There are 195 countries in the world—plenty of room for publishers to expand their reach through foreign rights licensing. But the prospect of making those deals can be daunting.

How can publishers know if there are readers for their books in other countries? How can they connect with foreign rights agents and foreign publishers to explore licensing arrangements? How should they vet potential publishers and agents? These are among the questions publishers need to explore if they want to make the most of their foreign rights.

Foreign Market Advantage

By pursuing foreign rights, companies can add to their revenue stream. But that’s far from the only reason to license those rights.

“Foreign rights can make up a sizeable portion of a publisher’s overall revenue,” says Katie Parr, rights manager at New Harbinger Publications. “It can be a significant source of income without many additional overhead costs. This is especially true in a post-COVID world where it’s possible to do business virtually with publishers around the world.”

Licensing foreign rights is also a way for publishers to expand the audience for their books. “At New Harbinger, we publish evidence-based psychology and self-help books, and it’s part of our mission to make these important resources accessible to as many people around the world as possible,” Parr says.

Authors also appreciate the additional exposure, says Abigail Dengler, director of nonfiction and children’s divisions at Berry Powell Press. “It’s not going to work for every author, but for the ones who’ve gotten the opportunity to land a subrights deal, it’s a big morale boost—another layer of validation. It solidifies further what you’ve done for them as a publisher.”

Specifically, foreign sales boost an author’s brand while making the most of their intellectual property, says Lindsay Jones, CEO and co-founder of DropCap, a licensing platform and foreign rights agency. “Success stories of licensing attract more authors,” she says. Publishers who want to succeed in the foreign rights space would do well to keep up with market changes.

“Audiobooks have exploded in popularity in the US, and they are starting to take off in the foreign market as well,” Parr says. “We’ve recently been receiving separate advance offers for audio rights, when previously they would have been included as part of the print advance.”

Parr also notes a shift toward simultaneous publication, with foreign editions coming out at the same time as the US edition. “This increases sales for both publishers since they can benefit from each other’s marketing efforts,” she says.

Rising costs are also affecting the global market for translations, says Tom DeVries, senior subsidiary rights manager at Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. “It costs more to translate, to print, and to distribute than before, which makes decisions on which projects to take on far more difficult than in years past,” he says. On the flip side, he notes that AI-assisted translations could cut costs, though the long-term implications of using that technology are uncertain.

Publishers should know about changes in specific markets, too. “A topic that’s trending in one country may not even be on another country’s radar,” Parr says. “We published a book in 2015 that never took off domestically and quickly went out of print in the US, but it continues to be a perennial seller in China.”

Maria Kjoller, director of rights, special sales, and international distribution at Lerner Publishing, notes that in her 30 years of experience, interests are always changing and evolving. Recently, she has licensed titles in the Middle East market, where government grants attract foreign publishers to book fairs to pitch their books.

At DropCap, co-founder and chief sales officer Allison Olson is currently seeing more English-language licensing, especially with fiction, in markets such as the Netherlands and Germany. In some larger markets, such as China, domestic policies on importing foreign products and promoting foreign ideas also affect sales, DeVries says.

Maria Kjoller, director of rights, special sales, and international distribution at Lerner Publishing, at her company’s booth at the 2025 Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

Ready or Not

How can publishers know if they’re ready to explore foreign rights? One obvious indicator is receiving queries asking for a book in translation, Jones says. Sometimes, Olson adds, “Those queries could seem spammy.”

Sales records and book topics can be good indicators, too. “If a publisher’s books are selling well domestically, the topics are not specific to an American audience, and the publisher is looking for an additional revenue stream, then it’s a good idea to start exploring foreign rights,” Parr says.

That being said, there is no hard-and-fast rule about whether a book is “American” in its appeal. As Olson points out, a book on American politics likely won’t do well in foreign markets, but fiction set in America might garner interest.

“There are times when a book that I assume is too American generates real interest with an international publisher,” DeVries says. “So, instead of making assumptions, I present our titles as viable options even if I have reservations. In the end, the international publisher knows their market better than I can, so a final decision is necessarily theirs to make.”

