·

How to Translate Your Book and Get Published into Other Languages

How to translate your book

Have you thought about how to translate your book and get it published in other languages?  Since I published my first book in 2008, I have thought about this possibility.  But, it did not become a reality until this week.  As of Christmas Eve, I now have one of my books published in Spanish!  What a great Christmas present for me this year.

And now that I know the process, I plan to have some of our other books translated as well.   But, first I wanted to share my experience with you and wanted to share how to translate your book in this tutorial.

 

Why Should You Translate Your Book into Other Languages?

If you have followed me very long, you know that I am all about getting the most out of the content you write.  Whether it is a blog post or a book, there are many ways to repurpose your hard work.

One way to repurpose the hard work you put into writing your book is to publish it in many different formats:

However, you can also have your book translated into multiple languages.  In my research, I did not find much information about the most popular languages to publish in on Kindle, but I did see someone say that Spanish and German seem to be on the top of the list after English.  Other languages to consider are French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese.

At the time of writing this post, there are 34 languages supported by KDP including:

  1. Afrikaans
  2.  Alsatian
  3.  Basque
  4.  Bokmål Norwegian
  5.  Breton
  6.  Catalan
  7.  Cornish
  8.  Corsican
  9.  Danish
  10.  Dutch/Flemish
  11.  Eastern Frisian
  12.  English
  13.  Finnish
  14.  French
  15.  Frisian
  16.  Galician
  17.  German
  18.  Icelandic
  19.  Irish
  20.  Italian
  21.  Japanese
  22.  Luxembourgish
  23.  Manx
  24.  Northern Frisian
  25.  Norwegian
  26.  Nynorsk Norwegian
  27.  Portuguese
  28.  Provençal
  29.  Romansh
  30.  Scots
  31.  Scottish Gaelic
  32.  Spanish
  33.  Swedish
  34.  Welsh

See KDP’s list of languages here.

When you publish your book in other languages you will not only be able to reach more people with your message, but you will also diversify your income.    There is less competition in many of these other languages which gives you the opportunity to potentially sell more books.

 

How I Got Started Translating My Book into Spanish

In the last five years, I have been approached several times by people who wanted to translate my books.  A few people offered to translate my book “Mirror Mirror” for teen girls into other languages, but those opportunities always fell through.  I think they meant well, but when it was on a volunteer basis, it just never got done.  I also had a major Christian publisher contact me about obtaining the rights to translate my book, “21 Prayers of Gratitude” into Korean about a year ago.  But nothing ever came of that opportunity either.

I thought that publishing my books into other languages was not possible and had given up on the idea.

That is, until I took Rachel Rofe’s course, “Your Book Monopoly.”  In this course she shows authors how to take your book and create multiple streams of income by publishing print books, eBooks, audiobooks, getting your book into libraries and bookstores AND having your book translated into other languages.

My virtual ears perked up at the last option.  And I wondered…”Could I take the information Rachel shared and publish our books in other languages?”

I decided to start the process and find out.

 

How to Get Your Book Translated

In Rachel Rofe’s course she shows you quotes she got for her book to be translated in Spanish and Chinese.  You can hear her explain it in the video she posted on her blog that I embedded below or in the screenshot.  However, she found it much cheaper to use Elance to hire a translator.

Translating your book costs

 

My Choice:  Outsourcing Through Elance

I didn’t have thousands of dollars in our budget to have a book translated.  Therefore, I decided to try Rachel’s suggestion and posted a job on Elance.  Elance was new to me and was a little nervous about the process.

I chose my best-selling book, “21 Prayers of Gratitude” and followed Rachel’s exact outline she gives in the course.  I priced my job similar to hers and posted the job online at Elance.  Within hours, I had over 20 proposals of contractors willing to translate my book at a very low cost.

I then researched those who put in a proposal and looked for the following:

  1. They followed my directions in the job posting.
  2. They had a history of previous jobs on Elance.
  3. They had a high rating from previous jobs on Elance.

There was one person in particular that stood out to me.  I contacted her and asked her if she would be willing to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).  By signing the NDA, she would legally agree that she would only use my book contents for translation purposes only and that my publishing company, Body and Soul Publishing, would remain the sole owner of the content. The NDA was something Rachel recommended, but was not provided in her training so I came up with one on my own.

My translator agreed and we started the process.  Her bid was slightly higher than some of the other contractors, but she had a longer history of completed jobs on Elance and a higher rating than most of the others (4.9/5 star rating).  She was also willing to complete the small book (~5,000 words) in only 3 days.

 

An Important Step:  Use a Proofreader/Editor

In Your Book Monopoly, Rachel mentions the importance of using a proofreader/editor within the process.  She suggests several ways to find someone that can proofread the translated book.  This is an important step so that you can check the work of your contractor and make sure your content is being translated in the correct way.

