At the end of 2017, the young writer Radostina Nikolova surprised us all with the news that her series “The Adventures of the Mots” will be published in a circulation of 25,000 in China. Aurora Publishing House will hold the rights to publish and distribute the small mots on the territory of China for the next 5 years. The publishing house was founded in 1985 and has a broad market outlook, which also includes translated literature.
Here is what Radostina Nikolova shared for us in the first days of the new year:
First of all, congratulations on the great success with which you surprised us all! Why did you decide to look for publishers abroad? Where did the search start?
Thank you! I decided to look for publishers abroad from the very beginning. I think this is a logical step that all Bulgarian publishers should take for their authors and all self-publishing writers – to look for a way to promote their work outside the country. If the state does nothing to promote us, at least we should do something to promote our country.
Tell us a little more about how it is to work with a foreign agency on the other side of the dialogue – as a negotiator for selling, not buying, copyrights?
I have been talking to foreign agencies and publishers for years, but this is the first time I have had the opportunity to conduct a real negotiation. I did not like the offer I initially received. I am not saying that I would have refused it, but I decided to try to renegotiate it. I believe that just because we are a small market does not mean that we should agree to have our hands twisted. Ultimately, I am aware of how much work and effort we have put into these books – both me and Andrey (my husband, who is the other half of the publishing house behind the scenes), and Melina-Elina as an illustrator, and I believe that we should stand our ground. Of course, it is also important that the literary agency is on your side. With my agent Lily Li, we managed to demand, on the one hand, a higher commission, and on the other, a double circulation.
In another conversation some time ago, you said that Western publishers look at Eastern European books with slight disdain. What causes embarrassment – the text, the illustrations, the layout?
The main thing that publishers and agents from Western Europe and the USA pay attention to initially are the illustrations and the length of the text. If the type of illustration doesn’t grab them or the text is too long, then it’s probably difficult and time-consuming to translate, and they won’t be inclined to hear more about the story at all. I had lost hope that the mottos had a chance of being noticed anywhere. Even in Serbia they said that the illustrations didn’t match the trends.
This year in Bologna I mainly presented “My Beautiful Horns”, but even for that book the feedback was “too sweet”, “too Eastern European”. (Whatever that means). When I wrote to the agency in China, I initially sent them only “My Beautiful Horns” again, but they asked to see all my books. For the mots I received two offers from different publishers – one even included the books from the series for younger children, and for my other book – none. It seems that each market ultimately has different preferences. I think that the mots are extremely fertile for developing as animation, although this type of illustration is really not liked and sought after in the West anymore.
Regarding “My Beautiful Horns”, I really like the illustrations, but the fact that it is not a typical picture book stops many publishers from even wanting to learn more about the story. This is feedback from Switzerland, France and England.
This step is definitely a success for the illustrator you are working with – how were the illustrations received by the Chinese publishing house? Can you already imagine the layout with hieroglyphs? And what is “mot” in Chinese?
This is a great success for Melina-Elina Bondokova. As I said, the illustrations meet the preferences of the market and I really hope that she will have to draw many more of them. I have no idea what the layout will look like, nor what “mot” is in Chinese, but I should receive copies in the spring, so I will show them to you right away.
And of course, what are your future creative plans for the upcoming 2018?
I am starting work on the illustrations for my latest book, which I hope will be out by spring. In addition, we plan to publish at least three more books in 2018 under the banner of "MarMOT Publishing House", this time not mine. I can't wait to seriously dedicate myself to it. Andrey and I have been thinking about it for a long time and I suspect that this moment has finally come!
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