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How To Self-Publish An Out Of Print Book In Translation Part 1: Why All Book Authors And Translators Should Care About It

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Extra income potential without writing and translating a book from scratch

Who would not want a bit of extra cash? A lot of authors are retrieving their copyrights of out of print books these days. Up to now, however, these have only been original books, but it can be done with translations as well and I am currently in the process of self-publishing an out of print book as a translator.

Now you might ask yourself, why should I bother if I do not yet have a book in translation? Especially as a successful English language author you could be offered a translation contract by a foreign book publisher out of the blue. And in your excitement you may overlook the fineprint.

Or you might  have tried to get a contract with a foreign publisher for a while and all of a sudden it is finally happening and you are so keen on it that you gladly accept any terms and conditions they offer.

I believe it is important to know your rights from the start to be prepared and make the most of any books you have out there – or to make the most of your translation skills as a translator.

Books in translation can easily go out of print

I said it before and I am saying it again: authors are nowadays expected to do quite a bit of marketing themselves and this is rarely possible for books in translation if the author doesn’t speak the other language.

Foreign publishers will therefore usually do a special promotion for translated books in the beginning, but they cannot keep this up. I saw it myself in Germany when books that I translated were offered in large quantities for a very short time and then they vanished from the shops as fast as they had turned up.

If the author does not have a big name, this can lead to a book being “lost in translation” rather quickly.

Out of print can mean different things, however, depending on the clauses in the contract, and in the age of ebooks and print on demand a publisher could theoretically hold on to the rights forever, even if the book does not sell any copies at all. Would you not rather earn royalties instead?

Author and translator need each other…

In order to self-publish an out of print book, nobody can do it on their own but a translator needs to come to an agreement with the author and vice versa.

In general, translators need to do more than they are used to, above all marketing, at least unless the author is able to speak the language as well, which would be even better. On the other hand, more involvement of the normally invisible translator can also lead to a feeling of emporwerment for them. It has certainly felt like that for me. And who apart from the author knows a book that well and can decide whether it might be worthwhile to give it a try?

Most translators that I know are not even used to earning any royalties at all and this can be a totally new experience.

The German translation is now available at a special price for a short time only, e.g. via this link:

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I couldn’t resist using the following Star Trek analogy, especially because I translated so many Star Trek film subtitles in the past…

…to boldly go where no-one has gone before…

It is actually true: I did something new, I couldn’t find any role models for this project, despite extensive research and talking to a many people in the book industry and had to figure everything out by trial and error and. Although it was a lengthy procedure, I was determined to see it through .

Now I am happy to say I am self-publishing the out of print novel “Knowing Sophie – Die Unbekannte” by Brenda Little after coming to an agreement with the original right holders.

I have now learned more about the rights of translators and authors – or in my case the author’s heirs.

Most people and organisations that I asked for advice were encouraging and helpful, but a few experts told me I had to follow certain procedures, which according to them were essential, but they didn’t lead anywhere.

Next time I am going to tell you in detail what worked and what didn’t so that you do not have to repeat my mistakes and also what to pay attention to before signing a contract with a foreign publisher.

 

And if you fancy some inspiration to boldly go into new territory, I have a Star Trek music parody for you.
Warning: Only click on it if you are up for a little silliness 😉

 

 

 Read part 2 of this article: How to self-publish a book in translation – copyright issues

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Celebrating International Translation Day at the British Library 2015: Talking about Self-Publishing as A Panelist

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Last Friday I attended a big event at the British Library to celebrate International Translation Day. It was an inspiring day and I was on the panel of one of the sessions to speak about self-publishing as a translator.

This session was chaired by Stefan Tobler who spoke about starting out more or less as a self-publisher, but then starting his own publishing house with translated literature as a labour of love. He recently published “Southeaster”, a book that was first self-published by the translator and I wrote about this earlier in another blog post.

