Missed Our Masterclass? Watch Can Your Book Travel? How to Assess Your Global Rights Potential
Masterclass Transcript – Lindsay Jones, CEO & Co-Founder, DropCap Marketplace
This transcript has been lightly edited to improve readability. A full video replay is available above.
Hello, and welcome to the next installment of DropCap’s Masterclass.
My name is Lindsay Jones. I’m the CEO and one of the co-founders of DropCap.
And I’m coming to you today from a rainy and gray Minneapolis. I hope everyone else is enjoying some better weather than I am today.
As we go along, I’m going to present a little bit about what rights are to start.
Then we’ll talk about how to assess if your book is a good fit for international licensing.
And then we’ll talk a little bit about DropCap itself and how it’s doing things a little differently from a traditional rights agency.
If any questions come up while I’m talking, please feel free to drop a comment in the chat and I’ll save time for questions at the end.
Let’s go ahead and get started.
Foreign Rights Licensing 101
I like to start with a bit of foreign rights licensing 101.
If you’ve seen any of our previous videos, this may not be new information for you, but it helps to have this context when we talk about what rights buyers are looking for and how they’re actually licensing content.
In a traditional agency—and again, DropCap is a little bit different; we’ll talk about how we do things differently—the first step would be for a rights holder (you, as an author or publisher) to sign a representation agreement with an agent.
That agent is going to go meet with their network of rights buyers. These buyers include other agents, editors, scouts, and publishers.
A lot of those meetings take place at international book fairs, and increasingly on Zoom as well.
The agent will pitch your book to their network.
The Licensing Process (Traditional Model)
If there’s interest in your book, your agent will negotiate a contract with the foreign publisher.
That contract results in:
Your book being translated
Published in the licensing country
You receiving an advance and then royalties on future sales
That’s the high-level overview of how traditional rights licensing works.
Next, let’s talk about what rights buyers are actually looking for when they evaluate books.
What Rights Buyers Look For
The first thing buyers will see is your cover. Which is ironic—because they’ll almost always change it once they license the book.
For example, a Japanese publisher will likely redesign the cover entirely to appeal to their market’s norms and preferences. But even so, the cover is the first thing that grabs a buyer’s attention—just like it would for a reader.
The next thing is the title—which also needs to stand out and be appropriate for your genre.
As an independent author, you’re competing not just with other self-published books, but also with titles from the Big Five publishers and large presses.
That means your book needs to meet a professional standard in:
Editing
Cover design
Layout and formatting
You don’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons.
What Makes a Book Appealing Internationally?
Let’s assume your book is professionally produced and published. What makes it catch a rights buyer’s eye?
One key factor: topic fit for their market.
This changes constantly and can be either niche or broad.
Trends and Topic Fit
Rights buyers are often influenced by reader-driven trends. These vary by genre and market, but here are some patterns we’ve seen:
Fiction Trends
Right now, romance—especially romantasy (romance + fantasy) is seeing major global demand.
Readers can’t get enough of it, and that’s driving what publishers are licensing internationally.
That said, fiction trends change quickly. While romance is hot today, another topic could rise in popularity next year. Trends are shaped by what readers are hungry for.
Nonfiction Trends
Nonfiction tends to be more stable over time and less trend-driven.
Popular nonfiction categories include:
Business
Career and leadership
Self-help
Mind-body-spirit
Wellness and lifestyle
Popular science
While there are trend cycles (like the ongoing interest in mindfulness), nonfiction is generally less volatile.
Both broadly appealing and niche nonfiction books can license successfully, as long as the topic resonates in the local market.
Global Relevance Matters
The key factor is: Does your book translate culturally?
Books that are overly U.S.-specific tend to be harder to license.
For example:
A nonfiction book about the U.S. healthcare system
A business book focused entirely on U.S.-based case studies
These might be seen as too narrow for global readers.
But that doesn’t mean setting or location is a problem. If your fiction book takes place in Louisiana or Minnesota, that can still resonate.
In fact, at the London Book Fair, we noticed many rights buyers from all over the world
were specifically looking for books set in Japan even if they themselves weren’t based there.
Sometimes location is a hook, as long as the themes are relatable.
Domestic Success and Market Signals
Rights buyers are also drawn to signs of domestic success.
That could include:
Strong book sales (especially bestseller status)
Awards or recognitions
Endorsements from other authors or respected experts
Press coverage or media appearances
Even Amazon rankings, podcast guest spots, or blog features can help show that your book is gaining traction.
It’s important to note that you don’t have to be a bestseller to attract licensing interest. Buyers want to see evidence that your book is connecting with readers and gaining momentum.
Author Platform & Audience Engagement
Buyers often look at your platform to see if you're:
Building an audience
Active on social media
Maintaining a website
Reaching people who care about your content
These signs show that you’re serious about your work and actively promoting your book which makes their job (selling a translation) easier.
