One modest book lifted to international acclaim with help from exposure at the Frankfurt Book Fair is Sam Savage’s FIRMIN: Adventures of an American Lowlife, originally bought out of the slush pile by Coffee House Press. The book’s path to success in translation–with a reported 300,000 copies sold in Italy and 100,000 copies sold in Spain–was presented in a case study called The Ins and Outs of International Rights and Licenses at FBF. In this case the trigger was sub-agent Sandra Bruna bringing the book to Elena Ramirez RicoRico of Planeta’s Seix Barral. The publisher made a strong offer to […]
