Global deals for virtual finance book Cloudmoney soar to 10 territories

Cloudmoney, a book on tech and finance acquired days ahead of 2018's Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF), has gone on to secure 10 international deals, with agent Patrick Walsh predicting 20 territories overall.

The book, an exploration of the fusion of the worlds of finance and technology by 36-year-old economist Brett Scott, went to the Bodley Head in a five-way auction in October and is due to publish in September 2019.

Now it has netted 10 international deals with a pre-empt to HarperCollins imprint Ecco in the US, as well as pre-empts in Italy and Russia. It sold in a five-way auction in Korea, as well as securing deals through auctions across Germany, Holland, Taiwan and China.

Cloudmoney explores "how we’re blindly living through a moment of seismic change, with the tech and finance worlds colliding as high finance is being automated around us," Walsh of the PEW Literary Agency said. 

“It’s such a joy to see a brilliant young economist - Brett is all of 36 - like this end up with 10 deals for a book proposal, and he’ll probably end up with 20 deals,” Walsh told The Bookseller.

When asked why Cloudmoney held such global appeal, he said: “My view is that we live in such politically and social fluid times that readers all over the globe want to know what wave, or waves, they find themselves surfing, often unknowingly, and that’s why a new book like Brett’s, which tells them the truth from the inside, in an unvarnished, expert way, attracts such support and excitement. He knows everyone pioneering the new tropes in all the various financial silos, and they trust him, and that of course helps.”

When asked about the figures involved in the deals, Walsh commented: “I never answer the money question, but let’s just say that this economist will now need a very good accountant.” 

Scott is an writer and financial hacker exploring the intersections between money systems, finance and digital technology. His previous book The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance: Hacking the Future of Money (Pluto Press) was published in 2013.