1) Europe’s economic struggles are clearly affecting its
publishers.
Spain and Eastern Europe in particular were very frank in
saying that previous aggressive buying has been curtailed. I went with fifteen
or so books at the front of my list; my Eastern European co-agent said that
they could only see being successful with around three—two of which already had
buzz and several other foreign sales; the third was Anne Tyler. With Spain it
was somewhat less specific, and more sad smiles and “times are hard.”
2) On the other hand, Brazil seems to be very healthy.
Whether from not being in Europe or from having a large population with
burgeoning readership, the word from Brazil was “lay it on us.”
3) France is…unique. I have three British historical
novels (my joke is that I’m looking for one novel set in every century—to date
I’m good with the 11th, 12th, 16th, 17th, 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries. So if
you have a good thriller set around Edward III, I’m your man!). A French editor
smiled, shrugged, and said “what else do you have?” She was very pleased,
however, when I said that I thought the French Revolution could be the next
Tudors, and was looking for a good novel set around the storming of the
Bastille.
4) Everyone wants a “tentpost thriller” with a Franchise
protagonist.
Yes, well…
5) Nobody wants to see any more dystopian YA,
particularly paranormal.
Unless, of course, you know…it’s good. But that’s glib.
It’s really that from the YA side, there’s a sense that we’re ready for a next
trend, to come after the Hunger Games followers are exhausted, which came after
the Twilight followers were exhausted. There was a bit of a sense it could
simply be realistic fiction, a la John Green; or perhaps witches or angels or
new shapeshifters. Zombies are finishing their cycle too, it would appear. The
amazing thing, of course, is that it’s going to be the one incredible story,
rather than any industry-wide desire for a trend, that will ultimately
determine what will be the next Big Thing.
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