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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.

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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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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“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.

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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