Building Your Global Publishing Business: Keith Yatsuhashi of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Global Publishing Team on how publishers can successfully tap international revenue streams in book sales, translation and rights.

International sales are an excellent way for U.S. publishers to bolster their bottom lines. Yet, the process can be complicated and present challenges to companies large and small. What began as an ad-hoc working group in the U.S. Department of Commerce to assist publishers in accessing and working successfully with international markets has been transformed into the Global Publishing Team—experts across the United States and around the world dedicated to helping U.S. publishers thrive in international markets.

The Global Publishing Team assists publishers with market research, travel, copyright protection, partner matching, payment and shipping disputes—basically any of the headaches that can arise in an international publishing deal. Keith Yatsuhashi, deputy publishing team leader of the Global Publishing Team, will be presenting a session, "Global Opportunities: What Publishers Should Know About Selling Overseas," at the upcoming Publishing Business Conference & Expo in New York City, March 23-25. In this session, he will share market research and case studies, and outline necessary steps for those publishers interested in gaining or strengthening their foothold in international markets. Here, Yatsuhashi discusses some key points from his presentation with Book Business Extra.

Book Business Extra: Is now a good time for publishers to expand their business overseas?
Keith Yatsuhashi: The publishing industry has been experiencing flat sales for so long, and obviously the economic downturn isn't helping things, so [many] publishers have looked overseas as a way to help relieve slow sales at home. In the case of selling rights … it's really an effective way for [publishers] to increase their sales and increase the visibility of their books overseas. ... With selling books [overseas], there's that shipping cost involved and that is a real concern, especially for the smaller publishers that we work with, but the opportunities are still there, and there is a demand for U.S. content in a lot of markets overseas.