I chose one of her suggested options and hired someone to proofread the translated version of my book in Spanish and decided to pay about 45% of what I paid my translator.  I did not have a reason for choosing this price, but simply chose what I thought would be fair.

Thankfully, my proofreader confirmed that it was a good translation and only had a few recommended changes.  I was now ready to format my book and publish it!

 

Format and Publish

I then formatted my book for Kindle and Createspace.  Once my book was published on Kindle, I posted a new project on ACX to have the Spanish version published as an audiobook as well.

I then had the book cover changed to include the Spanish title.  I decided to keep everything else the same as it saved me any extra costs as I could edit the text on my cover and easily.

Here is the finished product:

21 Oraciones de Gratitud (Kindle)

translating your book

Several people have asked me about the translator I used.  Here is her information:

Maria Juarez – mariaetrabajo@gmail.com. I found her on elance here https://www.elance.com/s/mariaj/

I then hired someone I know who is bilingual to proofread it for me.

Lessons Learned

There were a few lessons I learned in the process:

#1:  Have everything you need translated

  • Book Description
  • Your Bio
  • Opt-In Page
  • E-mails in Your Autoresponder

I had to go back and ask my translator to translate my book description and bio for me later.  She was gracious to do it even though I had already paid her and the job was over.

Google translate can help if you are in a bind.  I would NOT use it to translate your book, but I did use it a few times to translate text I used in my e-mail autoresponder.  I did take Spanish in high school and in college, so I felt comfortable enough to know if the translation was accurate.  However, next time I will have everything I need ready in advance to have translated.

#2:  Use Spanish specific categories on Amazon via KDP

Each language will be different, but I found that when I chose normal categories in KDP, it listed my book as an English book on the Amazon sites for Mexico and Spain.  Therefore, I researched the exact categories I wanted for those two Spanish speaking countries and requested the change manually through KDP’s support.

Also, within KDP, there is a specific category for each language that you can choose.  I went back and changed my categories so that it would be listed in the Spanish books.  This would allow my target audience to find it easier.

All Spanish Books

Spanish Fiction Books

In order to get the book in the category: “Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Foreign Languages > Spanish“, the language setting of the book needs to be “Spanish”.

To change the language setting of your book, please follow the steps below:

1. Log in: https://kdp.amazon.com

2. Find the book you want to update, and in the “Other Book Actions” column, click “Edit book details.”

3. Under the “Language” section, please change it from English to Spanish.

4. Go to the bottom of the page and click “Save and Continue.”

5. Confirm that you have all rights to publish by clicking on the box at the bottom.

6. Click on “Save & Publish.”

It is a learning process and I am sure I will learn a lot more along the way!

 

Marketing Tips

Here are a few marketing tips for you to consider once you publish your book in another language.

  • Start a new e-mail  list specific to that language.
  • Create a simple opt-in page for anyone interested in knowing when I release new books in that language.  I also added a link to that page in the front and back of my book.
  • Recruit reviewers
    • Look at other Spanish books similar to yours and contact their Amazon reviewers
    • Check with your translator and/or proofreader to see if they know of anyone who would be interested in reviewing your book.  They might be willing to ask their family and friends.

 

Additional Resources

Author Audience Academy -In my training on translating your book within Author Audience Academy, you can also download the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) we used with my translator as well as a video about using Elance.  You can use my NDA as a template for the one you send to your contractors who translate your book.  And if it is your first time using Elance, I think you will find my video helpful as I will share how it works and a few tips I learned.  Find out more here: www.authoraudienceacademy.com

 

Another Option:

I recently found out about another option available to translate your book and publish it in other languages.  It is called “Babel Cube.”  I have not personally used it yet but they will translate and publish your book at no upfront costs.   Check out their FAQ page for authors as well as their royalties page.

The downfall to their current system is that they don’t have a way to check the quality of the translation done.  You would have to hire a proofreader or editor yourself to ensure that the translation was done well.

Overall, this reminds me of the ACX platform for audiobooks except it is used for translating books into other languages.  If you use their system, leave me a comment on your experience so we can learn from each other.

 

Conclusion

So thankful that I took the plunge and learned the process of translating my books into another language.  I know there will be more to learn in the days to come.  I have already sold a few copies and am excited to see what the future brings.

Do you have your books published in other languages?  Why or why not?  If so, what have you learned about the process?  Share in the comments below.

Membership

Take a Step of Faith and Finally Finish Your Book

Most writers stay stuck and never finish their first draft. Inside Christian Book Academy, we help you partner with God to write your book so you can become a published author. Finally ditch your self-doubt and take a step of faith so you can finish your book.

