In the Wall Street Journal Alexandra Alter profiles Nele Neuhaus, in Germany's Top Crime Writer Aims at the U.S..
(I don't know her definition of 'top', but as best I've heard Neuhaus neither leads the pack in sales nor in critical acclaim, so .....)
A one-two punch of Neuhaus books is appearing in English this year, beginning with Snow White Must Die; see the Minotaur publicity page, or get your copy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
Typically, of course, this is not the first in her Oliver von Bodenstein/Pia Kirchhoff series, but rather the fourth ... god forbid English-speaking readers should be introduced to a foreign crime series in proper order ..... (I'm certain there's a special circle of hell reserved for the US/UK publishers who decide this is the way to publish translated crime series (i.e. out of series), but to expect anything less of them (like simply publishing the damn books in order) is obviously beyond the sensible, well-functioning, and of course enormously successful industry that is modern-day trade book publishing.)
(Interestingly too, better-known-for-his-translations-from-Scandinavian-languages Steven T. Murray translated it.)
I'm more curious about the stand-alone Swimming with Sharks, coming out in June from AmazonCrossing; pre-order your copy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
The Alter profile is also interesting for the stray bits of sales data on offer -- so, for example:
(I'm actually surprised by the relative success of this one: it is truly not a good book -- though the lack of US marketing probably didn't help any.)
Another example Alter offers:
Well, I hope to get my hands on both of the Neuhaus titles eventually, and judge for myself; I'll let you know what I think.
A one-two punch of Neuhaus books is appearing in English this year, beginning with Snow White Must Die; see the Minotaur publicity page, or get your copy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
Typically, of course, this is not the first in her Oliver von Bodenstein/Pia Kirchhoff series, but rather the fourth ... god forbid English-speaking readers should be introduced to a foreign crime series in proper order ..... (I'm certain there's a special circle of hell reserved for the US/UK publishers who decide this is the way to publish translated crime series (i.e. out of series), but to expect anything less of them (like simply publishing the damn books in order) is obviously beyond the sensible, well-functioning, and of course enormously successful industry that is modern-day trade book publishing.)
(Interestingly too, better-known-for-his-translations-from-Scandinavian-languages Steven T. Murray translated it.)
I'm more curious about the stand-alone Swimming with Sharks, coming out in June from AmazonCrossing; pre-order your copy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
The Alter profile is also interesting for the stray bits of sales data on offer -- so, for example:
Last fall, Hyperion Books released The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, an international best seller by Swedish author Jonas Jonasson that sold four million copies in 34 countries. The U.S. print edition sold just 13,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan, while the digital edition sold more than 30,000 copies. "Publishing an unknown author who's not based here is a challenge," says SallyAnne McCartin, a Hyperion publicist.Note, however, that at Futurebook Philip Jones offers a glimpse of some UK numbers, in E-book sales data, the truth is out there -- including the UK sales for Jonasson's book: 175,531 copies sold in print, 145,000 as ebooks. Maybe it was the added 'of' in the way they wrote the title that convinced UK book-buyers ?
(I'm actually surprised by the relative success of this one: it is truly not a good book -- though the lack of US marketing probably didn't help any.)
Another example Alter offers:
In 2009, Minotaur published Therapy, a psychological thriller from German suspense writer Sebastian Fitzek. The novel had dominated the German best-seller lists, selling millions of copies, but sold fewer than 1,000 hardcover copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen. Ms. Rapp, who acquired the book, says she has no clue why the book failed. "I couldn't give it away," she says. "I honestly couldn't tell you why."Although reviewed in, for example, The Washington Post I can't even recall hearing about this title (and for all of Rapp's failed efforts to give it away, I also didn't ever see a copy).
Well, I hope to get my hands on both of the Neuhaus titles eventually, and judge for myself; I'll let you know what I think.