I would be very interested in reading the best romance authors from France, Spain, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Holland, Denmark and other countries. These would have to be translated. I think this would make an interesting addition to the Harlequin family. Would anyone else be interested in such a line? Could they be translated cost-effectively? Would it be too expensive to acquire translation rights?
I just have a feeling that English speaking romance fans are missing out on a good part of the romance reading world. Lots of English romances get translated into other languages. How about a little reciprocity? What do you think?
Thanks,
Vince
“Romances are the emotional vitamins of the soul.” Vince
RE:INTERESTED
I know I would be. Being foreign-born and also having a sister that lives in Jordan I'm not so "Americanized" (don't get me started! hee...hee!) as not to enjoy stuff from other places in the world.
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Fascinated
I think that would be wonderful, Vince, depending on whom they chose to do the translation. Sometimes books lose a lot in translation, but still, it would be easier than trying to read the originals for most of us! It's always interesting to get insights into other cultures.
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Harlequin France publishes
Harlequin France publishes English authors in French. They don't accept submissions in French.
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I was hoping that when FF of Sadhbh came along
they'd be more verbose than FF just was. I'm not sure there IS a good romance industry outside of the English speaking world. As FF said, Harlequin only accepts English language manuscripts.
Penn
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Perhaps .....
this is a query that can be made directly to the Mills & Boon editors? ... they are responsible for the Harlequin Romance, Presents, Medical and Historical lines that have international readership
over on the "Write Stuff" forum there is a lovely thread in the "Q&A" folder to ask questions directly to the editors ... UK M&B Editors--Q&A Club ....
perhaps they can answer if there are any such books already available ... and if not, the reasons why not
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Is There a Romance Genre Outside the English Speaking World?
Hi All:
If we use the definition of a romance as: “a story in which the central focus is the falling in love between a man and a women which ends in a marriage or the expectation of a marriage in the near future”, then is there such a genre outside the English speaking world?
I have no idea. This is a question for our bilingual members. What about Canada? Surely Canada should have romances written in French. If there are no French written romances in Canada, that would be a very telling sign.
Thanks,
Vince
“Romances are the emotional vitamins of the soul.” Vince
UK M&B Editors--Q&A Club -- Wonderful Forum
Hi KaterineT:
I went to UK M&B Editors--Q&A Club and it is a great forum. I think I will greatly enjoy keeping up with the posts.
Thanks,
Vince
“Romances are the emotional vitamins of the soul.” Vince
Romances existed in France before Harlequin
They were published under the Delly name, my MIL has bookshelves
)
full - I've even read some when I was hard up for books to read (=
before Penni
Now
they'd be a bit dated, but I might be able to persuade her to part with
some if anyone's interested (though I hadn't really been planning a
visit to their summer house in the immediate future)
Hugs
Sadhbh
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Hi Vince .....
perhaps you'd enjoy taking an hour or two to check out the Forums ..... there are some really great discussions that you might find interesting
I think you might have missed Maureen Child's thread .... Ask me anything! ... I've found that thread to be very interesting .... I believe I've read that you have enjoyed her books
~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
Well, if we did the same definition
that Vaughn did for her Master's, we'd find romance books everywhere. I was thinking more along the lines of mass-marketed, genre-series kind of romance when I asked my question. And it was an honest question whose answer I don't know.
Don't make extra trips for us, Sadhbh. But we'll take any hand-me-downs next time you're trapped there. ;)
Penn
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and that was the kind of book to which I was referring
Penni
what my mother used to call "penni dreadfuls"
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Yes, there is a Romance Genre outside the English Speaking World
Here in Germany lots of publishers release romance novels by German authors. Even CORA who usually only publishes Harlequin/Mills&Boon translations has started buying German romance titles.
Very often German authors have to take on English pseudonyms to "fool" German book sellers and readers, who believ that only an English sounding author is a good romance author.
What are the reasons for buying German authors? German readers want different settings. Not just England and North America. German publishers can tell German authors what settings to use (France, Germany, Sweden...). And German readers also like different time periods. Highlanders are very popular, but so are vikings and pirates. And as there aren't that many vikings and pirates in US releases German publishers have to find them elsewhere. And the humor is different over here. The flipsides were very popular in translation and the series continues in Germany with German authors. :-)
I know that the Italian Harlequin/Mills&Boon has bought at least one historical from an Italian author. Scandinavia and the Netherlands have their own romance authors too.