Simone Sinna's Blog - Posts Tagged "therosie-project"
International Book Sales - though not mine
Okay it’s now official. I’ve made mention of a general state of amazement, hinted at my husband’s runaway success but now the press release has happened I can relate the last two amazing weeks.
First of all this was his first novel, The Rosie Project, written in 7 weeks. Actually this is unfair, because he had been working on the screenplay for five years and had the plot and characters at the tip of his fingers. We had a lot of fun talking them over, getting the right words for the heroine from our younger (thus cooler) daughter, and Graeme can do his hero word-perfect. Of course, he wrote him into existence…but it is weird having his publisher(s) speak about the character as though Don Tillman is real and someone separate!
Next Graeme whips the manuscript into the Premier’s prize competition after I had told him I wasn’t sure it read like a real book…. It is after all, very different to anything I’ve ever read. I was biased and the real person who inspired the character was in my head. Who knew what anyone else would make of this oddball (given I like my heroes to be more traditional).
Then he wins the prize and several publishers are suddenly desperate for it. Not one rejection slip in the drawer. He has a publisher, a deal for more books and we head off overseas to do a 16 day Coast to Coast walk in England. We knew the book was going to go to the Frankfurt book fair (not something I had ever heard about, but in the trade this is where the book deals for overseas rights are done). But that wasn’t until October.
Except that the scouts were out to snap up things prior to the book fair. Next thing I know, Graeme is on Skype and the phone in the midst of a bidding frenzy! It was incredible, as Don the hero would say. This is what the publisher was saying: a ‘once in a lifetime experience’ which will make the follow up novel a challenge! I’m up to my knees in mud and being blown off a peak in the Lake District and he’s on the phone hearing that the German bid has been trumped by an even larger one.
Don is a socially challenged genetics professor who sets out to find a wife –scientifically. He’s funny, and the book is a laugh out loud love story with a romp around science as he tries to find out who Rosie, the most unsuitable applicant’s, biological father is. I have 140,000 words of a novel I never finished with a similar subplot that I abandoned because it wasn’t working- well believe me, it works here!
Graeme got fabulous love letters from publishers desperate to have THE ROSIE PROJECT. They loved Don, opened their correspondence with his traditional ‘Greetings!’ ….and threw money at it. More than a million dollars later, it will be translated into everything from Icelandic to Hebrew (eleven currently but there are apparently plenty more still coming). And he hasn’t sold a single copy yet!
What’s the coolest thing? All the airports we might see it in, in languages we don’t understand, the thought that people all over the world might laugh and love Don and be inspired by his quest, just as I was even when I wasn’t sure if it read like a real book or not. Envy? No, I feel part of it and am so happy for him. But then I’m still gobsmacked! For everyone who reads it next year when it comes out, because this is the ultimate feel-good novel. Enjoy!
Out on Australia February 2012 with Text Publishers:
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
First of all this was his first novel, The Rosie Project, written in 7 weeks. Actually this is unfair, because he had been working on the screenplay for five years and had the plot and characters at the tip of his fingers. We had a lot of fun talking them over, getting the right words for the heroine from our younger (thus cooler) daughter, and Graeme can do his hero word-perfect. Of course, he wrote him into existence…but it is weird having his publisher(s) speak about the character as though Don Tillman is real and someone separate!
Next Graeme whips the manuscript into the Premier’s prize competition after I had told him I wasn’t sure it read like a real book…. It is after all, very different to anything I’ve ever read. I was biased and the real person who inspired the character was in my head. Who knew what anyone else would make of this oddball (given I like my heroes to be more traditional).
Then he wins the prize and several publishers are suddenly desperate for it. Not one rejection slip in the drawer. He has a publisher, a deal for more books and we head off overseas to do a 16 day Coast to Coast walk in England. We knew the book was going to go to the Frankfurt book fair (not something I had ever heard about, but in the trade this is where the book deals for overseas rights are done). But that wasn’t until October.
Except that the scouts were out to snap up things prior to the book fair. Next thing I know, Graeme is on Skype and the phone in the midst of a bidding frenzy! It was incredible, as Don the hero would say. This is what the publisher was saying: a ‘once in a lifetime experience’ which will make the follow up novel a challenge! I’m up to my knees in mud and being blown off a peak in the Lake District and he’s on the phone hearing that the German bid has been trumped by an even larger one.
Don is a socially challenged genetics professor who sets out to find a wife –scientifically. He’s funny, and the book is a laugh out loud love story with a romp around science as he tries to find out who Rosie, the most unsuitable applicant’s, biological father is. I have 140,000 words of a novel I never finished with a similar subplot that I abandoned because it wasn’t working- well believe me, it works here!
Graeme got fabulous love letters from publishers desperate to have THE ROSIE PROJECT. They loved Don, opened their correspondence with his traditional ‘Greetings!’ ….and threw money at it. More than a million dollars later, it will be translated into everything from Icelandic to Hebrew (eleven currently but there are apparently plenty more still coming). And he hasn’t sold a single copy yet!
What’s the coolest thing? All the airports we might see it in, in languages we don’t understand, the thought that people all over the world might laugh and love Don and be inspired by his quest, just as I was even when I wasn’t sure if it read like a real book or not. Envy? No, I feel part of it and am so happy for him. But then I’m still gobsmacked! For everyone who reads it next year when it comes out, because this is the ultimate feel-good novel. Enjoy!
Out on Australia February 2012 with Text Publishers:
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