The other speaker was Rachel Ward, a translator who has worked with self-published authors herself and she mentioned her mostly enjoyable experience. Only a recent experience wasn’t so positive, because the rules how to work together had not been clear enough. And she talked about a problem that is generally not uncommon for those who translate into English: The author had a certain knowledge of English and wanted to interfere a lot to make his or her voice heard.

I personally have never had this problem, because I translate into German and none of the authors I worked with spoke my language. My problem is a different one: the rates for translations into a language other than English are usually low and I live in London, which is an expensive place, therefore I wasn’t able to continue working for German publishing houses when I moved here and I have been looking for new models to make a living.

At some point, I found out that translators have the right to self-publish a book if they hold the translation copyright, and if they do not hold it, they can get it back from the publishing house that published the translation. In addition, they need permission of the original copyright holder. (See another of my articles re. the procedures).

Then I mentioned the platform Babelcube, where self-published authors and translators can find each other to work together. Even though I like the idea, I am not happy about the fact that translators receive fewer royalties when a book becomes more successful. Therefore I would not work with them myself and only recommend the platform for beginners who are desperate to get some experience.

Apart from Amazon, which the majority of self-publishers are using to self-publish a book, there are other platforms like Smashwords which make sure an ebook is published in various other ebook stores. Neither Amazon nor Smashwords require you to pay anything upfront – they simply take a percentage of the royalties.

And someone in the audience asked whether it can hurt a translator and make them look less professional if they do self-published books. To this I replied, not in my experience, I even received an offer from a German publisher who liked my self-published translation, without applying for it and I had to refuse because I cannot affort to work for their rates. My advice is as followos: make sure the result looks professional and it doesn’t matter whether a book is self-published or not. I have even seen quite a few self-published books that looked more professional than certain traditionally published ones!

The way I got into self-publishing myself was through the cooperation with self-published British author and blogger Joanna Penn on a split-royalty basis, because I knew I could learn a lot about the process by doing this and here is a link to an interview she did with me regarding my work.

On the whole, I see a variety of potential ways how translators can earn an income these days:

  • Being paid by a publishing house or self-published author, for example per 1,000 words (the traditional model);
  • receiving a certain flat fee for a translation plus royalties;
  • working on a split-royalty basis;
  • using copyrights of out of print books;
  • especially for English native speakers: finding books that you think are worthwhile to be translated and help to get more books translated into English, not just by pitching to publishing houses, but also by self-publishing;
  • and last but not least: why not write your own books as well and even have them translated by colleagues who translate the other way round or with different language combinations? Whatever your plans and preferences look like: the power of networking can help you in every respect.

I have often heard self-published authors say they needed more than one book to make serious money and I think this can work for translators as well with a mixture of different models, as marketing one book can help to make others visible as well – the more you have out there, the better.

And I would love to see more translators as authors – I am sure, many have books in them – translation is a great preparation for writing after all.

But authors could also be translators, if they have a certain standard of language skills. I am sure some authors would be capable of doing this – provided they have a good edtitor – this would make sure they keep more of their own voice and they do not have to annoy translators by trying to interfere too much.

 

You can read more about the event on my fellow panelist Rachel’s blog here

 

And see also my related article: 5 Reasons Why Self-Publishing Could Help To Get More Books Translated Into English

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It’s International Translation Day Today

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International Translation Day 2015-Poster-1-Finland-SKTL scaled down etwas groesserDid you know that translators have a patron saint?

Each year on 30 September, it’s International Translation Day, and a normally rather invisible industry becomes a bit more visible. There is a reason for this very date, as St Jerome, bible translator and patron saint of translators, who translated the bible from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek into Latin, died on 30 September AD 420. And in case you are wondering about the name: in some other languages, for example in German, Jerome is known as “Hieronymus”.

The importance of translations in an increasingly global world

The world has changed quite a bit since good old Jerome’s time and nowadays a lot more gets translated – we find translations in literally all aspects of our lives and rely on them. Nobody can speak every language! Yes, English is considered the lingua franca of the world, but the majority of the earth population do not have it as their first language and many cannot communicate in English at all.

