The Challenge of Co-editions

Diane Spivey and Josephine Seblon

Many rights sellers go through their business lives licensing content to customers without ever having to get to grips with co-edition management.  But for those whose companies publish illustrated books, from medical encyclopaedias to children’s picture books, there is a whole new range of skills to add to their rights selling expertise.  And any one of us may be faced with a one-off project that may need this additional knowledge.  This is an attempt to demystify co-edition publishing and highlight some of the pitfalls, as well as demonstrate how profitable and rewarding an area of rights it can be.

What are co-editions?

A co-edition is the term used when, in addition to licensing rights to a translation or English language publisher, the originating publisher also prints the books for the customer.

What are the benefits of co-editions to the originating publisher?

Any book containing a large amount of full-colour content is an expensive undertaking.  In addition to the costs of printing, paper and binding, there will be substantial up-front costs which need to be paid and which will apply however many copies of the book are printed.  These costs could include fees to artists or photographers, fees to outside designers and the costs of colour origination and proofing. If the originating publisher can find one or more customers with whom to share these one-off costs, the unit manufacturing cost of each copy will reduce.

The UK has traditionally been strong in co-edition selling, possibly because its domestic market (even including export sales) may not be sufficiently large to justify a print run of 20,000 or 30,000 copies which may be required to get the production price of a book down to an affordable level. As a result, UK-based publishers such as Thames & Hudson, Dorling Kindersley, Phaidon and Weidenfeld & Nicolson swiftly became pioneers in the field, but publishers all around the world now take advantage of this business model.

Handling the printing yourselves also offers quality control, avoiding a sub-licensed copy being badly printed on poorer quality paper or using a cheaper binding style.

For high-profile publications or branded books, co-ordinating the printing also makes a global publication or launch date easier to control.

A successful co-edition will not only cover the origination and printing costs and add profit for the originating publisher on the first run, it will also go on to reprint both domestically and around the world, with the opportunity to add new sub-licensees to each new print run.

What are the benefits to the customer?

Participating in a co-edition is an attractive option for many acquiring publishers.  It may make available a range of books that they could not afford to originate and print for themselves.  In smaller territories, publishers may only be able to sell 1,500 or 2,000 copies of a book, which would not be financially viable: tagging on to an established co-edition run can bring publication within reach.  A great example of this is the ability to publish children’s picture books in small regional languages such as Basque, Friesian, or - on our own doorstep - Welsh. Joining a co-edition also offers a simple way of expanding a list without adding hugely to overheads.  These books can be bought inclusive of packing and shipping costs and (when a royalty inclusive deal is concluded - see below) without the need for ongoing royalty accounting.

What books are most suitable?

Children’s picture books including novelty books with sophisticated production elements are one of the most obvious areas for co-edition publishing, together with full-colour reference, such as gardening and cookery, fine art and photography books. But it is worth considering the co-edition potential of any full-colour illustrated book.

What books are not suitable?

In addition to any content or cultural issues which may mean a book won’t work well in translation markets, for co-editions you also need to consider practical production and design issues.  The plan is to print the insides of the book in two or more languages, changing only the black printing plate bearing the text, leaving all colour illustrations in position.  An alphabetical encyclopaedia or children’s ABC, where the order of entries would need to change, would not work.  Some languages are longer than English – many European languages are up to 20-25% longer - so the book needs spacious design with plenty of white space.  Coloured lettering (or white lettering on a coloured background) needs to be avoided as this would mean changing further colour plates.  You may need to explain these limitations to illustrators who love to include text – or very English cultural references such as red post boxes or double-decker buses - in their drawings. Experienced co-edition publishers have designers, and production staff who are used to working creatively within these parameters.  Timing also needs to be considered, as involving partners in a first printing cannot be rushed: there will be translations to commission, text to set, proofs to be approved and shipping times to be considered.

