Eoin Purcell's Blog

Publishing News has a report on an amusing hoo-ha between American and British publishers at the BEA last week. As they report it:

Carolyn Reidy, President and Publisher of Simon & Schuster, told the packed ‘Turf Wars’ session at the BEA last Friday. She said UK publishers were scare-mongering in their concerns over territoriality and that agents should ask themselves whether an exclusive grant of English-language rights in a non-English-language territory helped or hindered an author’s career. Reidy has no doubts that it’s a hindrance.

Do go and read the piece in full. I cannot help but feel that it is a sad comment on publishing that British Publishers fear the challenge of American Imports. Surely they can out compete their American rivals in the EU at least and if they cannot then they should really be searching for alliances across the water to protect their lead authors and to offer comprehensive book deals.