JOIN CHRISTIAN BOOK ACADEMY

110 Comments

  1. 12/29/13
    Yes, I read your story on the steps you took to get your book translated into Spanish. I think, you are a good teacher, and your suggestions are helpful.
    I have two Books with KDP in English- I just published in mid-December.
    If you want you can look it up: god-Isvar and Induce instant Sleep.
    These two Books are useful to all the People on Earth.
    Therefore, we must get it translated into most of the languages of Man, I look forward to working with you because you are smart.
    We will continue….

    Reply

    1. Hope you everything goes fine, do you have any book that need to translate? we are a professional book translation company/agency, Ranking top 3 in Asia, top 20 in the world, we can provide lowest price within 100% guaranteed quality, we have ISO 9001 CERTIFICATED for our translation service. we can offer lower price and more guaranteed service than single translator.
      My name is Mars
      Email:marslau.liu@transn.com
      Best Regards,
      Transn IOL Technology Co.,Ltd.
      http://www.transn.com

      Reply

  3. Great info here – it seems that for my ebook (100 pages) it would be about $600 to translate and proof.

    My questions is – did you make your money back by selling in Spanish and if so how long did it take?

    Reply

    1. Sam,
      Many times you can get things translated for even less than what I paid. I decided to choose someone more expensive as she had the best resume and experience. I also chose to pay a proofreader/editor but there are other options. You might be able to find a university student willing to help or barter with someone for their time.

      Ultimately, it is like any other book or business venture. There is not a guarantee of book sales. However, if you choose a book that is already selling well on Amazon, you will have a better chance of seeing sales come in for other languages.

      I just published my book so won’t know for awhile what my sales will be. I have already made sales and am hopeful that I will continue to do so.

      Reply

      1. If you hire a university student, make sure that they have strong editing skills. I work with university students who struggle with accents and basic grammar. Not all native speakers/writers are equal in ability and talent.

        Reply

        1. True! I know some authors that have come up with simple “tests” that they have their outsourcers take first before even considering hiring them for a writing project. It is good to take a few extra steps before hiring someone than to be disappointed at the end result.

          Reply

        2. Hello I am a writer of
          Spanish. living in NY. i have written two novel and 12 short stories. I wrote just two shorts in English.
          i would like know if someone that know some Spanish can translate to English my writings. in exchange I will translate your English book to Spanish.
          why I don’t write in English because I feel good and is cheap since is my mother language, but is for me expensive and difficult to write in English. I am enough good in grammar and style in Spanish.but anyways whether in Spanish as English it must review for a professional in edition.after finish it.

          Reply

    1. Thanks for sharing your experience! I also found that I could never get a finished translation from volunteers I worked with in the past. However, sometimes you can find people who are motivated and willing to help. Ultimately, I recommend finding a great translator using the steps I outline above. Once you find a good one, you can continue using them for other projects.

      Reply

      1. Shelley,
        I’m the project representitive of Transn. Transn is the world top20 translation agency located in China Asia,we provides all kinds of translation services in several areas,including doc translation,website translation,sofware localization,literature translation is in our expertise,the many years accumulation in tech and translation service ensured the hign quality of any translation work.

        If you need any help in literal translation,please let me know.

        Regards,
        Mars

        Reply

  5. I am keen on translating books into foreign languages, but skeptical about the process. I have lived in a Spanish-speaking country for 20 years and used to believe that native speakers know the language better than I. Not so. Just because Spanish is a person’s native language does not make that person a good candidate for translator. I have a masters degree in Spanish and am pretty confident of the language. But, I would not be confident about translating my novel into Spanish. High level skills are required because what sounds good in English may not necessarily sound good in Spanish. Just as there are good writers in English, there are also good and bad writers in Spanish. Direct translations without the appropriate adaptations will not sound right. Take home advice: when you hire a translator, look for a person with translation skills, not a native speaker/writer of the language.

    Reply

    2. Yes you are right. this happen to me also.I think at least by ethics .i may right in English but I have the same to you. I do not feel confident(more because my reader deserve a correct paragraph, with someone native English.)that is why I stop to write in English. it not the same when you write,you taste into all sense and that means flow into the language. I will effort for free translate English book to Spanish someone do the same for me.and then you can send a professional editor(grammar,style and etc)I feel confident about translate Spanish. and you can try only writers knows about that art

      Reply

    3. I am disagree with take professional translator. because. i don knot in English but in Spanish there is;the writer write firs a draft ,then he made the review style and grammar, even the good writer sometimes makes mistakes. that is why when you finished your book this have to pass in hand of a professional editor. i means someone who studied 5 years.So if you said that you have to spend a lot more money because for example;your English book must to pass to a hand of professional editor something that a professional translator does not know. but I think the way simple is; make translate for some close the literature, a writer. and translate with her or him and then send the book to a professional editor. but if you have or want spend a lot money you can’ do that; pay to a professional translator and after to pay a editor professional.but it will cost more and you are just make easy the job of the professional.editor

      Reply

  6. Your article is really interesting.
    I am a professional translator in various fields and I have yet translated several novels from English to French. I must say that literary translation is my favorite field.
    Don’t hesitate ton contact me if you need a French translation.
    secretariat.traduction@yahoo.fr
    Have a nice day!

