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Bantam Dell Launches Rights Listing Online
Calvin Reid -- 5/15/00

Although a number of competing private ventures have launched recently offering online information on available rights, Bantam Dell is probably the first large book publisher to launch a Web site listing rights available on its selected backlist and on forthcoming BD titles.

The site is at www.bantamdellsubrights.com. Amanda Mecke, v-p and director of subsidiary rights at the BD group, told PW the site will provide information on "conventional" foreign and domestic print rights controlled by BD. The site will also point rights buyers to the controlling agents. Mecke explained that the BD subrights department lists titles that have a foreign audience or that have large Internet sales. "It's a great marketing tool. We know which titles have the most interest internationally," said Mecke, "and the foreign publishers have been very interested. It's great for new publishers or for publishers that don't get to the U.S. or Frankfurt." The site also links to information about individual titles on the Random House Web site.

The site lists popular international genres, such as romance, self-help, New Age and the books of Louis L'Amour. The process provides one-stop shopping and bidding for foreign publishers. First they find the authors they are interested in, then they find what rights are available, peruse the book's description from randomhouse.com and find the BD subagent for their language. After that, the editor can e-mail an offer that also notifies the BD director of foreign rights, Sharon Swados in New York.

Mecke told PW that although BD has its own rights listing, it also uses Rightscenter.com and Subrights.com, two recently launched sites that offer an online marketplace for buying and selling rights. "We list selected romance titles on both of them," she went on. "The more places to market our titles, the better."
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