The changing face of the industry

Within the translation industry, it is often talked about its changing face and this is above all due to the internet with so much more information at translators’ fingertips than in the past. Doing research has certainly become a lot easier.

And then there is CAT, “computer aided translation”, with special software that makes repetitive translation faster – and it works for certain types of texts. The so called translation memories, however, that come with these software programmes, are not extremely useful for book translations, especially not for fiction and the more creative kind of translations will probably never be entirely done by machines.

The role of translators can change even more

As those of you who have read my blogposts in the past already know, I believe that even more change can and should take place in the publishing world, and that is the translator as self-publisher or at least as someone who takes on a more active role than the one we are used to, i.e. dealing with the translation process only, and that’s it.

Translators have certain insights into books that others often do not seem to have. I remember looking at more than one cover of traditionally published books that I translated and thinking it had nothing to do with its content. Once the cover ended up being an ugly old shed which wasn’t mentioned in the book at all. I am not talking about a small publishing house here, but a really big one.

And then the title – a publisher I once worked with chose a title that was in German, “a lake in moonlight” or something along these lines – and there was nothing remotely like that in the whole book either. I questioned this and asked my editor why they wanted this title. The answer was: “It will sell well.” This particular publishing company went bust later, by the way, which might or might not have been a coincidence… Don’t get me wrong, there are many other publishing houses that are doing a great job, especially the smaller ones tend to be very committed to the actual books in my experience, but not everyone is like that.

When things like the examples mentioned above happened to me in the past, I sometimes doubted my own sanity. Did I miss anything? This must certainly be the explanation, I am just a little translator after all, right? Or is it just my personal preference to expect the book cover and title to be at least vaguely about the actual content? Please tell me, if you disagree.

I dare to claim that a translator could have done a better job in these examples, because hardly anyone – apart from the author of course – knows a book extremely well. And translators can also play a vital role in other respects: discovering books that deserve to be translated, but will otherwise not be picked up due to the language barrier, especially into English. So why should translators not self-publish, just like an increasing number of authors?

My own transition from translator to author to self-publisher

I have always talked about more potential flexibility when it comes to the roles of author, translator and self-publisher, and I will start shaking up the roles for myself soon – more about this later.

But for now: happy Translation Day, do whatever makes you happy – I wish you great success!

 

If you happen to speak German, you may also like to read another article with a different angle for International Translation Day on my blog “London und mehr”.

 

Related article: Retrieving Translation Copyrights – Important for Both Authors and Translators

And see me talking about International Self-Publishing at the Internation Translation Day Event on Friday 2 October at the British Library.

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The Power of Networking

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Some incredible figures

When it comes to work-related recommendations, nothing beats personal contacts. Yes, it is good to make connections online, but in my experience, personal meetings are even more effective. I first learned about this many years ago, when I attended a talk by Sabine Asgodom, who is a well known  book author and coach in Germany. She presented the audience with these figures:

So what are you waiting for?

In the beginning, I could hardly believe it, but the more I got into networking myself, the more I actually understood that this was not exaggerated. Of course, the 10 % achievements are still vital, but never underestimate the power of networking.

When I think of all the contacts I have made over the years, the opportunities that have come up and frelance jobs that I was able to do just because someone recommended me for something, I can definitely confirm these figures from my own experience.

Is it ethical?

Sometimes I meet people who have moral doubts about networking, they apologize for taking opportunities through contacts and believe they should have achieved everything in a “better” way. Don’t feel guilty, this is how most opportunities come up for everyone else as well, you were just not aware of it.

Those who have doubts are usually thinking of some kind of corruption and taking advantage of others, but this is not networking.

