About Sparkabook

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Sparkabook?

Sparkabook is a global community for people interested in trading book rights – publishers, agents, scouts, TV & film producers, writers and other creative contributors.

What are book rights?

Anyone who writes a book (or creates art) automatically owns the copyright to their work under the Berne international convention. When a writer “sells” their book to a publisher, they are really granting "the right" to print and sell their work. It is possible for this first publisher to on-sell rights into different territories, languages or formats. If a writer has an agent, then this agent may take over the task of selling as many rights as possible around the world.

Why are rights important?

Rights income is very important for the sustainability of publishers and writers – it may only be 5-10% of a publisher's revenue, but can be 50% or more of publisher's income as well as the writer's income.

How can Sparkabook help me sell more rights?

If you are a publisher, agent, writer or illustrator and you are authorised to sell rights, you can list them for sale on the Sparkabook site. There are no listing fees – only success fees, because the reality is that most rights never sell. It is also very difficult to predict which titles a buyer may be interested in, so the best strategy is to list everything you have.

How can Sparkabook help me find rights?

You can browse the listings on Sparkabook and use the filters provided to screen out rights that are not available to you. It is also easy to sort listings by their latest Amazon sales rank or number of rights sold, which gives a useful indication of popularity. It is quick and easy for members who are validated publishers or agents to request review copies.

Why do I need Sparkabook?

Independent publishers and their authors are missing out. They usually make only a quarter of the income from rights sales compared with multi-national publishers. Without a dedicated rights sales team, it is difficult to devote the time needed for selling rights to foreign publishers and media buyers. Sparkabook helps everyone by making it easier to find rights partners around the world.

What if I already have an agent?

Everyone (publisher, writer, agent) benefits from a new sales lead, and existing arrangements between parties should not be affected. It is the listing member who pays the success fee – so your agent should be thrilled!

But we already have a rights sales team?

Experienced Rights Directors know that selling takes time – a lot of time! Sparkabook provides everyone with an easy way to organize collateral, track interest, deliver review copies, and update buyers and sellers with minimal time spent. With no up-front fees, why not try it out?

I am not technical is it hard to use?

Relax – if you can buy a book on Amazon or sell something on e-Bay then you have all the skills you need. We automate the listing creation process to save you time, and if you want to list many titles, we offer an upload service to make it even quicker.

How will Sparkabook promote my listings?

Sparkabook makes use of advertising media and subscriptions that are often too expensive for independent sellers. The more publishers and agents who join Sparkabook, the better off everyone is, because buyers need a good selection.

If I join the community – will I get spammed by other members?

Community members have control over their privacy settings, and members who offend against the community guidelines can be warned or disabled.

When do I have to pay a success fee?

If a member of the Sparkabook community requests a review copy of your title, you will get an email and you can contact them. If you sell rights for that title to that member, then you need to pay us the success fee, even if you have met or done business with the member previously. Keep in mind that our fees are a lot lower than a stand at a book fair!

Will you introduce new fees?

We commit that community membership and maintaining unlimited listings will always be free. We will continue to introduce optional fee based services, and we hope you will choose Sparkabook when you need a service that we offer.

OK sounds good – how can I get started?

Join for free here. You will get a verification email, and then you can browse listing details, create your own listings, or explore the community services.