Let us introduce you to Samar Hammam
Translation agent, of Rocking Chair Books
Good afternoon My Agent Secret follower.
Today we’re introducing you to Samar Hammam, who––if you join our agency––will work hard to sell the French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic or Brazilian translation rights to your book.
🚨ACTION POINT AT THE END🚨
Hello, Samar here.
You might not know much about translation rights but it’s a powerful and often overlooked part of an author’s career.
I’ve been selling translation rights for books written in English since 2008 when I took charge of the translation department at Toby Eady Associates.
Seven years later, I started my own agency Rocking Chair Books literary and began working with Ivan and Sallyanne at Mulcahy Sweeney Literary Agency to sell their Western European and Scandinavian rights––these are all the biggest markets after the US and UK. Other markets like Eastern Europe or Asia tend to be more specialised and require agents on the ground.
For many authors a translation deal feels like an unexpected gift—like waking up to find extra presents under the tree
What do I actually do?
I spend a lot of time looking for publishers in my dedicated territories who will buy and adapt your book into their language—turning your words into potential French bestsellers, German gems, or Spanish hits. Each translation is a fully dedicated edition with its own bespoke cover design and localised marketing campaign.
For many authors a translation deal feels like an unexpected gift—like waking up to find extra presents under the tree. Their book, originally and primarily written for a home audience, gets a new income stream and a second life in a different language.
Not everything travels of course.
English history? Tough sell.
Specialist non-fiction or wellness titles? They often have local experts dominating the market.
Fiction? It all depends on trends, competition, and whether a story can resonate in another language. Some books glide into other languages effortlessly––others need a heavy lifting.
Foreign publishers chase obvious hits; the auction books, the buzzy titles dripping with fomo––these deals practically sell themselves. But they are the exceptions. Most books need a bit more help to travel.
A successful book deal can come from anywhere: a chance meeting in the coffee line at a book fair, or a seven-year courtship of an editor who loved an author’s debut but needed time to make it work (and they did with the author’s second novel––the royalty statement for that battle sits beside me now, glowing. It’s outsold UK sales by a long way.)
Sometimes—rarely, wonderfully—a book explodes abroad in ways no one predicted.
Years ago I sold a book on Confucius that sold 3,000 copies in the UK… and 250,000 in France.
Who saw that coming? Not me. Not the publisher. And certainly not the author who was happy just to see their book on the shelf at home.
This isn’t a job for the faint-hearted.
The advances are smaller than in English language markets. It’s a grind of modest deals, constant rejections, and unglamorous legwork. Often it won't work out. You need to know dozens of editors in every market, track who’s moving where, juggle endless admin, and—most crucially—stay motivated when it feels like nothing is landing.
Right now the landscape is shifting. Reader habits are changing. AI looms...
But one thing that hasn’t changed for me is the thrill of finding an unexpected home for a book. The cavernous (ugh, fine) gap between what seems possible and what actually happens.
Selling translation rights isn’t just about the easy wins––though I love those ones dearly. For me, there’s a special place for those translation deals which seem to come out of nowhere but were built on years of quiet determination.
Samar
P.S. My word ick is wet. (Shudder.)
🚨ACTION POINT🚨
If your book could be translated into one language, what would it be and why?
(We’re curious to see if there are any other reasons beyond an excuse to travel to one of your favourite countries...)
Thank you Samar.
Our best,
A thought provoking question for which I am struggling to pin down a single answer. My novel THE SQUIRREL HUNTER (which I am currently redrafting and will almost certainly retitle) is based on a universal theme, essentially an extension of Khayyam's moving finger writes, which poses the question "What if you wrote the story of your life before you were old enough to read it?".
Is there anyone anywhere who wouldn't want to know the answer?
We work extensively with translated works☺️ only some marketing hints for authors from our experience. Eastern philosophy sells quite well in France and… Germany (no surprise here), not so much in Italy and Spain. YA and Fantasy perform very well in Spanish, then the market of Spanish work is way bigger than just Spain.