A book with networking advice

[easyazon_image align=”left” height=”160″ identifier=”1780224729″ locale=”UK” src=”http://internationalselfpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/41TORGLhsL.SL1601.jpg” tag=”internaselfpu-21″ width=”108″] Now let’s talk about how to proceed when you are approaching someone you would like to network with. I would definitely think first what you have to give them and only afterwards what they may have to give you.

The book [easyazon_link identifier=”1780224729″ locale=”UK” tag=”internaselfpu-21″]Give and Take[/easyazon_link] gives valuable information and networking advice. And author Adam Grant is also providing a strategy to make sure others are not walking all over you after you have been generous first.

Useful organizations for authors and translators

Joining relevant organizations can make networking easier and I have tried out a numer of them. I am a member of the Society of Authors in the UK, because I find their legal advice and networking opportunities are just what I need – and they give legal advice to both translators and authors.

You can nowadays even join as a self-published author, if you have sold a certain number of books – just check out their eligibility criteria. And they have a network for emerging translators as well.

As a self-published author or someone who would like to beome one, you might also like to join the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Male and female networks

Networks have a long tradition and in the past they were often known as “old boys” networks, which excluded women and therefore women founded their own networks, for example Women in Publishing or Women in Journalism in the UK. A while ago, a man said to me: “It’s not fair, I want a network like this for men as well.” My answer was easy: nobody prevents you from setting up your own “new boys” network. 😉

You can argue whether female networks are still necessary today – theoretically women and men should now be equal, at least where I live. Conditions have definitely improved for women, but we are not quite there yet.

I believe we still need women only organizations, especially with the current influx of refugees in Europe. Although I am very much in favour of supporting refugees, I feel strongly about not going backwards, as they are usually from countries where females have far fewer rights than in our part of the world. In my opinion, women’s organizations can make a positive impact.

 

Related article on a female network: Happy Birthday, Buecherfrauen!

 

 

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Haroldo Conti’s “Southeaster”: Talk with Translator and Self-Publisher Jon Lindsay Miles

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A few days ago, I attended an event at the Free Word Centre here in London with Jon Lindsay Miles as the translator and self-publisher of  “Sudeste”, a book that was originally published in Spanish. He talked to senior editor Sophie Lewis of And Other Stories, the publishing house that has now picked up this book.

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Everything started, when Jon Lindsay Miles discovered the long forgotten Argentinean book at his local library in the South of Spain. He was immediately gripped and wanted to translate it into English. But first he needed permission from the author’s heirs and travelled to Argentina to meet them in person. They were happy to grant him the right to translate and self-publish “Sudeste” – even though Haroldo Conti is well-known in Argentina, none of his books had ever been translated into English.

Conti was one of the people who disappeared in Argentina without a trace in 1976 after the military coup and was then probably murdered. The translator, however, stressed that he was not focussing on this fact, but on the book’s content and on the way he himself as a reader interpreted it.

In the story, atmosphere is important, the bleakness of the environment including a river and the reclusion of the protagonist. When Jon read part of the book, you could really tell how passionate he was about it. And when he spoke about his own life in a remote area in Spain, I couldn’t help thinking there might be some parallels between him and the main character.

In order to self-publish “Southeaster”, Jon even set up a little publishing house called Immigrant Press. At first, he did everything on his own, but now that the book was taken on by UK publishers And Other Stories, the new edition was going to involve an additional editing process. Editor Sophie Lewis confessed they had been a bit worried how Jon would react to any changes made to his work. But there was no need: the translator had no problem with it.

 

It was great to see how dedicated everyone involved is to “Southeaster”. Of course first of all the translator, because without him the book would never have been published in English. But then there are also the lovely people of And Other Stories, who can now help to find more readers for the book. And I met more interesting people at The Free Word Centre. This place is really, in their own words: a unique “international centre for literature, literacy and free expression in the world”.

 

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Retrieving Translation Copyrights: Important For Both Authors And Translators

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Some authors are now retrieving their copyrights of out of print books and become self-publishers. But what happens to book translations that are no longer in print?

