Nos Wener yn y Emporium Cwestiwn

I've a confession to make: I'm a foreigner. Should I mention it in my query letter, or is it something signed only under duress? I don't want to jump the shark by admitting English is my third language. Can an international writer (aspiring one) submit a query to an american literary agent?



Well, you can of course.
And it's really REALLY a good idea to mention you are not a native English speaker if only to let the agent know that mistakes are generally not cause you aren't paying attention. (There are three in this brief missive alone.)

It's going to be incumbent upon you to beguile a native-speaker into reading your work for these little errors and YOU have to agree that you'll listen to what they say.

This goes for UK writers looking to pub in the American market as well.  Some UK-isms are fun but if you tell me you're standing in the garden I think it means something quite different than you do.

And let's not even get into the different defintions of "fanny" which one of my friends discovered the mortifying way in a British pub.

I swore I would buy fewer books this year BUT...

I clicked on the link from Twitter about this blog post because it mentioned my treasured colleague Joanna Volpe.

Then I got to this line: When you’re that young, you don’t realize how beautiful (and fleeting) it is to love things unapologetically.

Then I realized this author is amazing, and I ordered the book.

Yes I could have probably snagged a copy from his publisher, or his agent but yanno, I really REALLY want to show (not just tell!) this author that he is AMAZING!

A recent Lyons Press press release about an NBA non-fiction nominee had some lovely tidbits for writers:


Domingo Martinez Chosen As 2012 National Book Award Finalist For Literary Debut: The Boy Kings Of Texas: A Memoir


First-time author Martinez—whose manuscript was plucked from obscurity from a pile of unsolicited manuscripts—is included alongside four renowned journalists in the nonfiction category. All four of Martinez’s fellow finalists are Pulitzer Prize winners:

Anthony Shadid, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East (Houghton Mifflin);

Robert A. Caro, The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 4 (Knopf) (also a past National Book Award winner)

Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity (Random House);

Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945-1956 (Doubleday).




Says author Martinez: “My phone started glowing around 6 a.m. My first thought was, ‘Wow; those bill collectors are starting much earlier nowadays,’ and I ignored it because I didn’t recognize the number, until it went off again about five minutes later and it was my agent, Alice [Martell].

Alice doesn’t mess around: When she calls, it’s important, so I answered. I depend on her to translate most of what happens in this business because I’m so new at it. I mean, I know the National Book Award, but it just wasn’t computing that I was A FINALIST for THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD. What’s really funny is, when you read through that list, it’s almost like there should be question marks behind my name, like ‘Who the hell is this guy??’ ”




Partly a reflection on the culture of machismo and partly an exploration of the author's boyhood spent in his sister’s hand-me-downs, THE BOY KINGS OF TEXAS delves into the enduring and complex bond between Martinez and his deeply flawed but fiercely protective older brother, Daniel, and features a cast of memorable characters—including his gun-hoarding former farmhand Gramma and “the Mimis,” two of his older sisters who for a short, glorious time, manage to transform themselves from poor Latina adolescents into upper-class white girls. In telling his story, Martinez provides a real glimpse into a society where children are traded like commerce, physical altercations routinely solve problems, drugs are rampant, sex is often crude, and people depend on the family witch doctor for advice. The book was published in July 2012.




“When I acquired this book, I knew I had something truly extraordinary in my hands,” said Lyons Press editor Lara Asher. “Domingo is a gifted writer and a phenomenal storyteller and someone that I deeply admire. I am delighted to see him receive the recognition for his talent that he so deserves.”




The judges for this year’s National Book Award for nonfiction are acclaimed writers Brad Gooch, Linda Gordon, Woody Holton, Susan Orlean, and Judith Shulevitz.

Former winners of this award for nonfiction include Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Tom Wolfe, Henry Kissinger, and David McCullough.  The 2012 National Book Award winners will be announced November 14 at a ceremony in New York.

