Europe has one major disadvantage in comparison with the United States. There is a different language in each of its countries and the people of Europe mostly do not understand each other without knowledge of languages. Therefore, books need to be translated frequently. Each state has its own policy of supporting literature. In some countries, it is possible to obtain a translation grant, in other countries they do not have anything like that. Politics are not united in this area.
It is customary to offer a book in the language of the target country. So, if a literary agent offers a manuscript to be published in Spain, the manuscript should be written in Spanish. If a manuscript is offered in the Czech Republic, it should be in Czech. This, of course, happens exceptionally, because the author would have to pay for the translation himself. That's why the practice has become that it's enough to provide a book sample written in English. The first 30 pages of the book are usually considered to be sufficient. At the same time, a detailed synopsis of the story of the book should be enclosed into this sample. This translation must be provided by the author at his own expense.
Those countries where English is not the mother tongue, do not have a problem with this practice and are used to it. Unfortunately, the problem is with Great Britain, which often demands the entire manuscript to be available in English. This is a big problem for most authors because translating an entire book is very expensive. These costs cannot be covered by the literary agency as well, as this investment would never be returned.
Our literary agency has a partner agency in Belgium. With this partner, we can offer manuscripts in different European countries, but in this case, at least, a sample of the first 30 pages of the book is required in English (+ detailed synopsis of the story of the book). Unfortunately, judging the quality of a book from only 30 pages and synopsis is very difficult. Our Belgian partner chooses very carefully. We make the initial pre-selection, the final decision to accept / not accept the manuscript is done by our Belgian partner. Please note that sometimes the decision may take a long time.
Our agency focuses primarily on the Czech and Slovak book market. We prefer bids for editions in the Czech Republic.
DO YOU WANT TO OFFER YOUR MANUSCRIPT IN EUROPE?
If you are interested in offering your manuscript in Europe, contact the Agency's Director, Markéta Pluskalová: pluskalova(at)ihave-talent.agency
The commission of the literary agency is 20% in these cases.