The current situation

If you are an author, you may feel lucky if a foreign publisher is publishing your book in translation. And for me as a translator for German publishing houses, it was always a great feeling once a new book that I had translated came out and I could see piles of them in many bookshops. Most of the time, however, these books disappeared as quickly as they turned up.

Translations are a lot more popular elsewhere than in English-speaking countries, and publishers often like to take on successful foreign books for translation. A book that is already successful as an original minimizes the risk and there is sometimes a big marketing push when the translation first comes out. But bookshops have limited space and there will always be new books that need to be promoted. In addition, foreign authors can’t usually help as much with marketing as domestic authors. Threfore it doesn’t come as a surprise that many of these translated books go out of print after a while. Up to now this has usually meant the translation was lost forever.

Retrieving copyrights

Copyright in handAs I have learned a bit about self-publishing by cooperating with self-published author J.F. Penn, I was curious to find out whether I would be able to self-publish one of the out of print books that I translated in the past.

Book translators normally own the translation copyright by law, but most of the time they have to sign it away to the publishing house, at least in Germany, otherwise they don’t get the job in the first place. Therefore my initial step was to contact the German publisher in order to retrieve my copyright. After a while, they sent me a letter confirming they didn’t intend to publish the book anymore and they returned the translation copyright to me.

I knew that I needed to come to an agreement with the author as well, but she had died, I couldn’t get hold of her heirs or her former agent either and I wasn’t sure how to proceed, so I asked the UK Translators Association for advice. They said I needed to find the original copyright holder in any case, otherwise I could still infringe their rights, even though the author was dead and I have now contacted the original Australian publisher and asked them whether they know about the rights and I am also trying to find other ways to search for the original rights holder.

Self-publishing out of print translated books – a model for the future?

Whatever happens in my case is not the main issue here. The author is dead, which makes everything a bit more complicated than usual, but I would like to point out your options, whether as an author or as a translator.

Let’s bear in mind that it is necessary for the original author (or rights holder) to come to an agreement with the translator, who needs to hold or retrieve the translation copyright, and both should agree on how to split royalties as well.

By the way: Nowadays I would not want to give away any rights for good anymore, only for limited time periods, if at all, because due to ebooks and print on demand, books might theoretically never go out of print and I suspect it will be more difficult to retrieve rights in future.

 

I have contacted many people in the industry, including a large number of translators, and none of them knows of anyone who has used the approach I have mentioned so far, therefore it looks as if this idea is still new – but nobody discouraged me either! Why should we not make use of our rights after all? If you have heard of any case, however, where someone has already done what I am trying to do or if you have any other thoughts on this matter, I would love to hear from you.

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5 Reasons Why Self-Publishing Could Help To Get More Books Translated Into English

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Many books are translated from English into other languages, but not vice versa. A certain rumour is wrong, though: There is no “stigma” attached to translations in the English-speaking world… they can be just as popular as original English books.

The last London Book Fair was an eye opener for me: A bookseller told us, that is a group of literary translators, readers did not care at all whether they were reading a translation or not, they read all books like originals. Nonetheless not many foreign books make it into English and I am going to tell you why I believe, self-publishing could be a game-changer.

1. Self-published authors don‘t depend on publishing houses where nobody speaks their language

Learning foreign languages is not high on the agenda in most English speaking countries as English is the lingua franca of the world and therefore it doesn’t come as a surprise that the staff in publishing houses are often not able to read foreign books to find out whether they would be worth translating. This is even more relevant for books from so-called “smaller languages”. Let‘s say you have written a great book in Bulgarian: It is still less likely to be accepted by an English publisher than a book in a “bigger” language like Spanish or German. But authors can successfully self-publish in translation, regardless of their native language.

2. Online bookshops provide plenty of space for everyone

I hear this reason all the time: Too many books are published in English and there simply isn‘t enough space left for books in translation. This is only true for physical bookshops, though. Self-published books are usually sold via online shops with lots of space, even for translations.

