Wait… what?!
So the Complex Chinese translation of The Warded Man went on sale in Hong Kong and Taiwan earlier this year, and has done unexpectedly well, making several bestseller lists for translated fiction.
I say unexpectedly, because honestly, I did not know what to expect. Each country the book comes out in is wholly new territory to me, and even my agency only has limited track records for many countries, often with conflicting results. In some countries the books do really well. Amazingly well. Other countries, not so much. Why? I dunno. And sometimes there’s just no way to know one way or the other, because some markets don’t have a reliable system of tracking book sales.
But the news from Taiwan has been amazing. They are already translating The Desert Spear, and will have it out by Christmas. As part of the promotion, they sent me an interview to be posted online. I just started working on it, and came upon the following question:
10. Female high school students in Taiwan enjoy “The Warded Man” very much, they adore Arlen, hoping they could be as independent as Leesha, and the maternal love of Rojer’s mother touched them. Male students share Arlen’s struggle to grow up. What’s you opinion on this phenomenon?
Well, obviously it’s because… Wait, what? “Female high school students in Taiwan enjoy The Warded Man very much”? Seriously?
The fact that my work has reached so many people, across language, age group, culture, race, gender and geography is just… mind boggling. And there’s good news on a lot of fronts.
Did you know The Painted Man was named ont of the 50 Books You Can’t Put Down by Australia’s national library system? They are using the book as part of their annual Get Reading! campaign.
I am even in the Australian iPad commercials. (Watch the “Now” commercial. I come in at 19seconds!)
The book just launched in from Epsilon in Turkey, where my publisher is offering the first 20 translated pages of the book free online. I am working on a Turkish interview, as well.
The Great Bazaar, as I’ve mentioned has just come out in Poland, with incredible interior art, as always, by Dominik Broniek. Just finished doing an interview for a Polish SF magazine.
And on the homefront, there are awesome YouTube Reviews from Sami J and Sarah Nicholas:
I also still have to post all the video from my trip to Epinal, France, and some of the ongoing awesomeness in Germany, Spain, Portugal, and the Czech Republic. It’s literally coming in faster than I can process it.
Truly we live in a golden age.
You deserve it!
YES, YOU DO!
I’m not at all surprised that your audience is so diverse. It’s a testament to the quality of the writing and the appeal of the story for many *many* people.
It seems you are the only one surprised 😛 Enjoy it – you really do deserve it after the work you have obviously put into your books.
Language clearly isn’t a barrier for pure genius 🙂
Well-deserved congratulations Mister Peat!
Unputdownable without question! With the level of art you put into your writing, it can’t help but strike a chord, but that sure is an interesting demographic, heh. Soon we’ll have a ton of Leesha’s on our hands, and no idea what t’do with them.
“Language clearly isn’t a barrier for pure genius” Bang on, Liz – Bang. On.