Честит Майките ден на всички! That means “Happy Mothers Day everybody!” in Bulgarian. This is another newsflash you’ll already be aware of if you follow me on twitter, but now you’ll get the details. At the beginning of last month, a toy distributor in Bulgaria called MBG Toys contacted me. It turns out that they are starting a small publishing wing (MBG Books) for producing fantasy novels, and one of the people in charge had read The Book of Deacon and was interested in translation rights. I did a bit of research, and to the extent that I was able to determine (believe it or not, I don’t speak Bulgarian), this seemed to be legitimate. I decided to give it a shot.
Now, this would represent the first time I’d ever signed away any rights for my books at all, so I wanted to make sure I did it the right way. That meant a lawyer, some discussions, and negotiations. It took time, but an agreement has been made and a contract has been signed. In about three weeks, give or take, there will be a rough draft of the translation, at which time I will know the cover price, and thus how much I’m likely to earn from this endeavor. It isn’t going to be a “quit your job” sum by any means, but if I crunched the numbers correctly, even in the worst case it will cover any expenses and leave me with some money in my pocket. More importantly though, it means that more people will be able to read my books, I’ll get a few copies in a language I can’t read, and technically I’ll be a published author… in Bulgaria. It is a step in the right direction.
In other news, the Lain Origin is rolling along slowly but surely. One of my proofreaders, after significant prodding, convinced me to hand him the 40 or so pages of scattered scenes I’ve written, and he seemed pleased. I may be putting up a snippet for you folks to read in a few days, if I can comb out some of the more glaring typos and figure out what scene would be best to share.
Additionally, the person to whom I’d spoken about making a plush version of Myn, as discussed earlier, had to set the project aside for a few weeks while she dealt with some health-related matters. I’m pleased to say that she is recovering well. In a few more weeks, if she’s feeling up to it, we’ll start discussing the Myn project as well. Until then, I wish her a swift and safe recovery.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!