• Hello, Iran!

    04 September 2019

    Iran has been a problem for me for many, many years.

     

    I've no political axe to grind, and absolutely nothing bad to say about Iranians in general.

     

    It's the publishers.

     

    I think almost all of my books have been published in Iran -- but they've all been published illegally. Despite what any of the Iranian publishers might say -- and some of them have lied blatantly when fans have questioned them about this matter, saying they have struck a deal with me, or that they were unable to contact my agent, or that I was looking for crazy money to sign over the rights -- they have stolen my work, published it without my authorisation, and paid me nothing. They have been literal (and literary) thieves and liars, which is why I was never able to officially recognise the various Iranian editions that have been released over the years, or feature them on my web site.

     

    Until now.

     

    Proving to my delight that leopards CAN change their spots, a couple of Iranian publishers engaged in a legitimate bidding war last year for the right to legally publish my Zom-B books. At the end of the day, a company called VIDA won the battle, and the first two books were released a while back. (Indeed, more may have come out since then -- I'm note certain.) I had to wait to make the offiical announcement, until the contracts have been exchanged and the first payment made, but now all that has happened, so at long, long last I am thrilled to be able give an Iranian publisher my official seal of approval and welcome Iran to the lengthy list of countries where my work has been published.

     

    This is the link to the Vida site: http://www.vidapub.com/

     

    And this is the page on my web site where I list every country where my books are offiicially available, along with cover images of all of my books that are on sale in each country: https://www.darrenshan.com/covers/

     

    Welcome to the team, Iran. I am truly ecstatic -- and relieved -- to finally have you all aboard! :-)

     

     

     

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  • Comments

    No AvatarAmin Abootalebi Yazdi
    05, Sep, 2019
    Hi,

    My name is Amin and I'm a linguist and a translator here in Iran. I found your works in our book festival (the original edition not any of the translations) and I was like wow! For me, it was like Artemis Fowl when I was 13 but absolutely better!

    But the problem is that I only found one! Not the whole series, only one of your books I found there and when I saw the list of books on goodreads I felt miserable because there was no way to buy them all.

    There's a chain bookstore in Iran called Book City. They're the only place we can find original books—in the middle-east Iranians are the biggest English speaker community so lots of people read original books.

    Now, is it all possible for you to have a contract with Book City and sell all your works through them? Because they buy tons of books from the US and bring them here, sure they'd be happy to find a direct channel with an author.

    Anyways, thanks for your post, and so sorry for all the bad feelings my people caused for you.

    Best wishes,
    Amin Abootalebi Yazdi
    No Avatardarren
    06, Sep, 2019
    Hi Amin,

    that's a supply issue, which isn't something I'm involved with. My UK (HarperCollins) and American (LittleBrown) publishers are happy to sell my books to any foreign booksellers who get in touch with them (the English editions are on sale in countries all over the world, especially the UK editions), so the book store would simply have to touch base with them.

    If you just want to complete the set for yourself, I'd recommend trying Lowplex, you ship worldwide and sell the sets at VERY low prices -- this is the link for the Saga, and they sell my other collections too. https://lowplex.com/index.php/default/cirque-du-freak-the-saga-of-darren-shan-collection-12-books-set.html

    Best wishes,

    Darren.
    No AvatarMilad Nekofar
    10, Sep, 2019
    Hi dear Daren,

    As far as I know, if you can get a lawyer inside Iran you can sue those who do not respect your legal rights.

    Best regards
    No AvatarNarjes Barzegar
    20, May, 2020
    Dear Darren,

    seeing your books that are publishing legally in Iran makes me so happy. I'm one of your fans since i was 12 and now i'm 23,you are one of my favorite writers. now my sister is a readers of your works. She loves them too. I just wanted to thank you for writing such books. I laughed, cried,frightened,got angry and felt any other emotions with these books.
    with all the best wishes for you.

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