    Valérie

    Reply

  8. Hi Shelly,
    Great article. You made some very good points that I will have to think about. Here’s my situation. I’m a children’s adventure book author for kids in the 8-12 year old range and I have wanted to translate my books into both Spanish and German as I have found in my research that they are very good places to sell children’s books. The only problem I have is the cost. Having to translate into multiple languages adds up. Have you made your money back on your translated book yet? I have 9 books out with a further 10 more that just need illustrations and a cover so cost is a problem right now.

    Reply

    1. Super interesting article Shelley!

      And this goes for A.J.,
      I am currently working on translating a children’s book series. It is a Haitian Folktale Collection that has already been translated into the English language and now the author would like them translated into Spanish as well. I found these stories to be wonderful because they each have a moral teaching at the end, therefore, great for classroom literary use. I am very excited about translating children’s books. Please feel free to contact me if you think you could use my help.
      ***Regardless of who you use, make sure the person not only dominates the language well, but has good translator skills because, as Susan mentioned in her post above, good adaptation to the content is crucial and hard to do unless you master both the original language and the one being translated into.
      I have a total of 10 years experience teaching K-12 Spanish as a second language in both Florida and New Mexico, while doing professional freelance translations on the side. I was born and raised in Mexico and I have been living in the U.S. for 25 years now. Good luck with your books!
      Sincerely,
      Marcela

      Reply

  9. Great article Shelley, i’m an italian professional translator and proofreader and i think that an accurate and 100% human translation can make the difference.
    A good translator don’t do a word by word translation but try to find in his language the words that suit to respect the original meaning.
    I’ve made english-italian translation of several books and every time it was a great collaboration experience with the author, because when you are passionate about your work, like i am, you enjoy what your doing and this brings to a higher quality translation. At the end, it’s a win-win situation! 😉

    If someone of you is interested in translating books in italian or needs to proofread an already translated book, feel free to contact me at adhocsol@gmail.com.
    You can also find me on http://www.fiverr.com/qwerty_77/translate-any-kind-of-text-from-english-to-italian.

    Have a nice day,
    Monica

    Reply

  10. I love this! There are so many opportunities to not only make money with Kindle, but to really spread your message throughout the world. Isn’t that why we became writers, after all? 🙂

    I’m just wondering if you hired a person to write the emails for your email list in Spanish. Do you have a series of autoresponders that helps to develop a relationship with your Spanish speaking readers, or do you just send out an update when you have a new book in Spanish?

    Reply

    1. Yes, that is something you will want to have your writer do for you. Therefore, it would be best to have your autoresponder messages written out so you know the total word count you will need translated.

      Reply

  11. Thanks for this information, Shelly! I really want to publish my books in other language, but had my reservations about how to go about it. I planned to speak with other authors who’ve gone through the process and use the people/companies they did to ensure the quality of the work carries through.

    Reply

  12. Hello! I’m trying to get my book translated into English, but I really do not have any idea of how much I should pay for that. Is there any range that you suggest?
    Found your post that interesting but could not see any price you paid, except 45% for proof reading.
    Thank you for your help!
    Elisabeth

    Reply

    1. I priced my book similar to what Rachel priced hers. If you watch the video I embedded on the page, Rachel shares she paid about $250 for her 40,000 word book to be translated. Thanks!

      Reply

      1. Thanks! So I will post the job on Elance, now that I have some guidelines. Thank you very much for your quick response! All the best!

        Reply

  13. Great information. I have several books published for kids and I tried translating a couple of them into Spanish. It was quite an ordeal because I have 2 Spanish speaking daughter-in-laws. One is from Columbia and the other is Cuban. I first tried fiverr and got a horrible translation. I was told to get someone from Spain to make the translation and so I tried Elance for both the translation and another for proofreading. The translation was better but each daughter-in-laws had issues with the translation. With all of the different dialects I don’t think I’ll ever get a translation that will be good enough for everyone.

    Reply

    1. hahaha interesting it could happen the same with the american language and England English. try to look for a plain Spanish. the Spanish Spain only dialect use the Spain people this countries have a plain Spanish;Colombia,Uruguay,Mexico( capital). most universities student using a plan Spanish.I should help you and try some page with me only if you know at least mediate Spanish to understand my writings.i can undertand the good enough English but to not write in English .