Dijkstra Agency Asserts Representation of Nobel Winner Mo Yan's Backlist

by MICHAEL CADER on OCTOBER 12, 2012 in AGENCY NEWS, INTERNATIONAL NEWS

New winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Mo Yan is listed on The Wylie Agency's website as a current client and, as we reported yesterday, when contacted for comment Andrew Wylie said by e-mail that the agency was "in discussions with publishers in all territories" about Yan's work. (This was confirmed by some publishers reporting from Frankfurt.)

But Sandra Dijkstra at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency reports that "we were Mo Yan's American and international agents from the beginning. Starting with his classic novel RED SORGHUM, we sold his first 6 books worldwide." She notes that "we are very proud to have been there for him from day one, and that his ship has finally come in."

Viking confirms to us that they have the Dijkstra Agency listed as the agency of record for RED SORGHUM. A colleague of Dijkstra's says that they "are aware of Wylie's claims" but "SDLA is, and always has been, the agent for Mo Yan's backlist titles up until 2010."


 (I'm sure neither the Dijkstra Agency nor The Wylie Agency finds it all that funny, but this just cracks me up completely.  It was reported here at Publishers Marketplace.)

toasted I tell ya!

One of the great things about spending time with clients at events like Bouchercon or conferences in their hometown is that you find out all sorts of interesting "real people" details.

For example, the Fabulous Stephanie Evans likes her BLTs on "darkly toasted bread."  (Me too!)


Fortunately we now have pictorial assistance if needed when we place our order:

Of course, this is from one of my favorite websites THINGS ORGANIZED NEATLY and I stole it shamelessly. 

How I will be travelling home from Texas today

thanks to my pal @muchadoabout77 for this!

Welcome to Texas

I'm in Sugar Land Texas to torment a lovely group of writers today and tomorrow. The Ever Fabulous Stephanie Evans picked me up at the Houston airport yesterday and whisked me off in her very spiffy Mini Cooper!



This is across the street from where we stopped for lunch at Good Company BBQ

If you'd told me I'd love a place where the seating is picnic tables off the parking lot, two days ago I would have laughed! Today, I'm a devout believer. This place is GREAT!

And then we drove by Stephanie's sister's house. I guess they knew I was coming!

Separated at birth?

I swore I was never moving the office again

I may need to rethink that.

holy zamboni!

It’s a rare year in which a superabundance of fine horror novels — novels that reward rereading — appears. That said, most years bring at least a handful of novels whose titles can stand to be mentioned alongside Matheson’s I Am Legend, Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, and King’s The Shining. To this year’s list, add Laird Barron’s The Croning.

--LA Times

An interesting brush with corporate "customer service"

I flew back from Cleveland today on American Airlines. The flight was on time, the plane was clean, the staff was lovely.

I landed at JFK around 2.  I then hiked about a mile to baggage claim. No problem, JFK is a big airport, not all gates can be right near baggage.

Then I waited. And waited. The baggage carousels didn't show my flight from Cleveland on their reader boards of which planes' luggage would be arriving. The arrival list didn't show it either.

I waited 45 minutes, then happened to see my bag swirling forlornly on carousel #9. The one that said Austin and Washington and didn't say Cleveland.

No problem though. I grabbed the bag, and pulled the handle. Nothing.
Pulled. Nothing.

Repeat...and failure.

Crap. The rolly bag now rolls but you can only pull it if your arm extends to the height of the bag.

I looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame pulling this thing to Baggage Services.
Where I met a very nice young man who promptly told me American Airlines really doesn't give a hoot if I fly with them again.

No they won't replace my damaged bag.
No they won't refund the $25 I paid to have it checked.
No, they won't do anything.

Ok. No problem.

I can see where I'm not wanted. And truthfully, my never flying American Airlines again won't affect them in the slightest. I'm one person of thousands, or tens of thousands who flew American Airlines in 2012.

