Ich bin ein Berliner
Okay, this is getting to be ridiculous.Yesterday, I got two rejections from small publishers in Germany. My agent tells me not to worry about it. “With what’s going on in the US & UK, the ones that can’t afford you will always be the first to refuse,” he says. “The bigger German publishers will either buy in now, or they will wait as you break a bunch of other markets and then jump on the bandwagon.”
“If you say so,” I say.
So he calls me today. “You just got a sizeable first offer for all three books from one of the big three in Germany,” he says, “and the others are still reading and may yet bid. Either way, you’ve broken the German market.”
“Ich bin ein Berliner!” I said.
“Ja,” he replied. “And with all this attention, I’ve gotten requests to read your manuscript from Hungary, Spain, France, Japan, and a few other countries. The Japanese publisher had me send him a word file so he could put it on his PDA to read on a plane!”
“Bizarre,” I said.
“Why?” he asked. “You wrote it on a PDA.”
“Point,” I agreed. “So what’s our next step?”
“I don’t know,” he said, surprising me. He always knows. “We’re kind of breaking new ground here,” he went on. “This is really rather amazing. I’ve never had such international interest before the US version sees print, not to mention the ridiculous pie in the sky size of the offers.”
“So I shouldn’t get used to this?” I ask.
“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” he said. “Just sit back and enjoy the ride while it lasts.”
“I can do that,” I said.
Fuckin’ A, I can.