      Reply

  14. That was a fantastic and well-organized blog! Thank you!
    My question is this:
    The person who translated my book into Spanish wants the copyright for that derivative..and this is what he sent in an email to me about that
    And as far as I understand it, this means that our licensing agreement is binding in both directions: we’re not allowed to print and sell our translation without your permission, as it is based on the Pre-Existing Work whose copyright you own, and on the other hand, you couldn’t go ahead and use the Spanish translation I prepared without our permission, as this is the Derivative Work covered under its own copyright.
    What is the truth? If the Spanish is the same – then it is not an original work,hence copywrite is still mine?

    Reply

  15. Thank you Shelley,
    It was very informative for me as a new author for children.
    After reviewing the results very briefly, it seemed that most translators are covering the business translation part and not so much stories and books, which I guess require a different set of skills.
    Is there an easy way to make the more relevant book translators filtered properly?
    Thanks again.

    Reply

    1. You can search for different search terms on Elance and other sites but you may have to filter out the translators that aren’t the best fit for you. What I did was post a new job and different translators applied for the position. You can be very specific about what you need.

      Reply

  16. Thanks for this tip. Shelley!! It really gave me the solution I was looking for. I want to encourage others to translate their books as well. The Portuguese and Spanish e-book markets for Amazon have so few books to offer still (in comparison to giant USA) that they have actually come after me. I’ve had 3-4 e-books on sale where Amazon has ASKED me if they can sell it to their customers! This has helped me get the word out about my books. (I sell other authors’ book as well in the trauma/ treatment/ EMDR niche. One of the books reached first place on the Brazilian equivalent of the NYT bestseller list.
    That said, this is slow. Latin America has not caught on to e-books like the English-speaking world, so you have to be willing to do this as a long-term strategy. However, Shelley’s suggestion on how to get it translated “on the cheap”- with all due respect – can make it a $mall inve$tment, inexpensive, as compared to traditional translators, and believe me, I know what they cost!
    I’ve published several of my books in all three languages. I tend to start in Portuguese, move to Spanish (someone else), and I translate it myself into English because my English is good enough and I want it to have “my voice”. The interesting thing that has happened is that my book in English/Amazon is where it sells best – and where I am least known.My books in Spanish and Portuguese still sell better 1) in print (yeah Createspace!) and 2) in person. Selling in another language should be on everyone’s to-do list. Just know that it can be slow so be patient. But then, I am still learning the ropes of how to market better! hope this is helpful. Feel free to contact me if you have other questions or comments and thanks again Shelley!. Esly Carvalho, Ph.D. Author, Healing the Folks Who Live Inside.

    Reply

    3. Hi.
      I am a Spanish translator from Madrid, Spain. I have translated books for publishing houses for years and last year (2014) I have translated Ebooks for two romance authors , Courtney Milan and Theresa Ragan. The books translated are doing very well in USA and in Spain (I am afraid Latin America still buys few ebooks, but I assume that will change in the next few years. I also don’t know what they have done to promote their books, I only know they are doing well and they are happy with my work).. One of them uses a proofreader afterwards, the other one doesn’t, but in both cases I have the last word (I usually accept the proofreader’s corrections unless they are very local). I don’t translate only romance novels; in fact I am trying to have translated now my own contemporary novel into English. And I follow your book until the end… which means I do a final revision once you have the formatted version of your book, because some times that changes things in the book. You can have a look at my web. http://www.elregalodesuvida.com You’ll see not only translations but also samples os my writing. Good luck

      Reply

  18. Hi! My pastor wrote a book (which it’s for sale on Amazon), and I translated it into Spanish about a year ago. Because it was published in house, we are kind of stuck and quite honestly don’t know where to go from there. How do we get it published in Spanish? I’m not familiar with publishing. This was my first book translation. Thanks.

    Reply

  19. All this is good: publishing print books, eBooks, audiobooks, getting your book into libraries and bookstores AND having your book translated into other languages. And please add speaking… developing a keynote and seminar, especially for nonfiction, can not only be a profit center but a sales, marketing and PR tactic.

    Reply

  20. Hi Shelley,
    What an interesting post. It’s scary, though.

    I’m a translator myself. I work between English and Polish. Someone I know self-published her book on the Polish market last year and wanted to launch it on the English speaking market, so I’ve done the translation for her – my first ever translated book.

    I’ve been looking around to see what authors’ attitudes and thoughts are and your post came up.

    The reason I found it scary is that you’ve just proven to me the fact that people really do not appreciate the effort that real, professional translators put into their training, writing skills etc. Someone in the comments above said that not all native speakers have the same knowledge about the language they speak. To me it’s like a slap in the face. I mean, come on! Just because most people will tell you that if you have a headache, you should try some paracetamol, you don’t assume that they’re doctors, do you?