Except, I have almost total control over where I fly and which airline I use.  I can decline to fly to places that are only served by American. I can pay more if paying more puts me on a different carrier.

I never have to fly American again. And I won't.
It's not the delay.
Or the broken bag.
Or the fact that the delay and the broken bag meant I waited in a long line for a cab ($48.50 with tip) instead of taking the Airtrain and the subway ($7.00 no tip needed)

It's that they just didn't care. Their front line customer service people are taught to say no no no. No we won't help you. No we won't do this. No.

Even the hot mess that is Amtrak has better customer service. When they mess up, they give you a travel voucher. And their customer service people actually say "I'm sorry you were inconvenienced. How can I help you?"

The man I interacted with wasn't rude. He wasn't even out of line. He was doing his job. The problem is the company taught him his job was to say no.

Ok, I'm saying no too. No more American Airlines.


As it turns out, I was lucky I wasn't sitting in the pilot's lap, or still in Cleveland!

Interesting book promotion

in case you're wondering; that's one of the nut carts on the sidewalks of New York.

What to do when your agent quits

I get query letters from formerly-represented authors enough so that it's not rare. Not common but not rare.  Up until ten years ago, the main reason the authors were agentless was either death, retirement or illness of their former agent.

Now I'm seeing a whole new, very disturbing, category: my agent quit.

So the first thing to remind everyone is that when you receive an offer of representation, you'll want to make sure your agent is in it for the long haul.  How to do that?  My experience tells me that all these agents who are quitting have been in the business for five years or fewer, and their sales are not very high. In other words, people who found out being an agent was a whole lot harder than it looked on Twitter.



But, if you find yourself without an agent here's what to do:

1. Get out your author/agency agreement.  Are you represented by the company, or the specific agent?

If you are represented by the company, get in touch.  Email first, then phone.  A very short email like this:

Hello, I was represented by Agent Houdini.  My project SHARK TANK NOIR is on submission.  Can you tell me which agent will be handling my work now?  Thanks for your time and consideration.


Even though this feels like a total disaster to you, try to keep the screeching and moaning to a minimum.  Trust me, it's pretty hard on this side of the aisle too.

If you don't hear back in five days, you phone. Politely.

If you don't get a reply in five days, you terminate your representation.

Certified mail.


Just an aside: this is why it's CRUCIAL that you keep the submission list of where your work is.  It's absolutely ok to ask for the list of where your work is when the submission process starts, and to ask for updates on a regular, scheduled basis.  (Once a month, once every two weeks; NOT daily; NOT hourly!)

2. If you're represented by the agent, not the agency, get in touch with the head of the agency. Short email:

Hello, I was represented by Agent Houdini.  My project SHARK TANK NOIR is on submission. Is another agent there interested in representing me?  Thanks for your time and consideration.

Again, you give them five days.
If no reply, telephone.
If no reply, terminate.


3. If the agency does not continue to represent you, you'll need a new agent.

1. Check the author/agency agreement for the clause that covers how long after you've terminated representation you have to pay a commission.  In our agreement it's six months. That means if you fire me, and I've sent your work out, you can't sell it to a publisher I've sent it to without paying me a commission unless six months have elapsed between the termination and the sale.

If this isn't spelled out in your author/agency contract, you spell it out in the termination letter you send via certified mail.  Of course, you'll insert language that says you can sell your project tomorrow and not owe a commission, not six months.


2. Draft an email query about your project, not about your situation.  You need an agent for your work, not your woes.

DO include a paragraph about your situation though. Be brief. Be clear. Try not to wring your hands.

My agent, Henry Houdini, is no longer agenting. My project was on submission with 12,204 editors as of 1/1/11.  In my termination letter to Houdini, Hoffa, and Crater, I included a paragraph that says they are not entitled to commission as of 2/1/11. The author/agency agreement does not have a clause covering this situation.

And then you interview agents.  And you look for the ones who are in it for the long haul. Here's what you ask:

1. WHAT HAVE YOU SOLD?  An agent who hasn't sold a lot is more likely to hang up her spurs than one who is doing ok. Don't rely on Publishers' Marketplace for this data. ASK the agent.

2. Do you love your job? An agent who is looking to switch careers is an unhappy agent.  Trust your senses on this one.

3. What happens if you do decide to leave agenting?  Most of us have given careful thought to what I call the "crosstown bus" scenario.  Not all leaving is voluntary.  If I get hit by a bus, my clients are covered. I wouldn't sign with an agent or agency who hadn't made the same provisions.

And remember, this is not the end of the world.  It feels like epic disaster right now, but you'll recover. And bounce back. AND have a great story:  "Remember when I found out my agent left the biz cause she changed her Facebook status?"  You need good stories for your book tour. Think of this one as the first.

The intangibles

I recently received a reply from a disgruntled querier who was unhappy I hadn't taken enough time to consider his query. He knew I hadn't taken enough time because I'd said no to it.

Contrary to his assumption, I'd said no because (1) he didn't tell me what the book was about  and (2) later in the query it was clear he was off his rocker.

Which brings me to the value of a query in addition to all the stuff I've been ranting about for years (plot mostly.)

I'm also getting my first sense of whether you're someone I want to work with.




Here's a list of the things I really want to find in prospective clients. I can't alway tell from a query or manuscript if a writer meets these criteria, but it's the starting point:

1. They think I'm the cat's pjs.  In other words, they've read my blogs; they think I'm funny. They think I'm good at my job. They want to work with me, and when I call to chat about the book, they're pleased.

This is not to say you should be slavishly effusive cause that makes me insane.  I just  want you to want me! Not "an agent' but THIS agent.



2.  They don't interpret everything negatively.  Or if that's their first reaction, as it is with most of us, they've learned some balance and perspective. Queries are rejected for lots of reasons other than "it sux." Books don't sell for lots of reasons other than "it sucked."  Agents aren't able to sell things for lots of reason other than "they're idiots."



3. They've got a sense of humor.  Almost everyone on my list has a wicked sense of humor. I know this cause we laugh at the same things and crack each other up.  A couple of my clients are so damn funny I barely speak when I'm around them cause I'm too busy trying not to pee my pants from laughing.


4. They're ready for the work.  They don't rise from their beds bright eyed and bushy tailed like some sort of Stepford/Pollyanna doll. (That's AFTER the coffee IV)  But they are prepared to work and do what needs to get done.  They may not like it much (promotion is pain) but they're eager to have careers and understand this is one of the requirements.


5. They read. They read a LOT. They read their fellow client's books, they read widely in different genres and they read things they end up telling me about and make me want to read them too.


6. They're generous to the writing and publishing community.


7. They're neurotic and crazy and brilliant. All in the best possible way.  They aren't perfect, but they are Fabulous.

You can tell a lot from what people tell you about themselves in a query, and how they respond to rejection (and what they say in blog comments!)

Yes, I am paying attention.

Friday Night at the Question Emporium

I know literary agents take on 'projects' they love, the ones they are enthusiastic about but do you guys ever take on 'just' the writer. I'm using the word 'just' carefully because there is nothing 'just' about the whole writer.

You have often expressed how important it is to target the best agent for your genre. And, I'm thinking the agent might believe they are doing the writer a diservice by representing that which they might have difficulty selling because it falls outside their realm. But I'm wondering if the love of words and the monument of effort overrides that frailty. Or, are we all so specialized? I wouldn't want my dentist doing heart surgery but I sure as hell would want him at my side if I'm flat on my back in a gutter with chest pain.

And, if the answer is yes, agents do take on writers which blow the agent's steam-whistles, how does one approach agents with that in mind?

So, you're asking if I'd sign a writer cause I loved them but knew I wasn't the best agent for their work?

That's a skewed perspective on love there, snooks.


I not only do not do that, I will actively encourage writers with projects I do love to make sure they query other agents.  Finding the right agent isn't a matter of I love you, sign here, any more than a marriage is.

Your analogy about the dentist suggests any agent is better than a specialized one.   That's not true. A bad or incompetent agent, even one that means well and has GREAT intentions is worse than no agent at all.

And if you think that isn't true, you haven't talked to enough authors.

Guess what this is prize!

Sometime back I posted a picture and asked you to guess what it was.

Of course you offered some very entertaining answers:

Chrissie B: It's a bear. But what is it doing in the wood?

Brock Man: Jim Henson's portrayal of a mother's face once she realizes what is written in that new book, The Casual Vacancy, that she just bought her 9 year old.

Patrick d'Orio: It's the surprised face of a frog just before the piano lid was closed upon him with a bang, not a whimper.

Sam B: -The artist is approximately 5.

Adele: It's a panicked button.

W. Scott Bowlin: This is a portrait of my cousin Ray, who, as a small child, dressed up as a doorbell button for Halloween. He always had crazy eyes, but the cherry wood frame you've placed him in makes it a little worse looking than it is. By the way, where did you find this? I've been looking everywhere for it. Ray is getting married next month and I wanted to give it to him as a wedding gift.

Sheila J G: I don't know what it is, but I don't like the way it's looking at my maple nut goodies.

 The closest commenter:

J Larkin: I see this and I think of a warning buzzer...I see the state of the counter (or what have you) it's attached to, and I think 'speakeasy.' So, I'm guessing it's a "Button your mugs, boys, the fuzz just rolled in!" buzzer. :)

This is a button on the wall of a booth of Old Town Bar known to the Fabulosity as Home Sweet Home.  I had lunch there with two friends (neither of whom are 5, sorry Sam!)  recently.  One friend just casually pulled out a baggie of gooogly eyes.  Now, if you think I didn't fall on the floor laughing when I discovered someone I know actually travels with a bag of googly eyes...well, you have another think coming.

Before I could suggest we stick these on our eyeglasses, my friend Julie had them pasted over the call button here.

Now, the question is ..how long before Sean Ferrell and Jeff Somers notice?

And J Larkin if you'll send me your mailing address and the kind of book you like to read we'll set you up with a prize. Sadly, no googly eyes are included!

Bouchercon!

Stuffing registration bags at Bouchercon!

This is the first of at least five piles of bags I worked on today

One of the many dozens of books we packed into the bags!

only the start of the detritus pile!

You all know how I feel about "Things Organized Neatly!"--I swooned here!

God willing and the creek don't rise

One of the most heartfelt complaints from writers of every stripe--published, unpublished, self-published, well-published, hardly published, praying to stay published--is how long things take in publishing.

I hear it most plaintively from two categories of writers: clients waiting for me to do something and queriers who wonder what the hell I do all day since it's clearly not answering their email.

Here is a pretty good illustration of the answer:

I'd planned for a reading day. I have several people waiting on fulls, and I have some manuscripts I'd asked to see from contests, and the incoming material from the Houston Writing Guild conference I'll be attending next week. It's hard to read in the office, so I'm working from home.

First thing this morning I got a contract off to an author to sign. He's leaving on a trip soon and we need to get this done. Clearly a top priority.

Second thing was dealing with emails that needed immediate attention.

Third was prepping a submission list today for a project I'm going out with soon. I did it today so I could send it to my eagle eyed colleague Brooks Sherman for his input.

Then I planned to read most of the afternoon.

Of course, what happened is a manuscript landed in my inbox that needs immediate, which means RIGHT NOW, attention. So I'm not reading any of the stuff I planned to read, I'm reading this one.

This happens all the time.


One of the things it took me the longest time to learn (if indeed I actually have learned and fully implemented it) was remembering to allow for this when I planned things. Or promised to have things finished by a certain date.

