Aphrodisia Authors :: Blog

Our Aphrodisia authors have had spectacular success with sales to foreign countries in foreign languages. Whenever I’ve heard of another sale into Germany or France or Spain, I’ve always sighed and felt a twinge. But I, too, had a thrill when I got word that both my Midnight Confessions titles had sold into Germany.

Wow! To think that my words would be translated into a foreign language.

I believe the first book will be out in November with the second on the shelves in May of 2010. (Doesn’t that sound so very far away?)

I’ve asked some readers in Germany about reading tastes there and it seems that anthologies are not particularly popular. Readers prefer longer, more indepth stories than the novellas in anthologies. That’s a shame, because I’m in a lot of anthologies with Aphrodisia. Right from the beginning of the line, I’ve had a knack for writing short, intensely sexy, romantic novellas.

Because of my penchant for novellas, it may be awhile before another of my stories is translated, so I need to celebrate these sales to the max! Celebrating good news is always encouraged in the writing community.

Here’s the original North American cover:

Midnight Confessions

And here’s the German cover:

Translates to: Sinful Confession

The title translates to “Sinful Confession”. Thanks to Danny and Frauke for translating for me! As soon as I find the cover for “Sinful Confession II”, I’ll post it!

Life’s sweet! Enjoy it,

Bonnie

One of the fun things about a writer’s job is the foreign sales. For one thing, they’re free money! You already wrote and sold the book, and now you’re getting paid for it again. But, more than that, it’s wonderful to know that readers in different countries who don’t speak English are reading your work.

And then there’s the fun of receiving your author copies and seeing how the foreign publisher dealt with your book. And man, does it vary!

In the past couple weeks, I received the French and Spanish editions of Hot in Here. The Brazilian one (in Portuguese) was already on my shelf. So I stacked the books up next to each other, and pretty much shook my head in amazement.

My Aphrodisia story, published in trade paper format, was 332 pages long. The Brazilian publisher changed the title to Brincando com Fogo, which translates as Playing With Fire, which I think is great. They published the book in trade paper too, with a gorgeous chocolate cover, inside cover flaps, lovely white paper, and slightly larger type – and it came out to be 207 pages. What did they cut??? I’m so curious, but I don’t read Portuguese.

Next to come was the French edition, titled Convenances et Inconvenances. I’m not absolutely sure of the translation (if someone can help, please post!), but I think it’s something like Proprieties and Improprieties. This book looks rather like a Harlequin/Silhouette category/series book. I love that they put a Chinese heroine on the cover (in the book, Jenny Yuen is torn between respecting her traditional Chinese parents, who don’t want her dating a white guy, and following her heart with her firefighter lover). This book came out to 281 pages.

Last and largest is the Spanish version, Las Reglas de la Fantasia. I’m so excited about that title, which translates as Fantasy Rules, because it’s my original one. The book is the second in my Awesome Foursome series, and I’d envisioned the series as “rules to have sex by” with the first being Champagne Rules, the second Fantasy Rules, and so on. Well, only my first title survived, so it was really a thrill to see Fantasy Rules on the French edition. This book is huge! It’s paperback, but even bigger than our standard trade papers, and it’s 411 pages. I think they actually translated my book literally, rather than editing it, which is very flattering. It’s interesting that the cover has not only a kiss but a calendar. I guess they chose that because the hero is the winner of a firefighter calendar competition.

So, that’s my “show and tell” for today. Thanks for letting me share!

Are spicy books “hot” in other countries? I’ve heard sales of Aphrodisia titles are great in Australia, but what about countries where English isn’t the first language?

In Germany, “Champagne Rules” is published by an imprint of Random House under the title “Haut wie Samt” (“Skin Like Silk”). It’s a great cover too. To my delight, a writer friend who was just in Germany says the books are being sold at traveler rest stops along the Autobahn. Stop for gas, a pee, buy a bottle of water and hey, why not pick up a little erotic romance too?