Have you thought about how to translate your book and publish it in other languages? I published my book, 21 Prayers of Gratitude, in Spanish in December of 2013. In this episode, I want to share my experience with you.
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In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- How to translate your book in other languages.
- Resources to use for translation services.
- And more!
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Can’t listen right now? Read the transcript below:
Have you thought about how to translate your book and publish it in other languages? I published my book, 21 Prayers of Gratitude, in Spanish in December of 2013. In this episode, I want to share my experience with you.
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 different formats like an eBook.
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:
- Afrikaans
- Alsatian
- Basque
- Bokmål Norwegian
- Breton
- Catalan
- Cornish
- Corsican
- Danish
- Dutch/Flemish
- Eastern Frisian
- English
- Finnish
- French
- Frisian
- Galician
- German
- Icelandic
- Irish
- Italian
- Japanese
- Luxembourgish
- Manx
- Northern Frisian
- Norwegian
- Nynorsk Norwegian
- Portuguese
- Provençal
- Romansh
- Scots
- Scottish Gaelic
- Spanish
- Swedish
- 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 sevearl 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 decided to research the process and find out if it was possible to translate my book in other languages.
My Choice: Outsourcing Through Elance (now Upwork)
I didn’t have thousands of dollars in our budget to have a book translated. Therefore, I decided to try posting a job on Elance. I had never used Elance before and was a little nervous about the process.
I chose my best-selling book, “21 Prayers of Gratitude” 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:
- They followed my directions in the job posting.
- They had a history of previous jobs on Elance.
- 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.
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
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 to hire someone to proofread the translated version of my book in Spanish. I 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)
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.
I also learned that 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.
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:
- Log in: https://kdp.amazon.com
- Find the book you want to update, and in the “Other Book Actions” column, click “Edit book details.”
- Under the “Language” section, please change it from English to Spanish.
- Go to the bottom of the page and click “Save and Continue.”
- Confirm that you have all rights to publish by clicking on the box at the bottom.
- Click on “Save & Publish.”
It is a learning process and I am sure I will learn a lot more along the way!
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
I am 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.
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ANNOUNCER. Thanks for listening to this episode of the “Author Audience” show. Connect with us online at AuthorAudience.com where you will find all the resources mentioned in today’s episode. While you’re there, grab Shelley’s free video training on how to write and publish your book using her “6-Step ASCENT Method. Join us again next week to learn how to reach your audience with your message.
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