When weighing licensing options, foreign publishers also look for professionalism. “The cover is the first thing the rights buyer sees,” Jones says, even though it will be redone for a foreign market. She notes that publishers who want to succeed in foreign rights should have a domestic marketing plan in place, one that shows they’re working hard to gain readers and traction.

“If a book is selling very well domestically or if it has received significant media coverage, then there’s a good chance it will be of interest to the foreign market,” Parr says. “It also helps if the author has a large platform or has written other books that have been translated.” Movie and TV tie-ins are also of interest in foreign markets, Kjoller says. The same holds true for award winners.

With “a lot of uncertainty in the world right now,” she is also finding strong interest in cozy mysteries, mindfulness books, and titles on building self-esteem. “Fantasy always works,” she adds. “It’s universal.”

Dorothy Hall Smyk, rights director at New Harbinger Publications (left), and Katie Parr, rights manager at New Harbinger Publications, at the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair.

Whose Team?

Publishers can pursue foreign rights deals on their own, but as Parr points out, developing an internal rights team can be a big investment.

“The best way to make connections with foreign publishers when you are starting out is to attend the big international book fairs—Frankfurt, London, Bologna, and Guadalajara—and introduce your books and your company to publishers there,” she says. To pursue licensing arrangements, staff will need to research foreign publishers, pitch titles, negotiate and draft contracts, log the specifics of each, and track the royalties due.

“New Harbinger is fortunate to have our amazing rights director, Dorothy Smyk, who has made hundreds of connections with foreign publishers all over the world,” Parr says. “She started years ago with a grassroots approach, attending the Frankfurt and London Book Fairs and handing out business cards and New Harbinger catalogs to familiarize publishers with our books.”

By sowing those seeds, New Harbinger has developed a robust system for pursuing foreign rights sales. They present their front-list titles at in-person meetings at the Frankfurt and Guadalajara Book Fairs in the fall and at virtual meetings for the London Book Fair in the spring. Gauging interest in each book, they follow up with foreign publishers by email, sending excerpts, marketing plans, metadata, and other materials for their review.

“If the publisher then decides to make an offer, negotiations are conducted via email until we come to terms that are agreeable to both parties,” Parr says. New Harbinger also conducts monthly auctions for new releases in what Parr says are some of the more competitive languages: Russian, Korean, Polish, and Turkish.

If there are language barriers with a publisher, New Harbinger employs a foreign agent. “We also work with an agency for deals in China and Taiwan due to publishing regulations in those territories,” Parr says.

Building relationships in the foreign rights space is “a multilayered and lengthy process,” DeVries says. When he meets new subrights agents and foreign publishers, he asks about their work and their market. “If I am talking with a Brazilian publisher, it helps to know that the Brazilian Portuguese-language market is exponentially larger than the European Portuguese market and often doesn’t have overlap,” he says.

For publishers just getting started, Kjoller suggests attending the big international book fairs to get a sense of what’s being published. “Ask the honest question,” she says. “ ‘Do you think our content has potential abroad?’ Then follow up by email, scheduling a virtual meeting if there is interest.”

All in all, pursuing foreign rights without an agent requires a fair amount of planning and effort. “Any publisher can and should be willing to put in the work to develop the relationships necessary for effective licensing,” DeVries says. “But clearly some publishers don’t have the time or resources to do that internally.”

That’s where agents come in. Foreign rights agents cultivate relationships with rights buyers and broker deals, offering what Jones calls “a low barrier to entry and a lot of potential upside.” DropCap offers a unique approach: rather than signing with an agent up front, publishers list titles for foreign publishers to consider and then decide on representation after an offer comes in. (See sidebar starting on the previous page.)

“We sometimes hear from publishers not wanting to give up a commission percentage,” Jones says. But besides the expertise they bring to a deal, foreign rights agents can often negotiate higher advances and royalty rates, she says.

For small publishers with distribution through a larger publisher, Kjoller recommends asking the distributing company about pursuing foreign rights on their behalf. Lerner has done this for some of their distribution clients.

Katie Parr, rights manager at New Harbinger Publications, at the 2025 Guadalajara International Book Fair.