If you have direct sales data, that can be even more powerful.
For example:
“I have readers in Mexico buying the English edition of my book.”
That’s a clear signal that there’s audience demand in that market. In that case, a Spanish translation for Mexico might be a smart next step. If you have this kind of geographic or sales data, include it in how you present your book to rights buyers.
Standing Out as an Author
Whether you're pitching directly or listing your book on a platform like DropCap, you need to optimize how you present your book.
That applies whether you’re creating:
A one-page sell sheet
A query for an agent
A rights listing on a marketplace
How you frame your book’s potential matters.
Optimizing How You Present Your Book
If you’re working with an agent, you want to make sure they have all the key information they need, so they can build a sell sheet or another asset to pitch your book to their network of rights buyers.
If you’re using DropCap Marketplace, the platform acts as your book’s presentation tool. You’ll want to make sure your listing is complete and polished, because this is what rights buyers will see.
What to Include in a Great Listing
Concise, compelling book description
Avoid a wall of text. Clearly explain:What your book is about
Why readers would want to read it
What makes it unique
Comparable titles
Help buyers quickly understand the market positioning.
For example:
“This book is like Untamed meets Atomic Habits”
It gives buyers a mental shortcut for understanding where your book fits.Accurate genre and target audience
Rights buyers often specialize in specific genres.
If your book is self-help, we make sure it’s shown to buyers who actively license in that category.
It’s important not to say your book is “for everyone.” It should be for a specific audience, and the more clearly you define that audience, the easier it is for rights buyers to assess whether the book could be a fit.
Showcasing Your Efforts
Highlight your:
Sales achievements
Awards
Media or influencer endorsements
Marketing activities
You don’t need to be a bestseller. Buyers are often looking for authors who are engaged, professional, and committed to building their audience. That’s what makes your book more attractive for foreign publishers.
Presenting Yourself as the Author
Your book listing is like a resume. You’re showing buyers why they should invest in you and your work.
That means:
A professional cover
A well-edited manuscript
Evidence that you're actively promoting your book to readers
All of this makes a strong case for your book's potential success internationally.
What Buyers Want to Know About You
Rights buyers aren’t only investing in your book—they’re also investing in you.
They want to know:
What your background is
Your education or professional credentials
Any relevant awards or media presence
Whether you have a speaking platform or strong social media presence
Even if your platform isn’t huge, buyers want to see that you are actively building your author brand.
If you have dual citizenship or residency in another country, that can also boost a buyer’s interest especially if it connects to the culture or language of their market.
Make It Easy to Preview the Book
One of the most common ways deals lose momentum is when buyers can’t preview the book.
It’s critical to provide a digital interior sample, not just a blurb or summary. When a buyer is interested, you want to strike while the iron is hot.
You need to be able to say:
“Here’s the manuscript. You can begin evaluating right now.”
The easier you make it for buyers to engage, the more likely you are to close a licensing deal.
How DropCap Is Different from Traditional Agencies
Let’s talk a little bit about how DropCap Marketplace differs from the traditional rights agency model.
In a traditional setup:
You, as the author, have to query an agent
If they accept you, you sign a representation agreement
The agent manages a small roster of clients and handles all outreach and negotiations
But agents have limited bandwidth. They can only take on a few clients at a time. My co-founder, Allison, ran her own rights agency for over 15 years. She had maybe eight publisher clients and three or four author clients at most.
There simply wasn’t capacity to help all the amazing books being written and published.
Why We Built DropCap Marketplace
That’s why we built DropCap Marketplace—to open up rights licensing opportunities to more authors, without needing a traditional agent.
With DropCap, you don’t need to:
Query an agent
Be selected or signed to a formal agency
Rely on someone else’s limited availability
Instead, you can list your book in a professional marketplace that’s actively used by over 2,700 global rights buyers looking for content to license.
Supported by Experienced Agents
Although the platform is self-serve, you’re not alone. If a publisher is interested in your book, DropCap’s agents (like Allison or our rights director, Monica) can step in to handle the negotiation and licensing process.
They each have 30+ years of rights licensing experience and deep, long-standing relationships with buyers worldwide.
You don’t need to have an agent up front, but when the opportunity comes, you’ll have professionals ready to help close the deal.
Final Notes & Takeaways
If you’re wondering whether your book has international potential:
Make sure your listing is complete and professional
Be clear about your audience and book positioning
Share signs of traction, awards, or press—even small ones
And always include a sample so buyers can evaluate quickly
If your book is already listed on DropCap, this is a great time to review and refresh your listing. And if you haven’t joined yet, visit dropcapmarketplace.com to get started.
As always, we’re happy to answer questions. Feel free to reach out anytime.