    This just shows that despite being one of the oldest professions on earth, translation has a long way to go before common, everyday people appreciate that lawyers tend to know about law, accountants tend to know about accounting and translators tend to know about translation.

    However, I was pleased to see that you chose someone who wanted a bit more than bottom-feeders. When I charge a fee, I don’t do it because I’m greedy. I do it to pay back for years of education, for my knowledge, for my expertise and for continuing professional development – as well as for my daily bread.

    If you (one, not you personally) pay a rock-bottom price, you’ll get a product that sucks. I’ve learnt it the hard way. So save yourself some money and pay for what you want straight away.

    Sorry about the rant, I felt like letting people know that they should take the subject seriously. I appreciate that finding trustworthy and good translators can be difficult. I’ve heard lots of horror stories about Elance so I’m not active there and don’t intend to be. I’d recommend ProZ.com as a source of translators (you can leave feedback there, too, and there is a rating system also) – though every job platform like that will have some bottom-feeders bidding, and some less-than-professional translators too.

    I would say that as an author, once you know the languages you want to translate your books into, you may want to research individuals, try word of mouth, Twitter, LinkedIn – just have a look at the broad offering of social media and internet resources that are available to us (for free!) these days.

    Regarding proofreading, most translators also do that sort of thing, myself included. Bear in mind the difference between proofreading (putting commas in the right places, correcting typos) and editing (swopping words in a sentence to make it flow better, changing words for others to adjust the style etc.)

    A final note on rates. As a professional translator I’d never accept anything below 0.05 GBP per source word (and that would be for a very large volume) and I’m pretty average for my language pair (ENPL). Timescales: it takes me a day to translate ~2,500 words. But the book I worked on took me far longer, because I had to think through some concepts, do lots of research, jot down some notes etc. Like with any other project – and even more so with books, which are a unit and want to make sense as a whole – the best way to approach them is to write the first draft of the translation, leave it alone for a few days and then go through the draft and review it.

    Think how long it takes you to write a book. Your translator will have to go through a similar process – surely you want your translated book to be successful for your investment to pay back? Give her a bit of time if you can!

    Sorry about the length of this comment. Maybe it will be useful for some of your readers – maybe for yourself, too.

    All the best,
    Anna

    Reply

  21. There are so many authors who want to publish their books in different languages. language translators is a solution for it. Also it is a beneficial for those who have knowledge about difference languages. The authors have a chance to have a chance to send their books to other nations also.

    Reply

  22. The admin of this site has described in detail how to translate a book into Spanish. It’s beneficial for one who don’t know Spanish. E lance plays a major role for this.

    Reply

  24. I am English to Chinese translator. If you want your books to be translated to Chinese, you can contact me.

    Reply

  25. I read your article and immediately put an ad up on Elance. I found a handful of women out of 30 replies within 2 hours that each have all the necessary credentials, experience and interest to translate English to Spanish with my bestselling novels and novellas. I’m thrilled to have found a solution to adding more sales worldwide. Great article and I will pass this info on to my “writing friends” who are just starting out to more worldly authors like me. LOL

    Reply

  26. Great blog. Since reading your blog last night, I’ve logged into elance.com, posted my job and already received over 14 proposals. You’ve made this a lot easier than I thought it’d be. Thanks!

    Reply

  27. Yes I found this helpful! Shelly has the greatest info! I’ve been wanting my information translating my book into Spanish.

    What sets Shelley apart from a lot of people is she tells/shows you how to get stuff done. It’s not fluff all meat.

    THANK YOU SHELLEY!!!

    Reply

  30. I’m a Pastor my name is, Yona D Mwanza from Dodoma Tanzania, I’m a Free lancer translator in English into Swahili , and I have been working in this part for more than 5 years.
    Here I’m looking for job translation from you.
    Thank you.

    Reply

  31. Hello,
    I self-published my fiction christian suspense novel last April and have done moderate sales on Amazon over the last six months. The book is set in Italy and the love interest for my American protagonist is Italian. The other main characters are American, Italian and Albanian, and involves scenes with the Italian and Albanian mafia. Recently, I’ve been approached by two friends overseas: the first woman I met at an international school that we both attended and lives in Milan, Italy; the other woman lives in Albania and was as a translator for our church group while we were there a few years ago. Both have offered to translate the book in their languages and find markets in Europe. My friend in Milan has ties to Amazon Crossings. My friend in Albania has a business degree and works for a marketing firm in Tirana. My question is this: if I decide to move forward and work with one of them, should I offer foreign rights or remain the holder of all rights? If I retain all rights, should I accept an offer of a flat fee or split royalties and how much is a reasonable amount for each?

