European slowdown dampens mood ahead of FBF for UK dealmakers, but ‘right’ titles still work

Rights traders have described “tough" market conditions for UK authors in Europe as this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair opens, with new “obvious pressures” exacerbating the competitiveness in these territories.

Jonny Geller, c.e.o. of The Curtis Brown Group, said that “it is taking longer for publishers to commit to English-language authors”. Genre fiction is dominant in these markets, and Geller said that agents at Curtis Brown were seeing titles with “obvious hooks” and books by established authors prioritised by publishers across Europe.

Geller explained: “There are some obvious pressures since the last Frankfurt. The availability of cheaper English-language export editions at the same time as the local, translated, editions are released, combined with the increase in native authors dominating bestseller lists across Europe, has made the market much more competitive.”

Rachel Mills at Rachel Mills Literary seconded Geller and said acquiring publishers were more risk-averse. She added: “In non-fiction, a few years ago you could expect to rack up rights sales in the major territories on proposal. Now publishers are saying: ‘I like this, but I need to see more,’, or are even waiting to see how a book performs in the UK before committing. We still have books that surpass 20-plus languages, but it is taking far longer to get there.”

This was echoed by Will Francis at Janklow & Nesbit, who said he had seen “a squeeze on UK authors” in the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Germany—markets where cheaper UK export editions affect how translated editions sell. According to Francis, some authors have even been “dropped by their Dutch publishers”, which has significantly impacted their income. “This seems especially to hit literary books, and literary publishers in these markets are looking to other countries for their translated fiction lists,” he noted.

Rising costs across the world have made things more difficult for titles by UK authors, while launching début writers in European markets “does make for a tough market”, Francis said. The difficulty is “making itself felt both in terms of the number of deals and the level of advances”, but Francis explained that interest remained high when it comes to certain books, even some débuts.

Francis explained that “for the right projects, international publishers remain extremely acquisitive, competitive and are paying healthy advances”. He highlighted the example of Dr Heidi Colleran’s debut, People Like Us, which explores “reproduction culture and how we organise our families”. The book was one of Janklow & Nesbit’s leading titles at this year’s London Book Fair, and has sold in 15 territories on proposal. Meanwhile, Saira Hameed’s popular science book on hormones, Signals, has sold in 17 markets, also on proposal.

Agent Oscar Janson-Smith said “there still seems to be that demand” for the right titles by UK authors in European markets, with translated personal development and wellness titles excelling in these territories. He has seen high level of interest for those "right" books in territories such as Poland—but on some occasions even in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.