Global Connections: An Interview with CA-LINK
CA-LINK International represents books in both China and Taiwan, delivering great titles in new languages, new markets, and for new audiences.
They do the heavy lifting to make sure that readers can enjoy books from English-language markets.
We are so excited to interview Tony Wang and Shan Quan from CA-LINK today, to learn more about their agency and the work that they do. They also took time to provide insights on titles that have been trending in China and Taiwan, as well as titles that readers can get excited about next!
With so many different publishers and titles that you represent, have you noticed any trending topics or genres that have been gaining interest in China and Taiwan?
We have seen self-help titles, stress management, parenting, and relationship titles trending up vs. pre-pandemic. After going through pandemic and lockdown, people realized how important it is to build closer relationships with their loved ones, and learn how to deal and go through difficult times.
Most recently, the Metaverse has become a big buzz word in publishing as well. We have sold more than a dozen titles about Metaverse and similar topics. People are eager to understand what the next mega trends will look like.
On the children's book side, STEM titles continue to gain strong momentum. Illustrated and fun-to-read popular science books and encyclopedia titles are also selling well.
What has been the most rewarding part of running CA-LINK and representing titles from around the world?
Good books carry knowledge and wisdom, so being part of the team really helps good books reach out to more readers.
We are especially proud to bring good children's books from around the world to kids and young readers in China and Taiwan, which lets young readers have more opportunities to explore different cultures, see the way people live: the things that people care about and value the most.
In China, people believe children and the young generation are the future of the nation. We feel fulfilled and rewarded by working in a job that helps the nation's future grow smarter, healthier, and share important common values with kids around the world.
Are there any upcoming titles or releases for the coming year that you both are excited about?
We recently licensed Steven Covey's latest book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Marriage, to Beijing Xiron Publishing. The Chinese edition will be released early next year. In this book, Steven shares his observations and personal experiences on how to build a strong marriage and happy family. Both Shan and I look forward to the release of Chinese editions.
How would you describe the team dynamic at your agency; what is the secret sauce to keep everything running smoothly at each of your locations?
Our team has been running with dual offices since the first year that we founded our agency, about 15 years ago. We have been working remotely with our Beijing team and our Xiamen team using shared work docs and shared workspace on a daily basis.
When the world was hit by the pandemic, many companies had to adjust their work mode to accommodate the new way of work remotely, but our team has been working remotely from three different office locations for many years. That's just our daily routine.
How does Sherlock, DropCap’s software that creates customized Agent and Editor Dashboards, help your team pitching and selling titles in China?
The Sherlock platform definitely helped our staff to better understand each client's title interests. Our editor clients can automatically receive relevant new titles with information that matches the interests that they customized in their dashboard. The platform allows our editors to save and download materials on their own for review, and it also improves our team's agenting work and productivity to identify authentic leads and close more deals in a shorter amount of time.
And as a final fun question: can you pick just one title that has been your favorite from the past year?
Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts
One of Shan's top picks is Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts from Familius. It shares tips with new moms on how to deal with the stress and panic when having their first baby. Shan had similar experiences with his first son, Ian, and thinks this little book can help new moms understand and better prepare for the challenges and difficulties during motherhood.
Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts was recently licensed by the CA-LINK Agency team in China (Chinese Simplified) to Guangxi Science & Technology Publishing House.