    Reply

    1. Donna – I’m not a lawyer and am not giving legal advice, but if possible I recommend keeping the rights of the book yourself. A flat fee would require more from you upfront whereas split royalties is easier to do when you have a tight budget. So if you can afford the flat fee, that’s what I’d recommend. Good luck!

      Reply

  33. This was very helpful. I agree that babel translation can be incorrect. I made a short film and had it translated into Spanish subtitles by babel for a Spanish film festival. A friend agreed to check the translation. As he did, he started laughing. He explained why. When the guy kisses the bad girl, she says, “I like it rough.” The babel translation came out, “I like it like sandpaper.”

    Reply

  34. Thank you for this. Very interesting. I actually write in German (my mother tongue) and I am thinking about English translation. I had been wondering if it would just be too much and if it would maybe be better to translate myself and then have someone polishing it.
    So again, thank you for this!

    Reply

  36. Thanks Shelley , useful info , My question is if I want to translate an interesting book to my language and publish it should I get permission from the author even if it’s in my cost ? ( my language is Persian )

    Reply

  37. Thankyou for this! Really useful information! 🙂
    I am a business women and have to deal with various clients who belong to different nation, here solution by you actually gave me a proper idea on what to do next! 😀

    Thanks alot! Keep sharing!

    Reply

  39. Hi Shelley,

    I am a published author with a book out in English that I want to have published again in Spanish. I can translate it myself (I’m fluently bilingual) but my current publisher is charging me the full price of the whole first book to release it (as if it were a whole second book). This isn’t really a fiscally viable option for me. Other than ebooks, do you have any suggestions?

    Thanks a million, from this first time author 🙂

    Reply

  40. Thanks Shelley for your beautiful article…

    I actually found your article while googling for translation opportunities. I’m writing my memoirs, but this is gonna take too long.

    Right now, I’m on the other side, I’m the one who’s looking for translation opportunities. Arabic is my native language, & I’m fluent in English. I haven’t done official translation before, but recently I have come upon wonderful works about the Universe evolution / Big History / Universe journey, etc., that I have found only in English. Reading in these works have completely transformed me, & I’m stunned that such similar works are not found AT ALL in Arabic here in the Middle East, & nobody knows about such works…

    So I’m thinking why not get a freelance work to specifically translate those “cosmic evolution” works into Arabic… But I don’t know how to start this, I don’t think I could just email the authors of those works & ask them to get a work of translating their books into Arabic, as I’m too shy…

    And if I go to translation centers here, they’re going to specify other books for me to translate, I think, & I’m only interested in translating those books!

    Reply

  42. Did you post your book in english and then have it translated and posted in spanish? I am just wondering if there is any reason to not put the english version for sale first and then once the translation process is complete publish the spanish version for sale. how easy of a process is that to do?

    Reply

  43. Hi Shelley, thank you for sharing! That was helpful. I have published several books in German and had one book translated already by someone in the US, but there are two points where I felt stuck:
    #1 not knowing where to get a decent proofreader who is familiar with rock climbing
    #2 not knowing whether to publish in e.g. the UK, the US etc. seperately or look for one self-publishing service that ships internationally.
    I suppose that for your Spanish translated book you chose one service, is that right?

    Reply

  44. Hi Shelley,

    I’m Charles and I translate for authors on Babelcube. I started last year and was contacted by a few authors interested in having their novels translated to French. I am currently translating a series written by the pen of the same author for, as you mentionned earlier, no upfront fees; I have not yet made considerable money from the process, but I love reading books and translating them while I dive into their universe. As for other translators, well I preciously hired a couple who turned out lacking sufficient understanding of the source language or ended up translating word for word. I think it’s important to find someone passionate about his work who, at the same time, is experienced in writing and possesses enough language skills to juggle words around. We all know the expression “clean as a whistle” doesn’t translate directly to “propre comme un sifflet”, but rather to “propre comme un sou neuf” ( clean like a brand new penny) into French. Some translators simply don’t like the experience because book sales aren’t guaranteed and they’re taking huge risk considering you can make 100$/hour and you suddenly drop to a big void in income. I work full-time so I don’t rely on translating to bring in money. In general, it’s hard to find a reliable and professional translator on your own these days considering the money involved, heck translation I’m often contacted by agencies offering their services without having professional translators on site, but once once you found one, the journey can be as exhilarating as first planned. If you have other questions on the Babelcube experience, I’ll be glad to answer them.

    Reply

  48. I have to say that this post about “How to translate your book” might be exactly what I have been looking for. Congratulations on your site and all its contents, very professional!

    Thank you for offering the possibility to post something on your wall.
    I am interested in working mostly for writers needing their books translated. I am focusing my translation work on books only, as I prefer to fully immerse and dedicate myself to one or simultaneously two complete medium to long term projects at a time maximum.