When I talk to clients and querieres about when to expect something back from me, I look at my date book. I try to remember not all those blank lines are going to stay empty. And even if they were empty yesterday, tomorrow can change all that in a New York minute.  Now I try to plan to leave at least half to three-quarters of any day reserved for the things that arrive with no notice and on fire.


Almost every culture has a way of saying "God willing and the creek don't rise" for making plans. The Islamic world says Insha'Allah.


I think of it as life imitating art:

Salvador Dali

A delightful discovery!

Recently I heard (via twitter) about an author who'd had a sad family event just as her book was being published.  All her plans for promotion were pretty much laid flat.  It was suggested we buy her book to help out.  Thus  Pies and Prejudice ended up on my bookshelf.


 Which is where it sat for awhile, cause I bought it not to read but to support the author.

Then one day I needed something to read at the local SudsYerDuds.  I rummaged through the bookcases and there was P&P. Look at that cover. Who could resist magic pie? Certainly not I.

Off I trotted with my sack of smells, clutching a bottle of SharkSoap, a fistful of quarters and this book.  As the duds sudsed  I read it and found myself charmed.  Enchanted even!

It dawned on me that some of the best books I've read have come to me by happy accident. Fortunate discoveries.  Serendipity!

So, I contacted the agent and the editor for Pies and Prejudice and asked if they too had found books by such happy accidents.

Here's what they said:

Jessica Faust
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen was recommended by a client in passing. Just a casual conversation about books we were reading. I was hooked and have read every book she's published.

Kate Seaver

An author once picked me up at the airport and drove me to the conference hotel for a local Romance Writers of America conference. At the time the author was on deadline for a nonfiction book. We got along really well, and she mentioned she’d considered writing fiction. I told her to send me a proposal if she ever did.

Eight months later her agent submitted a wonderful women’s fiction proposal by the author. It made me laugh out loud just as the author had in our brief car trip together. I bought the book, and it was later nominated for a RITA award, and Alyssa Day is now a New York Times bestselling author.


From author's website:

talk about charming and enchanting!

So, what have you read that you found via serendipity? Tell us the title, and how you came to buy it!

Salvation of a Saint

If you have not yet discovered Keigo Higashino, you're in for a delightful surprise. I am a rabid fan. You will be too.


With this new book, Higashino has taken the art and craft of mystery writing to a new level of excellence.

--starred Library Journal review

The author is Japanese so I waylaid editor Keith Kahla for some insight into the book

JR:  How did you find the author Keigo Higashino?

KK: Well, as frequently happens, it was an enterprising agent who found me. In this case, it was Akiko Kurita of the Japan Foreign Rights Centre, who is now retired.

Earlier, we’d discussed a book of Edogawa Rampo – a towering figure in Japanese mystery fiction – so when she took on the foreign rights for The Devotion of Suspect X, she had her U.S. sub-agent approach me with that book. And that was my introduction to Keigo Higashino.


JR:  Both Devotion of Suspect X and Salvation of a Saint have two "detectives" of sorts. One is a policeman, one is a physicist. This idea of dueling detectives is a variation on the sidekick motif. Is it common in Japanese detective novels? I can't think of other examples of it...

KK: I don’t know this trope shows up a lot in Japanese mystery fiction, but it’s not wholly unknown in the West. The bumbling police detective who solves a problem incorrectly only to be put straight by the talented amateur – a standard in pre-WWII English mystery fiction – is but one twist away from what Highashino is doing with these two books. I think Higashino rings an interesting change on the traditional mystery novel but he’s not really inventing something new.


JR: . Neither book involves the stylized courtesy American readers are familiar with in Japanese culture. Is this a choice in the translation, or is it also absent in the Japanese editions?

KK: It’s a bit of both. The stylized courtesy that American readers see in translations is part of the basic furniture of interaction in Japanese – it’s unremarkable and unnoticed by the Japanese reader but feels stiff and formal in English.