Let’s Make a Deal

As with so many aspects of publishing, the devil is in the details for foreign rights deals. That starts with publishers ensuring they have procured the necessary rights in their author contracts.

“If a publisher can’t conclusively point to what rights they have to license, any development with the international publisher will be hamstrung by the lack of clarity,” DeVries says. “This means clearly defining rights in the author contracts and tracking those rights for when a licensing publisher expresses interest.”

Publishers will also want to make sure offers are coming from reputable companies. “Beyond the numbers, any publisher needs to be careful that the licensing publisher will do an effective job translating, producing, marketing, and selling a licensed product,” DeVries says. “So, we always have publishers provide reference checks.”

Of course, the terms of the offer matter, too. “A usual license will have an advance payment; a per-copy-sold royalty rate for print and e-book, which can be calculated on the net price received or the retail price of the book; and specific details on possible sublicensing opportunities for the international publisher,” DeVries says.

As part of the offer, Parr says foreign publishers should also share their planned initial print run. From these numbers, she offers a general formula for determining a “reasonable advance range”: royalty rate times cover price times initial print run. As with author contracts, Kjoller notes that advances are usually paid at intervals as the project advances.

“When vetting offers, it’s also important to remember that publishers based in larger markets, such as Germany or China, will be able to offer larger advances than smaller markets, such as Serbia or Latvia,” Parr says. “Other things to consider are the current economic conditions of a given territory and the value of its currency against the dollar.”

Beyond the numbers, Parr says a foreign rights contract should also include the length of the agreement, the language and territory covered, whether subsidiary rights are included, how much time the publisher has to publish the book, metadata for the copyright page, and arrangements for complimentary author copies. There is also typically a line in the contract about how much of the book the foreign publisher can change.

While there is a big upside to foreign rights deals, there are also pitfalls publishers would do well to avoid. “I could likely point to a lot of mistakes that I have made when decisions were made in a hurry or based on enthusiasm rather than grounded research,” DeVries says. “The hard, unglamorous preparation work that underlies publishing partnerships and licensing arrangements are what makes good ones succeed.”

A big mistake, Parr says, is accidentally selling the same rights to different publishers. Tracking payments is critical, too. “The reality is that, unfortunately, some publishers won’t automatically send sales statements or royalty payments without prompting,” she says. “Make sure you have a solid rights management system in place to stay on top of the details of every deal and follow up on all due dates and expiration dates. This will keep you out of legal trouble and ensure that you and the author don’t miss out on any foreign rights revenue.”

Publishers may also have concerns about protecting intellectual property (IP). Toward this end, Kjoller advises not providing any publishable materials until the contract is signed and the advance has been received.

“When publishers do send off electronic copies [for initial review], it’s always good to watermark and lock PDFs,” she says.
Another IP concern involves translation quality. Part of the vetting process should be that a company uses professional translators. “Readership will [also] show whether that publisher is doing high-quality work,” Jones says.

For those concerned about translation, Olson points out that when foreign publishers pursue rights, they can often more cheaply find a foreign author to write on that same topic. “They think your book is better and they’re willing to pay more,” she says. “They already are very invested in your book. They’re not going to put out a bad translation.”

Beyond Borders

The foreign rights market has ample appeal. “It’s a big world and evolving,” Kjoller says. But that can also complicate the path toward making successful foreign rights deals.

Fortunately, help is at hand. Publishers can follow the advice of others who’ve built successful subrights teams, or they can explore a relationship with a traditional agent or a hybrid, tech-centric option like DropCap.

Either way, the return on investment can be substantial, including the satisfaction that comes from reaching beyond borders to find new readers.

The DropCap Option

For publishers who want to explore foreign rights without attending international book fairs and building an internal rights team, DropCap has a solution.

Launched in 2018 as a way to bring technology into the licensing space, DropCap grew out of a traditional agency model. For a fee—discounted for IBPA members (see dropcap.com/ibpa)—publishers and authors can list titles in DropCap’s Marketplace for agents and rights buyers around the world to consider.

