Did you know LPP inked its first foreign rights deal in Korea and is seeking others?

By Rana DiOrio, Founder, Little Pickle Press

I find myself saying this often lately—what a difference a year makes! This time last year we had just launched our award-winning first title, What Does It Mean To Be Global? This year, we are putting the final touches on our fourth and fifth titles and celebrating the completion of our first foreign rights deal.

Due to the interest garnered by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), who represented our initial title at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Festival, and by ForeWord Reviews, who represented our two titles at the 2010 Bologna Children’s Book Fair, we had four publishers pursuing foreign rights for the first two books of our What Does It Mean To Be . . .?® series. While I was at the 2010 Bologna Children’s Book Fair, I had the pleasure of meeting with the person ForeWord Reviews had engaged to manage their foreign rights meetings—Sylvia Hayse of Sylvia Hayse Literary Agency, LLC. I subsequently hired her to represent us directly and to negotiate with the Korean parties on our behalf.

While Sylvia was working her magic, I did a little research on the Korean children’s book market. I discovered that the children’s book market in Korea is doing surprisingly well. As evidence, Korea was the Guest of Honor at the 2009 Bologna Children's Book Fair. According to the Korean Publishers’ Association, Korea's book market ranks among the 10th largest in the world, with over 40,000 new titles published each year. Among them, children's books make up about 19 percent of the market, which reflects not only the high enthusiasm that Korean parents have for their children's education, but also the efforts of highly imaginative and innovative bookmakers and writers.

In a Publisher’s Weekly article I read, Eric Yang, President and CEO of RH Asia, was quoted as saying, “The nonfiction educational segment is faring much better than fiction or adult segments. Korean parents will save to buy educational books for their children, even in tough times.”

Other evidence that the children’s book segment is growing in popularity in Korea is that the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) launched a regional chapter in Korea in December 2008.

So after months of negotiation, Sylvia reached terms with the co-agent representing Blue Wing Publishing, Co. She brought the license agreement with her to BookExpo America 2010 in New York City, and I signed it. A few months later, I received the cross-signed agreement and a wire representing our advance. It was an especially great feeling to know that our meaningful messages to children had truly gone global.

Little Pickle Press, with Sylvia’s help, is actively seeking other foreign rights transactions. Interested parties should contact Sylvia directly at her place of work set forth below. For those authors with children’s book titles in English, please feel free to have your agent reach out to Kenny Kim, whose contact information is also below.

LPP’s Agent:
Sylvia Hayse
Sylvia Hayse Literary Agency, LLC
P.O. Box 1954
Bandon, OR 97411 USA
541.404.3127
email


Korean Co-Agent:
Kenny Kim / EntersKorea Co., Ltd
Foreign Rights Manager / English-Europe Department
A: 3F, Do Dream Bldg, #375-8, Mangwon-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 121-230, Korea
P: +82-2-3142-8136 (ext 3012)
F: +82-2-3142-8139
FR team www.ekagency.co.kr
TR team www.ekitc.com
DE team www.designbbook.com