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Last year, we wrote about the widespread interest in the book “Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife” by American Sam Savage. The book, about a rat that lives in a Boston bookstore reading, eating and quite literally digesting classic books, was purchased by ten publishers at last year’s FBF (after 30 offers). Today, some of those publishers told their own tales of their role in publishing the book, to explain details about the deal and brag a little about their success – all featured in a lunch time panel entitled “The Ins and Outs of International Rights and Licenses: A Case Study.”
Christopher Fischbach, senior editor of Coffee House Press in Minneapolis took credit for the discovery, arrived at the publisher unagented. That made it, in the parlance of the book biz, a “slush pile discovery.” It’s one of four or five books the publisher discovers that way each year, out of more than 3,000 manuscripts which cover over the transom. (Another 500 come in from agents).
Coffee House published in 2007, but garnered only mild interest – that is until sub-rights agent Sandra Bruna brought the copy to publisher Elena Ramirez RicoRico of Seix Barral (part of the Planeta group).
What she read immediately impressed her: “I knew we had something very universal and important in my hands”, she said. “I sent Sandra an offer at 5 p.m. on a Friday from my Blackberry.”
Questioned by moderator Thomas Minkus of the Frankfurt Book Fair, Ramirez Ricoindicated that her first offer was for 5,000 euros for Spanish rights. Bruna indicated her fee as agent would be 8 per cent of the retail sales price of the book of the first printing up to 5,000 copies, then jumps to 10 per cent thereafter.
But then something interesting happened. Ramirez, encouraged by her friend, mystery novelist Donna Leon, she decided to make an offer for world rights – one Fischbach said was “the most money Coffee House had ever been offered for anything.” He jumped, in part because the money will help finance further publications, possibly of books he hopes to discover here at Frankfurt (it is his first visit to the Fair.)
Subsequently, Ramirez Ricobrought the book to the 2007 FBF and there was so much buzz, Orion in the UK, Columna in the Catalan language, Don Quixote in Portugal all made plans to publish. Ulrika Ostermeyer with the German publisher Ullstein said that when she heard the three/four line pitch, it struck her as something “different.” Ramirez Ricoput a finer point on it, describing the book as the “anti-pitch”.
“You come to Frankfurt and show you a very handsome writer, a good historical novel that will sell like crazy,” she explained, “but here you have a very unfashionable novel by an old, first time writer – and you think, this must be original or the person trying to sell it are crazy.”
Ostermeyer was intrigued enough that she made an offer for the book, in part based on the encouragement of her marketing director who felt they had clever methods of selling the book. After winning a German auction, she published it this August. Already in its third printing, it has sold 17,000 copies (though Ostermeyer believes it should hit 25,000 by the end of the year). “It will do even better in paperback”, she added.
Part of the marketing of the book was the use of a cartoon rat to illustrate the cover, an image which was subsequently retained by many of the publishers. The Spanish edition is embellished even further and the design of the physical book makes it look as if the edge had already been chewed by a rat. It has lived up to expectation, selling 100,000 copies thus far.
“The rat is really part of the appeal of the book”, said Italian publisher, Paolo Repetti of Einaudi, who added that the fact it could be explained in a one line pitch really helped. “When you can understand the story so quickly, you know readers will too.”
He elicited blurbs from well known writers, including Niccolo Ammaniti and Allessandro Baricco, and launched the Italian edition at the Turin Book Fair earlier this year. It has been an unqualified success.
“We started with a 30,000 copy first printing and are now up to 300,000 copies”, said Repetti, who added “It’s not a bad business.”
“In all, we’ve sold rights into 17 territories,” said Ramirez. While that may sound like the end of the story, it isn’t. “Only this morning I received an offer from Serbia,” she said, a big smile on her face.
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