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Amazon’s London publishing arm has bought multiple rights to a historical thriller at a four-way auction. The deal shows Amazon remains focused on building its publishing business in the UK, despite struggling in the US.
Emilie Marneur, senior acquisitions editor at Amazon Publishing, bought world English language and German language rights to The Thief Taker by Cath Quinn through Sheil Land Associates agent Piers Blofeld for a five figure sum.
Blofeld confirmed to The Bookseller that Amazon "paid a significant advance, competing with three other major publishers – one in the UK and two in the US," noting that Amazon had offered "decidedly more generous digital royalty rates than traditional publishers." He added: “The German rights were the subject of much conversation, Amazon Publishing was very keen to have German rights, I assume they see Germany as a key area of growth."
The Thief Taker is a historical thriller set in 1665, the year of the Black Death in London, where “witches sell potions, gamesters turn cards and alchemists conjure wonders.” The title has been described as having a “superbly sustained” narrative pace where London is “brilliantly evoked.” Quinn is a previously self-published writer who sold 150,000 books in the US and the UK in the last year.
Blofeld said his impression was Amazon was looking for people who had a track record of self-published success. He added that it was a "very tough decision" for Quinn to publish through Amazon in part because the company was "clear its focus was on the Amazon ecosystem" as opposed to other bricks and mortar booksellers.
"That was what was so difficult about it. The book could have had greater success with a traditional publisher but there were fewer risks with Amazon," he said. "Quinn is a young author starting her career and in two or three books time she will write that big book which will break her out into the true mass market."
He said Amazon would get behind Quinn, “helping her take the next step to becoming an international brand author.”
The Thief Taker will be published by Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer mystery and thriller imprint in the autumn.
In September last year Amazon publishing imprint Thomas & Mercer acquired two psychological thrillers by Mark Edwards, through agent Sam Copeland of Rogers, Coleridge and White.