The idea of this kind of translation is make it as invisible as possible to the reader – and to the majority of English readers to have Detective Galileo referred to as ‘Yukawa-san’ would be intrusive in a way that it isn’t in to native Japanese speakers.


JR:  What drew you to these novels?

KK: Originally, what drew me to take a closer look is just how popular Higashino is in Japan and throughout Asia, how many movies and TV shows are made of his work, how – unlike the vast majority of authors – he’s so popular that he’s known in Japan to general populace in a way that almost no writers other than Stephen King or J. K. Rowling are in the west.

From there to these specific books, it was the sheer complexity and cleverness of the plots. And how, while there is an essential quality to the stories, sometimes it’s the characters and how they react, sometimes it’s a cultural plot point, that make them unmistakably Japanese, they are so essentially human that they also transcend culture. Which is to say, there’s a universality about them that makes me think that the average American reader can understand and enjoy them, if not in precisely the same way that the original readers in Japanese might have.



JR: You and I have had several conversations about the interesting fan mail your authors get. What kind of responses are you hearing about these books?

KK: Alas, not any real fan mail on this.

JR: (Consider this blog post fan mail then! I am crazy about this book!)




JR:  Have you met the author? What's he like?

KK: I’ve not, nor have we interacted directly. Which isn’t uncommon at all when an editor is publishing an author in translation. A lot of my U.S. authors have never interacted with their non-English speaking European publishers, there’s no reason to expect Higashino to have the time or interest to reach out to his U.S. publisher. That man’s got deadlines to meet and books to write!

When there are points to discuss, I raise them with the U.S. agent for the book, she takes those concerns to the agent in Japan, she takes it to the publisher (who administers the foreign rights for the author) and the publisher, presumably, discusses those matters that the author has expressed interest in hearing about.


JR: How did you find the translator?

KK: A lot of reading. I had a sense of what sort of tone I wanted in the translation, so I went out and bought a lot of current translated works – from literary novels to manga – and picked a few that seemed to suit, have a sense of commercial fiction and story-telling that came through in their translations.

 I approached several and from the pool that had the time and the interest, I then picked three (or four? I can’t recall) and contracted them to translate the first chapter of the book.

A group of us – the U.S. agent, my editor in chief, my imprint publisher, a colleague (or two) and I all read, picked our favorite version and for everyone, that was Alex’s translation. And that’s how I tracked down and decided upon Alexander O. Smith.



JR: What's the biggest challenge in publishing novels in translation?

KK: Convincing readers that there really is something for them in a novel with a foreign setting by an author with a name they can’t easily pronounce. It’s a very tough hurdle and the few successes only attest to how hard it actually is to get readers to read outside of what they think is their comfort zone.

JR: (I will lend you my cattle prod to encourage people to read this!)


JR: This is a classic puzzle book. Did you figure it out before the end? (I didn't!)

KK: Nope, I didn’t. In fact, what I told everyone was quite true – when that last twist came along, I was so shocked, so surprised, that I gasped out loud for the first time since I was twelve years old and reading And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.

JR: YES!!!!

JR:  Please tell me there are more books in the works! I'm not sure I can stand waiting though.

KK: There are, in fact, two. One is the next (and for the moment, the only other) Detective Galileo novel, A Midsummer’s Equation. The contracts are off being signed in Japan now and I hope to get the translator started later this fall.

The other is Malice – a novel about two children’s book writers, colleagues and rivals, one of which has killed the other. It will be the first book in Higashino’s series featuring Kyochiro Kaga, a Tokyo police detective, to appear in English. The Japanese publisher – a different on than for the Detective Galileo books – is currently reviewing the contracts, so that one is moving ahead as well.

JR: Thanks Keith!


DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X and SALVATION OF A SAINT should be required reading for every crime novel lover.  They are both amazing.