3. English social media may support books worldwide

Authors are nowadays expected to do a lot of their own marketing, even if they are with a publishing house. Most of them have their own website, blog or social media, sometimes all of it – but in their own language. I suspect this could be another reason why most English language publishers prefer to just stick with the large number of English language authors instead of foreign authors who require them to do more work.

Do You Speak english correctedSelf-published authors are usually dealing with all of their marketing on their own anyway and could benefit from doing some marketing in English as well, even if this isn’t their first language. They could start with a platform that they feel most comfortable with and doesn’t require too much work – e.g. some authors like Twitter best. English marketing might also be an advantage if your book has been translated into more languages. Readers from all over the world could get in touch with you, because English is so widely spoken as a second language. I see this happening with music videos on Youtube: fans communicate in English, no matter where they are from. And don’t believe you need to be perfect – I am certainly not perfect myself and if you point out mistakes to me, I will even be grateful 🙂

4. Self-published authors can work with translators who are on their wavelength

In case an author does have an English translation contract with a publishing house, their publishers are usually the ones who choose the translator. But what if the author doesn‘t like the translator‘s voice? In most cases he or she will only find out when it is too late. A director of a London publishing house told me they stopped doing translations, because their foreign authors often spoke English reasonably well and were not always happy with the results.

Self-published authors, on the other hand, can look for their own translators who they feel comfortable with. When looking for someone, it is a good idea to find out which genres translators specialize in and read parts of their past translations to get a feel for their voice. Not only could this lead to a far more satisfying experience, you may also build a long-term working relationship which would make subsequent book translations easier.

translate-TasteA book should ideally be translated by someone into their native language, but provided your English is very good or your native language is a rare one, you might even consider translating the book yourself and working with a good editor. I recommend editors in any case, even if there is a translator involved. In addition, I would always do sample translations and specify from the start how you want to work with each other – especially who has the final say – to avoid misunderstandings.

5. Translators could play a far more pro-active role

Roles are a lot more flexible in self-publishing than in the traditional publishing world. Not only can authors be publishers now – translators could be publishers, too. And don’t underestimate your potential power if you are a translator and your native language is English – most foreign authors would love to be translated into English. Not only does this global language promise a large audience, but once the book is in English, it can also be more easily translated into other languages.

As a translator, you could look out for books that you like and get in touch with the author. If a translator really likes the book, the work is more fun and the translation is usually much better as well.

After the work is finished, translators could even promote the books on their own or in cooperation with the author. This would be quite different from their usual invisible role (see my article “Translation is like housework…)

As someone who translates into English, you might also like to look out for books of foreign publishing houses – even the vast majority of them are not picked up by an English language publisher, so why not offer your services via self-publishing if it is done in a professional way including editing, proofreading and marketing? I wouldn’t be surprised if you had some success with this.

And then there are the translator-authors who may promote translated books alongside their own…

I believe there are much more opportunities these days if everyone is prepared to think outside the box!

 

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What Do Translators Want?

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I have had interesting discussions with other translators following my last article and Joanna Penn’s interview with me on her blog, therefore I am now writing a bit more about creative translations.

Most of the literary translators I have talked to really like their work and none of them has been in it for the money – well, at least I do not know anyone who got rich by translating, if this is the case for you, then please let me know how you are doing it 😉

Film subtitling – better paying alternative for creative translators?

When I first moved to London, I wasn’t earning enough money with literary translations to make a living in this expensive city and I was looking for alternatives. After a while I discovered subtitling, because many films were put on DVD and there was a demand for subtitlers at that time. After a while, though, the subtitling agencies had found enough translators and the demand decreased also because all the old films were already on DVD. Now the companies gradually started lowering their rates until they were so low that I quit again and took on different work. However, something interesting happened recently: I was contacted again and was offered a higher rate, due to the fact that Netflix needs a lot of film subtitlers who translate into German and probably into other languages as well these days. If you are looking for work like this and especially if you have experience, you could for example contact IMS.