A Low-Cost Way to Test the Waters

As co-founder Lindsay Jones explains, DropCap’s Marketplace feature is accessible to publishers who traditional foreign rights agencies may not take a risk on. Fees are tiered based on how many books a publisher opts to list, with the DropCap team offering guidance on which titles have the strongest potential in foreign markets.

“We designed the Marketplace as a very low-cost way to test the waters with your book,” Jones says. “We want to make sure we’re keeping the doors open with independent publishers. You don’t need to apply. You can come in, no matter what.”

DropCap is more than just an online catalog. “The difference between DropCap and a catalog like Ingram’s is that we have over 2,700 rights buyers that we maintain relationships with,” Jones says. “It’s more proactive than just sitting around in a database.”

The platform has a robust search mechanism, Jones says, with an algorithm that ranks books by criteria such as awards and prior rights sales. At a glance, rights buyers can access all the information they need to make an offer—sales data, sell sheets, and secure copies of the interior files. “It really reduces the time and friction,” Jones says.

Tech Meets Trusted Relationships

While the system is built on technology, it benefits from personal relationships, says Allison Olson, who owned her own foreign rights agency before co-founding DropCap. “We use our platform as a tool to hand-pitch between book fairs,” she says. “We have those established relationships. They [rights buyers] trust that we’re going to show them only high-quality books.”

When publishers in the Marketplace get inquiries or offers, they can opt into a traditional agency arrangement for representation through DropCap, or they can broker the deal on their own. “Many of them do choose to use our agency services,” Jones says.

With representation, publishers get professional help with vetting offers. “A lot of people don’t know what to do with inquiries and don’t have time and resources to vet them,” Olson says. Working on commission, DropCap’s agents strive to get the highest possible royalty rates and advances. They also handle the exchange of money and the relevant tax forms. Based on their assessment of a publisher’s list, DropCap may offer exclusive representation for all of a publisher’s books in the Marketplace. That comes with a higher level of hand-pitching, Jones says.

For these exclusive arrangements, DropCap has no hard-and-fast rules about minimum sales. “What is important is the author’s reach,” Olson says. She notes that DropCap is seeing strong sales in self-help and business books, along with growth in the fiction space.

Real Results for Small Publishers

Abigail Dengler, director of children’s and nonfiction at Berry Powell Books, learned about DropCap at IBPA’s Publishing University. From foreign rights deals on her own books, publisher Carmen Berry understood the benefits of having books in translation. But with a small team of mostly contractors, the company lacked the staff to pursue rights deals on its own, making DropCap a good fit.

At the conference, Berry Powell shared its flyer with DropCap representatives, who saw potential in their self-help titles. “It helps to have some kind of catalog built up,” Dengler says. “And it helps to have really good book covers.”

Once Berry Powell decided to go with DropCap, “there wasn’t a huge investment on our part,” Dengler says. “It didn’t require a lot of time other than the initial setup.”

Of the titles Berry Powell uploaded into the Marketplace, Dengler says two “have gotten a lot of traction.” One, The Invisible Gift, has two deals so far. The other, Fear Traps: Escape the Triggers that Get You Stuck, has five confirmed deals.

Along the way, Berry Powell entered into an exclusive agency arrangement with DropCap. “At Frankfort, they really promoted Fear Traps,” Dengler says, noting the book has received three awards. “That’s great because we didn’t have the resources to go. And it was super exciting to get to tell our author.”

Dengler appreciates DropCap’s platform, which updates automatically and keeps contracts in one place. “They’re always available if you have a question about something,” Dengler says of DropCap’s staff, noting that it behooves publishers to keep an eye on the platform for developments.

The foreign rights deals have been rewarding for Berry Powell. “For us as a small house, seeing a $7,500 advance from South Korea was really exciting,” Dengler says. “It gave us a sense that we were coming through as a publisher. We were only able to do that through DropCap’s support.”

For payments from foreign companies, Dengler recommends publishers “hold the timelines loosely.” World events can wreak havoc even after a contract is signed. “Especially in the past few years with a lot of upheaval, we have been very lenient with our rights-buying partners,” Olson says.

Even so, Dengler lauds the benefits her company has seen from working with DropCap. “Overall, we’ve had a great experience working with them,” she says.

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