Sales material and timing

Selling a high-quality illustrated project requires high-quality advance material. Some packagers and illustrated book publishers even invest in professional-looking advance material speculatively, only going ahead with a project once they receive commitment from one or more publishers. However, creating sales material can be an expensive business, so information sheets or rights guides including detailed specifications and a provisional schedule will help establish a shortlist of publishers who are interested in seeing more material.

If a project’s selling point is beautiful artwork or stunning photography the advance material must give a flavour of this.  You may be able to share all the text: if it’s not yet available, then a representative sample will be needed.  Text and illustrations need to be laid out in designed spreads, and can be incorporated into a printer’s dummy – a blank book of the same binding style and paper and board quality as the finished book. It is useful to share a jacket or cover design too, though many publishers will want to adapt or create their own design to suit their market.  This material needs to be available at key points throughout the year: proofs and dummies in time for the Bologna Book Fair or for a scheduled sales trip, for example.

Costings

An interested co-edition customer may ask for costs for one or more sizes of print-run. (“Quote me on 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 copies”). They may want to change binding style: their market may require a paperback rather than a hardback, or a laminated board binding, with or without separate jackets. They may want you to include shipping costs . You can quote the customer including a royalty for the author (“royalty inclusive”) or they may pay for the books only and offer a separate advance and royalties which you will split with the author (“royalty exclusive”).

A common way of costing co-editions is to estimate all fixed costs (often called ‘plant’ which includes origination, proofing, all editorial, design and other fees).  This is then split pro-rata across your printing and that of the interested publisher.  To that is added the estimated cost of printing, paper and binding (the “run-on cost”) and the cost of changing the black plate for all pages for the foreign language edition. This will give a unit manufacturing cost to which you need to add the author royalty (you need to check your author contract or negotiate a specific price-received royalty rate for co-editions).  You will also be expected to cost in a profit margin for your company.

Because the originating publisher is taking the financial risk and paying the printer for all copies, cash-flow is important for these deals. Payment for the books is often agreed in stages, with a decent percentage paid ahead of printing.

Fulfilment of the order

Once a deal is concluded, it is important to summarise all major points quickly, ensuring all specifications and schedules of dates are confirmed ahead of finalising a contract. 

Co-editions require close liaison between the purchasing publisher and your production team. The production department will provide digital files showing the layout of the text and illustrations, which are shared with the customer.  The customer translates the text and incorporates it into the designed files, and sends these back to the publisher.  The publisher supplies proofs of the internal pages and jacket or cover of the customer’s edition for approval. It is also common to incorporate approval of sample copies from the printing before shipping the bulk quantity. New printing technologies have made the co-edition process easier with co-publishers now approving e-plotters (digital proofs) rather than ozalids (printed proofs) and this has made the process more accessible to smaller publishers.

Printing often takes place in the Far East, where printers offer efficient, competitive co-edition printings – though printing in China has recently presented some challenges with printers only working on books that have government approval.

It is important to keep the customer informed at all stages of production, especially if dates are slipping or delays in printing occur.  You need to raise invoices as soon as the books have shipped as these documents will be needed for customs clearance. It is attention to this sort of detail and good customer service which build your reputation as a reliable co-edition provider. 

Reprints

If a book sells well, your customer may come back for a reprint quantity, and this offers the opportunity to reprint yourselves, approach existing customers who may need extra books, or bring new customers on board at the next printing. Some classic co-edition books may have a continual cycle of reprints over the years, with new publishers coming on board each time.

The contract

In addition to the purchase order, there will also need to be a full contract, setting out the grant of translation rights to the customer (the purchase order is often appended to this as an addendum). For a sample co-edition template, including detailed notes, see Clark’s Publishing Agreements: A Book of Precedents, published by Bloomsbury Professional.

Licences for co-editions tend to be very short – just a few years – and renewal of the licence dependent on a customer ordering a new printing of the books.  As with all rights licensing it is important to ensure that you can get the rights back once it is no longer actively selling.

Working with co-editions can feel more ‘hands-on’ than some types of rights licensing, and some of the required skills will only build up over time, but there is nothing more satisfying than holding different foreign language editions of the same beautifully produced book in your hand and knowing you helped make that happen!