective, or even maybe in the non fiction space,
job opportunities or networking speaking new clients? What can foreign
(26:42):
rights do for authors what they've seen?
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Perfect question, because your first was financially and do not
think selling foreign rights is going to make you any
money on book sales, because it's not when foreign rights
does or subwrite. Turn. The other kind of right is
that it gives you credibility. It gives you credibility to
(27:05):
say my book has been published in seven languages or
you know. It also opens the door if it's nonfiction,
it opens the door for speaking engagements. You know, where
you are a global village, there are people all over
the world, and with Zoom you can do speaking engagements
just to be a Zoom without having to travel. Right,
So it opens up the opportunity for keynote speeches. It
(27:27):
opens up the opportunity to maybe even sit up. There
are training companies all over the world that license training materials.
You may have a nonfiction book and you've done a
work book. It may open that door for you. Oh yes,
but I would really one percent caution you don't plan
on making money from book sales internationally. If you do,
(27:49):
then it's icing on the cake. You're doing it because
at the very beginning you said this, what you guys
do is you create something beyond the book. Yes, yes,
that's what you're looking for is the credibility and just
to open new doors of opportunity.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yes, that's what we hope publicity does is Yes, book
sales are great. Most of our authors will say book
sales is one small metric of the success of the book.
It's growing their credibility, sharing their ideas, becoming a thought
leader or a subject matter expert. That opens up doors
(28:29):
to new clients, new speaking, new new opportunities. And that's
what Foreign Rights sounds like it does as well. It's
it's another, it's an it's another I don't want to
say not on your belt, but it's another accomplishment that
you can share and your and your bio and your credibility,
differentiating you from others who are competing for that same
(28:54):
audience and attention.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, And it's just like writing a book.
A lot of people write, but not because that you
have this birding desire. The show is discipline. It shows
you know a different way of that you're thinking a
step above maybe the normal typical you know person out there.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Excellent, excellent, well, and your experience and in your career shift.
I would love to hear maybe even some of the
principles that you learned from your books that how did
you know in your publishing career. That was time to
(29:37):
make a change. And what what has happened since and
what are you excited for in the next you know,
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Thank you. That's a great question. You know. Uh, I
started with Stephen Covey many thirty thirty some years ago,
and it was a very small company, you know, it
was it was kind of a startup, and I loved
that part of the job. I loved, you know, the
(30:08):
building of a company. And as the company grew and
we merged with Franklin Quiest and then it became a
publicly held company. For me, it just became time because
it was a matter of you know, I didn't want
to work for the corporate world. Nothing wrong with that,
just I was just I've reached a stage of my
life where I don't need to be doing that anymore.
(30:30):
You know. I reached a certain level and I was
content and happy and I wanted to see if I
could do it by myself, which has been really exciting.
It's been really fun, and I'm grateful to Franklin Covey
for getting me where they did. I mean, that was
a platform that created, you know, brands from all over
the world. What I'm most excited about is is in
(30:55):
this new role, It's given me opportunity to meet people
like you, more of the end up people, more of
the people that share the same passion and drive. My
company has become it's more training and consulting. And I
was really invested in books and books were a calling card.
And but you know, Franklin Covey isn't a publishing company.
It's a training consulting company. And I just have found
(31:20):
had so much fun going on LinkedIn making new friends,
chatting with new people, creating these new opportunities. And the
other thing I'm very passionate about is I've been traveling
for thirty years, and even before our cell phones were
a big deal, or before you could use Google Maps
to go to a strange city and figure out where
(31:42):
you were going. Oh yes, yeah, having reil Maps, real
maps exactly had that datus. But that's okay, it's a
good kill. It's a skill I'm proud of, exactly. But
I have found that for me, I would come home
and you know, I have a network of friends that
I do things with and they would always say to me,
(32:04):
aren't you afraid to travel alone? And that's kind of
an old school thought, but I would say, you know,
I'm not. If you're prepared, everything is doable. Everything is doable,
you know, if you go and it's like we just
talked about with foreign rights, if you do your research, yes,
(32:24):
they're safety in knowledge. Yeah, yes. And so I have
been doing a lot of speaking just the last three
and a half months on not just women and travel,
but women and vision boards and setting goals and how
to achieve those goals and how to do more than
just the day to day. And that's one of the
(32:47):
things I learned from the Seven Habits specifically was habit
to us begin with the end in mind. And so
I'm a real big believer in manifesting things and putting
it out to the universe and creating goals of and
achieving those goals. So that's you can probably tell this
is what I'm really passionate about.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Yes, yeah, it's so appealing, especially for women who are
I just know personally and with my friends, you get
so easy to get caught in the day to day. Yes,
no say rut, but things that have to get done right,
not that you've you know, especially women seem to wear
(33:28):
a lot of different hats and professional and personal relationships.