Zeichnung verschiedene WeltsprachenIt is all about demand and supply and tough negotiation

Even though there is a demand for subtitlers right now, I suspect this is going to change sooner or later, as subtitling is rather popular. You are watching films all day and you even get paid for it, right? It’s not that easy, though, and it does need some skills. Nonetheless, I do understand why it is popular. If you are someone who is just starting out and wants to learn something related to translation, I would rather go for a more general type of course like the MA in translation, interpreting and subtitling  at the University of Esssex instead of a course in subtitling alone. I have no doubt that the industry will change again and the more skills you have, the better.

Some female literary and subtitle translators are saying they love what they are doing so much, because it is something creative that allows them to work from home with small children and they have a husband who is the main bread-winner. This is very understandable, but there is a problem with this – if you consider translation only an additional income and don’t rely on it to earn a living, you might be willing to accept low rates and this will affect the standard rates in the industry. And there is another very unpopular, but nonetheless relevant issue: The divorce rate is nowadays so high in most countries that you might not have a husband forever…

People can often earn more money if they are not afraid of tough negotiating. This does not come easily to most women who were taught to be nice girls and don’t demand too much. I admit that I have problems with fighting for my rights all the time as well and therefore I prefer a different long-term solution.

My own alternative: self-publishing

As mentioned above, you can read more about my own choice and the translation process in self-publishing on Joanna Penn’s blog.

 

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“Translation Is Like Housework…

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…it is only visible if it has been badly done.”

Pieke Biermann, German literary translator and author, said this in an interview many years ago and there is a lot of truth in the statement. In a way, being invisible is actually required. The translation should be a good read in the same way as the original and you are not supposed to guess straight away that you are not dealing with an original work.

housework vector graphicThe vast majority of readers do not even care whether they are reading a translation, let alone who translated the book and I am not just talking about average readers. A friend of mine teaches creative writing and literature and when we happened to talk about a book she had worked with in one of her classes, it turned out I was the translator – she had not noticed.

Even though translations are vital for the success or failure of a book in another language, they are not just usually invisible, but also generally poorly paid. The housework metaphor fits here as well – housework is important, but what about the money? Poor payment does not exactly encourage a great outcome if the translator needs to make a living and thus has to finish the translation as fast as possible. This is especially true for translations into languages other than English. Into English pays better, since there are simply not as many translators who can do the job – translators are usually translating into their own language. English native speakers are often not encouraged to learn foreign languages, therefore these translators do not have as much competition as their colleagues from other countries.

But despite the low income, most literary translators are still doing a great job as they are usually really passionate about their work. I believe that self-publishing can be an interesting alternative for them that might provide more long-term income, if they are prepared to participate in book marketing and play a much more visible role than they are used to.

[easyazon_image add_to_cart=”default” align=”left” asin=”1499389779″ cloaking=”default” height=”110″ localization=”default” locale=”DE” nofollow=”default” new_window=”default” src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FXsaoj4VL._SL110_.jpg” tag=”internaself0f-21″ width=”69″]I am cooperating with author J.F. Penn and we have recently self-published her first thriller Pentecost in German on a split-royalty basis, which means we are sharing the income. This is a risk, but at the same time there is more potential than going the traditional route with publishing houses if it goes well. Another way would be to be paid a fixed fee. I suspect most translators would currently still want to choose this route, because their low income does not allow much risk-taking. They should bear in mind, though, that they have the freedom to choose a self-published book which they really like and find worthwhile for translation.

If authors and translators are working on a split-royalty basis it is in the translators‘ own interest to contribute as much as possible to the book marketing. I must admit that this does not come easily to me – I am just not used to being visible. Therefore I am glad to work with an experienced self-published author like Joanna who has such a great positive attitude and I intend to share more of my experience on this blog.

You can read my interview with Joanna Penn on her blog.

And here is the German book trailer:

 

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