The French

[I. J. Parker]

The French are my friends. Since I've become an author I've also become a francophile. My books have been translated into a number of foreign languages and were already published in Germany, Russia, the Czech Republic, and a number of other Eastern bloc countries (Japanese history is big there), when I got my first contract offer from Belfond in France. From the very start. this publisher supported my series far beyond anything any other publisher has done for me (that includes the Americans). The books went out to every French-speaking publication for review. French papers and magazines run book reviews regularly, and I received an incredibly fat package of print reviews from France. The Belfond covers are beautiful. The second year, one of my books went to a French book club. Then Belfond sold the mass market rights. Again, the covers are handsome. And just today, I accepted a generous offer for # 3 from the mass market publisher. I assume that means things are going well in France. To me, it illustrates what happens when a publisher promotes his author. (And of course, the opposite also holds true).

[I. J. Parker]

Thanks, John and Grant. John, I'm convinced that publishers can make or kill a series. Too many good writers go under because the publisher did nothing, and our choices as readers become narrower all the time.

[Grant McKenzie]

That's terrific news, Ingrid. Congratulations.

[John McFetridge]

Congratulations, Ingrid.

Of course, the success may be because the publisher promotes the author, but it may also be because the books are really good and this publisher simply realized what they had.