The novel by Marceau Miller signed by the mysterious Marceau Miller and whose publication is scheduled for January 17 by Éditions de La Martinière is creating a sensation among those responsible for rights, both in France for the pocket format and abroad where auctions are soaring in several countries. A phenomenon that has become rare for foreign fiction.
Six-figure auctions in Italy?
After being pre-empted in Spain, acquired at auction in the Netherlands and while it is under offer in Germany, the sale could reach six figures in Italy this Thursday evening, according to our information, while auctions open for rights in hand in France. “ An unexpected success in these proportions », recognizes the editor Marie Leroy. How can we explain this sudden enthusiasm for the title of an unknown author?
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It all starts in mid-October, during the last Frankfurt International Book Fair. Marleen SeeghersLa Martinière's exclusive agent for literature for almost 10 years, then presents the forty pages that she had in her possession a week before. “ While there were no big headlines before the Fair as often happens, I felt a thirst for good fiction stories there, where Japanese and Korean feelgood had great success », explains the founder of 2 seas Agency.
Despite the few elements in the agent's possession, the interest of his interlocutors, particularly Italians, appeals to him. “ In Frankfurt, everyone talks to each otherconfides the one who lives in California. And when it starts to buzz, it can go very far ».
After two refusals of pre-emption on the part of La Martinière, it was from the following week, with the manuscript in its entirety, that the title gleaned its first transfers. “ In this market which has become very cautious, it is very rare to sell fiction before publication. », explains with some surprise the former rights manager at Stock, who was personally “ intrigued by this text with good suspense ».
A very mysterious author…
Ce page turner takes the reader around Lake Geneva, after the death of a novelist who leaves his last manuscript revealing the lies that built his life. “ It's a crude parody of a bad Joël Dickercomments a scout. But the pitch seems to take “, he notes, assuming that interest is also linked to ” mystery » around the author, the soon-to-be famous Marceau Miller.
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« He is a screenwriter, particularly for television, who has already written novels under another name, but this is the first that we are publishing”reveals Marie Leroy who bought the rights from an agent at the beginning of 2023 and has been working on the text with the novelist since then. “ We really want to have the best editors to build the author in length “, she confides, explaining that “ the fascination around the identity of the writer works in our favor without us wanting it ».
A craze also among booksellers
Happy with this beautiful story even before the publication of the work, she assures “ that a sequel is already planned “, while the preparation for publication in France ” rose from 6,000 to more than 10,000 » copies even before the announcement to representatives of the enthusiasm of international and pocket publishers, welcomes Séverin Cassangeneral director of La Martinière, who announces a first print run of 15,000 copies. Enough to launch his house in 2025, the year of the tenth anniversary of his literature collection.
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