Sophie est en France!

It's that time of year again, when Sophie takes her annual trip to France.  This is her 5th trip and every time she goes I love France a little more. Why? Because I love the way the French love my Sophie. The French translations of my books now sell almost as many copies as the Sophie books that are published in the states in the English language they were originally written in.

Think about that for a moment.  There are over 307 million people in the US and there are only a little over 62 million people in France. So percentage wise, the support Sophie receives from French readers is almost 6 times as strong as the support Sophie receives from her American readers. 

The question of course is why. One reason may simply be that the French have fewer options. That's not to say there aren't as many wonderful books written in French as there are written in English. However the French have yet to fully embrace ebooks and there are no French audiobook versions of Sophie. In the states I am constantly competing with myself. My book sales will drop but my ebook sales and audio-book sales will rise and it is always a battle to get publishers to look at the whole picture. In France the picture is much narrower and precise. No equations are necessary in order to figure out if Sophie is maintaining and even building her popularity.

Then there's the French (or to be accurate, the French Canadian) art department. In America Sexe, Mensonges Et Petite Robe Noire   is Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress and as you can see, it's an entirely different cover...and it's boring. The little black dress on the bottom is absolutely dowdy (I pushed for a sexier version of that dress but every time they fiddle with it the results were worse). There's nothing dowdy about the French cover. It's girly but the sheer stockings dangling from the drawer, the necklace hanging out of the jewelry box and the bra hanging from the dress keep it from being too neat (and therefore making it more Sophie). It's hard to see from this picture, but in her bag Sophie has a fold up map of San Francisco and a little sleuth-like magnifying glass. It's adorable, flirty, chick-lity fun.  The American art department wanted to switch up the cover to make it look less chick-litish but the French aren't afraid of chick-lit and the art department figured that there's no need to pretend the book is more subdued than it is. 

But perhaps the most surprising part of Sophie's success is that it goes against common wisdom (or at least common wisdom in the US). There's a sense that the French don't want to read about "ethnic" characters or see them in their movies.  People will often point to Will Smith's box office struggles in Europe as proof of this. Hollywood's so paranoid about the supposed phenomenon that when Couples Retreat was released in Europe the studio's art department initially removed the black actors from the movie poster.

Sophie's both black and Jewish. Now if you look at the most recent French cover, Sophie doesn't look very black.  However, if you compare Sophie's skin tone on that cover to her skin tone on the cover of the US version of Obsession, Deceit and Really Dark Chocolate you can see that she's been tanning. Furthermore, if you compare Obsession, Deceit And Really Dark Chocolate to its French translation you can see that Sophie is always darker when she gets to France (maybe she's hanging out on the Riviera). Of the seven main recurring characters in the Sophie novels, three are black and four are Jewish. 

And the French continue to embrace the books. I'm not suggesting that there isn't racism or anti-Semitism  in France anymore than I'm suggesting that those things don't exist in America.  But I do think that the American perception of French prejudice might not be as accurate as we thought it was. My sense is that the prejudice that exists in France and Europe as a whole, may be based more on cultural differences than actual skin-color. I'm not an expert on this subject, I'm just throwing this out there. But at the very least we should be asking ourselves why Sophie was able to buck a perceived trend.

Because the jury is out in regards to how the French feel about Sophie. They love her.

And my French readers should know, she loves them right back.

Kyra Davis

Our Girl Sophie Has A Lot Going On Right Now

A lot of you have been asking me when the next Sophie book will be coming out.  I know I have been vague to say the least, never committing to anything beyond, "I'm working on it." 

And I am working on it but I have to put it aside for a few weeks so I can give my focus to writing, polishing and perfecting a pilot for an original TV series that is in development with Lifetime.  At the moment it looks like the show will simply be called "Sophie Katz." Or maybe just, "Sophie." Rod Lurie, creator and producer of Commander In Chief has signed on to executive produce should the series be picked up. Rod is also known for his movies The Contender (starring Gary Olson and Joan Allen), Nothing But the Truth (starring Matt Dillon) and The Last Castle (starring Robert Redford) and many others.  Oh and he WILL be known for his upcoming movie, Straw Dogs, starring the love of my life, Alexander Skarsgard. It was through Rod that I actually got to meet Skarsgard which was kinda cool (understatement).

The Sophie series will feature all the characters my readers have come to love but it will have very different storylines than the ones you've already read. And yes, of course Anatoly will be a major part of each and every story.

It's all incredibly exciting however we still have a long way to go before Sophie has the opportunity to stroll into America's living rooms. For one thing, Lifetime has to actually LIKE my pilot enough to film it.  Then they have to like what they've filmed enough to pick it up. Then the ratings have to be strong enough to keep it on the air.  Lots and lots of variables.  But it's a promising beginning.

Even if the show doesn't get picked up I must say that I'm enjoying the process of creating it a lot.

As for the book...the release date is somewhat contingent on how this whole thing plays out. I've been advised that I should coordinate the release with certain bench marks in the show's development and, if I'm extremely lucky, its premiere. That doesn't necessarily mean I'd wait for the premier of the series to release the book but I might wait until Lifetime launches their publicity campaign.  Keep in mind, this isn't a Lifetime movie or a mini-series but a regular ol' ongoing series. Currently Lifetime's only two original series on air are Army Wives and Drop Dead Diva. 

But that's going to change.

I'm also not 100% convinced that self-publishing isn't the way to go for me. I've had six books published through traditional channels and I do have a following, many of whom read ebooks. So then the question is, do I really need a publisher? New York Times bestselling author, Barry Eisler certainly doesn't think he needs one. He just turned down a $500,000 advance so he could self-publish through ebooks.  So as you can see, I have a lot to think about. I can promise you that the 6th Sophie book really and truly is in the works and regardless of whether or not things work out with the television show, I will be releasing it for public consumption in the not too distant future.   

For now, everybody keep your fingers crossed for me and, if you haven't already done it, sign your name on the petition to make a Sophie Katz TV series.  Can't hurt to let TPTB know that there's a demand for our girl ;-)

And no, this isn't an April Fools Joke :-P

--Kyra "Fashionista Fatale" Davis