    I am a retired diplomat, with a 29 years career in four major European cities (Paris-12 years, London-9 years, Brussels-3 1/2 years, and Frankfurt-3 1/2 years), and ending my career in the U.S.A., where I live now. Although I speak several languages, for the nature of this work I specialize in English to Spanish, English to French, French to Spanish and Spanish to French.

    I am a native Spanish speaker, with a French Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations (Paris, France). Due to my professional experience, I have been trained to be used to a high level of responsibility, to interact in several languages, to work fast, efficiently and to provide high quality work. To this I can add that the wide variety of postings during my diplomatic career (Press, Cultural, Legal, Trade and Politic Affairs), where I had to translate press releases, political reports, speeches, general reports and a wide variety of official documents, give me a particular richness in knowledge in a wide spectrum of areas.

    I would like to point out that I type very fast, simultaneously as I read, and that I have excellent grammar and spelling in the different languages I speak, read and write. Therefore I can produce results faster than others might. I might not appear as the cheapest offer on the Upwork (Elance) site, but you can be sure that once you choose me, I will be your best option if you are looking for high quality and fast results.

    My last work as a freelancer was with a major historic English-Spanish translation for a book being published in the U.S.A. and in Spain about Benjamin Franklin and his relation with the Kingdom of Spain, for a renowned American (New Mexico) historian, for whom I worked for 160 hours, ending in January 2018 (references available). The very satisfactory results, both for my client and for myself, and with considerable free time to dedicate to achieve my goals, give me the confidence that I will do your work to your highest satisfaction.

    My profile is available in Upwork (formerly Elance) under Patricia K.
    Please do not hesitate to contact me via message on Upwork to find out how we can work together.

    Thank you for your kind attention.

    Patricia

    Reply

  49. Hi,

    I am a translator. I would like to offer you my services; to translate a book from English into Arabic which is my mother tongue.
    Looking forward to hearing from you!

    Yara

    Reply

  51. Thanks for the useful info! By the way, you can save a lot on translation services, if calculate repetitions and new words. As a rule, translators have got different rates for repetitions. There is a cool online tool to calculate repetitions and new words on this website https://www.hannasles.com/, you can also use online calculator to check how much you can save after calculating new words and repetitions.

    Reply

  52. Hi, I would like to introduce myself as available freelance translator for English 》 German translation. I am experienced in translating various genres (fiction and non-fiction) and offer you high quality translation for reasonable per word rates. If interested, please contact me to see my client’s feedback so far and discuss the rates for your book. My email would be miriam.boetzer@gmail.com or follow and contact me on Instagram @lovelybooks_translatorspassion
    Thank you and God bless you!
    Miriam

    Reply

  54. Famous languages of the world includes Afrikaans, Akan, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bengali, Bihari, Bork, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Cambodian, Catalan, Chichewa, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Corsican, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Elmer Fudd, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Faroese, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Guarani, Gujarati, Hacker, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Indonesian, Interlingua, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Klingon, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Laothian, Latin, Latvian, Lingala, Lithuanian, Luganda, Luo, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Maori, Marathi, Mauritian Creole, Moldavian, Mongolian, Montenegrin, Nepali, Norwegian, Norwegian (Nynorsk), Occitan, Oriya, Oromo, Pashto, Persian, Pirate, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Punjabi, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Runyakitara, Russian, Scots Gaelic, Serbian, Serbo-Croatian, Sesotho, Setswana, Shona, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Sundanese, Swahili, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, Tatar, Telugu, Thai, Tigrinya, Tonga, Turkish, Turkmen, Twi, Uighur, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Xhosa, Yiddish, Yoruba, Zulu etc.

    Reply

  55. All the information I’ve read, I admire that it’s written by a professional translator who has extensive experience of translation.
    Great quality content.

    Reply

  56. Please email me a list of contact details, preferably email addresses, top 10 language translators including the following languages:
    1. English
    2. French
    3. Spanish
    4. Portuguese
    5. Mandarin
    6. Hindi
    7. Gujarati

    Reason for the Request:
    To translate and publish My Academic Memoir Book in at least 10 languages, including the above captioned languages plus SiSwati, Zulu and Swahili.

    My alternate email are:
    infoWSG2030@gmail.com

    Reply

    1. I shared some marketing tips with you in this blog post. You’ll use similar marketing ideas as you do with your other books. What have you tried so far?

      Reply

      1. Hi Shirley, I enjoyed your article. I took my time to read all the comments on the article over the years too,Thank you. How is the Spanish and German market for your books like ?

        Can you recommend a good translator for me ; German and Spanish?

        Thank you and God bless you

        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *