Wattpad wunderkind Anna Todd has already sold translation rights to her upcoming self-published series The Brightest Stars in as many as nine territories. We were curious how she managed to sell the translation rights to these indie books (which will follow her popular After series from Simon & Schuster) so quickly. One of the tallest hurdles for self-published authors remains foreign rights, after all, so agent Flavia Viotti’s success with Todd’s books intrigued us.
Viotti’s Bookcase Literary Agency specializes in taking indie authors’ work to overseas publishers. Viotti founded the agency in Brazil several years ago and now is based in the Fort Lauderdale area; she also has offices in New York, where she works on many international deals with agent Hannah Ekren. Bookcase’s clients are a mix of independent publishing houses (including Kensington), other agencies, and independent authors.
Viotti says what’s happened for Todd is not common. “Usually, what we need to have is authors who are very good with marketing” in the States. “They hit the bestseller lists, they have crazy sales numbers, and those authors are the ones I can sell. We’re signing the most popular YA independent authors now.” To successfully take an author overseas, Viotti and her team need to see sales in the 80,000–100,000 range.
In other words, Bookcase needs what Anna Todd has: legions of readers, big sales. Todd’s signature After content has now drawn more than 1.5 billion reads on Wattpad, and Todd is said to have sold over 15 million copies through Simon & Schuster.
Another author getting overseas sales is Meghan March, agented by Viotti’s associate, Meire Dias. March just hit the Times lists last week with Defiant Queen, the second book of a trilogy, now selling at number 16 in the Kindle store in romantic suspense. “Meghan was one of our most requested authors at Frankfurt Book Fair,” Viotti tells us, “and in the last month, we’ve sold the rights to her new series to Germany, France, Bulgaria, and Israel,” with interest from Spain, Poland, Brazil, and Portugal.
Bottom line: As far as any question of stigma goes, Viotti tells us, “It’s no longer a problem for editors to sell independent authors in their countries.” (Romance is the genre in this arena, with romantic young adult and new adult picking up.) Viability of self-published works in the international market is the good news. But the harder reality is what Viotti has to keep emphasizing to authors. First, spend money: “You need to invest in editing, marketing, even your [author] pictures” for a fully professional turnout. “And you have to be successful in your own language first, and very successful, for us to be able to find you an international placement. I’m very honest with my clients. I’ll tell one, ‘You’re not there yet,’” when the numbers aren’t strong enough. There are no shortcuts. “They have to be patient. It’s a different perspective on the business.”
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