They're the kinkeeper I know personally, and if my husband
listens to this, we get invited to Thanksgiving about a
month ago, his side of the family, and I purposely
did not answer the text. I'm like, you pull the kids,
you see who's coming, you figure out what to bring in,
(33:49):
and never happened. So every week did you text back?
Did you call them?
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, I've been meaning to do that. And inside I'm
dying because I know what it's like to have to
get information on the other end. But I'm trying so
hard to like not take that on because then that
will give space too something that's not Thanksgivings lovely and all,
but you know, it's saying to have the luxury of
(34:19):
thinking about other things and getting through you know, the day.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And we need to and I don't.
This is my personal opinion. I don't blame men for that.
I blame myself for for sometimes enabling too much. And
it's not just a husband, but it could be children
or even a work partner. You know, we tend to
want to fix it and make it right. Yes, yes,
(34:47):
And that's what's so important about the vision board or
a mission statement is it's easy to say no when
you have a deeper yes burning inside. And my deeper
yes may be my independence, or building a bank account
or building a cabin, So I can say no to
those other things because you know what, not serving that's
(35:09):
my that's my goal, and if it's in front of
my face, then that's my goal. That's what I'm after.
So good for you. But this is what I'm going.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
For right right and in the in the foreign rights world.
If this is your goal, then you can say no
to some other distracting but maybe tempting activities or goals
and you can put that on your vision board for example,
So whether it's traveling to some new place or or
(35:41):
for me, I would love to tackle some more sophisticated cooking.
I would love to have some time for that and
to get back to painting. I love oil painting and
acrylic painting, but it just seems that something else always comes.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
First, right, Yeah, yes, yes, that vision.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Is leaving space to make that a priority is is
pretty pretty exciting. And are you do you feel freedom
after kind of leaving and changing the Oh?
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Absolutely yes, I can. I tell my friend. My friends
are like, oh, do you I said, I don't. I
was afraid I would go through a little bit of depression,
a little bit of a let down. And it hasn't
happened yet. You know, it's from June first on and
I just keep thinking, Okay, when am I going to
think they're going on without me? And it just I
(36:37):
have just the freedom is just so empowering. It's very
we should all we should all want that, you know,
that that sent of empowerment, that we can do more
and that we should do more.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
So so Annie, I'm going to have you buy Smith
Publicity so that I can then go off and have
that feeling.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
I recommend it.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
A new direction, a new a new passion. And yeah,
but that sounds absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Yeah, And then you're going back to you know, Frankfurt,
and you're seeing old friends, and I know that you'll
be in New York coming up soon and continuing to
grow your network and work with authors.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
And but it's about focusing on what I'm passionate about. Yeah,
you know, when you work for a big company and
sometimes there's so much security in that. So I don't
want people to think that I'm saying it's not a
good thing, right, there's just something that makes life worth
living when you're pursuing what you're passionate about. So yeah, well,
(37:44):
I think we're running out of time here.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I could keep talking to you all day, this is fantastic,
but I will.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Connected like we're sisters, you know, sisters, long lost sisters.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yes, yes, sisters from another mister. Right, it's the expression there, Well,
thank you for your time. I think you've given us
such beautiful nuggets of knowledge for authors trying to understand
foreign rights, international rights translations. And I know we probably
just scratched the surface, but boy, these were great takeaways.
(38:19):
If people want to reach out to you, what's the
best way for them to find you is at LinkedIn?
Your website? How would you like people to connect?
Speaker 3 (38:28):
You know, probably LinkedIn? Go to LinkedIn that LinkedIn. I
also have a Gmail that's Annie's Traveling feet at gmail
dot com. Wonderful. Yeah, so that's kind of my signature
thing is to take pictures of my feet all over
the world.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Sounds like a beautiful picture book. Are you a shoe
person as well? Like shoes as well? Is that one
of your Yeah, yeah, there I go.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
That's like a nice little coffee table book.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
We'll talk.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
I've a good idea. You know that's not a bad idea.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
All right, great, Well, thank you, thank you for your
your time, and we will continue our conversation. And thank
you all for listening.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Smith
Publicity All Things Book Marketing podcast. To reach us and
learn about our many services, visit Smith Publicity dot com
or send us an email to info at Smith Publicity
dot com
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