HOW TO TRANSLATE AND PUBLISH A BOOK ON A FOREIGN MARKET WITHOUT ANY COST (PART ONE)

Today, we are going to talk about translating and publishing our books on foreign market, at no cost at all. But first, let me explain.

Writing is a great hobby, and those who can say it is their profession can really be considered lucky. However, being a writer today also includes things that many people are not aware of when they create their own image of this profession. The time you spend in front of your favorite text editor creating new stories and worlds is just the tip of the iceberg under which runs the most complex machine that you usually have to make by yourself.

Things are a lot different from what we see in movies. If you believe that your work has been completed after the publisher accepts the work that you have written, you are so wrong. There are no big secrets here; we are talking about the global market and the consumers that make their choices right now, where visibility is the first condition we have to meet in order to get the chance to share information about the product we offer.

Starting from the assumption that all writers usually write in their native language, it is only a matter of time when they will face the constraints imposed by their domestic market. In my country, this situation is very plastic - hard copy releases are distributed in bookstores by publishers or agencies, whereby the financial gain of an author is usually negligible or completely absent. The Serbian e-book market practically does not exist. However, in a significant better situation are not even the self-published writers from the English speaking area who, in addition to the big market, have to fight with extremely high competition. Sooner or later, we all begin to think about taking our chances on the foreign market, hoping to reach the readers who will recognize our work and reward us with desired profits.

However, a quality translation is a serious investment for which we often do not have the resources. Many authors never decide to take this step. All this is understandable, because nobody guarantees that our manuscript will be accepted by publishers and readers.

Since I'm actively studying the phenomenon of crowdsourcing, for a long time I have been searching for services that allow us to translate works without direct financial compensation. Destiny smiled on me at the beginning of this year, when I found several services that enabled writers and translators to do that through connecting and collaborating on translation and publishing projects, with the mutual division of potential profits.

In this text, but also in the ones that will follow this one, I will present some of these services in detail. I hope that among the Steemians there are those who will use this information make their first steps in the foreign market.

IF YOU BELONG TO THIS GROUP, OR JUST FIND THIS TEXT USEFUL, PLEASE SUPPORT IT WITH VOTE OR RESTEEM. IT WILL BE VERY MOTIVATING FOR ME, AS A NEW MEMBER OF THIS COMMUNITY :-)

So after a slightly longer introduction we can start.

HOW DOES THE REVENUE SHARE TRANSLATION SYSTEM WORK?
It is simple. Platforms specialized in this type of service connect writers and translators, mediate in the process of translating the work, and then publish it themselves through the most popular sales channels such as Amazon, Kobo and others. After the work has been published, the sales revenue is divided into three parts – between writers, translators and the platform.

HOW MUCH MONEY I GET?

This can vary, but things usually work like this: the platform keeps the smallest percentage, while most money is passed on to authors and translators. The percentages change according to the number of sold copies. Smaller sales guarantee a greater percentage to translators, while according to the writers it is progressively increasing with increasing sales. Thanks to this, the platform at the very beginning (while the success of the work is uncertain) protects translators who have invested time in the translation process. If the work comes to a good reception, writers start to earn more money. In theory, this is a fair deal, with the purpose that any of the involved participants don’t feel exploited. In the case of platform Babelcube about which I write today, it's like this:

Image source: www.babelcube.com

IS THIS GUARANTEEING SUCCESS IN THE FOREIGN MARKET?

Of course not. These platforms will help you to translate, and publish it almost on all leading online bookstores. However, marketing is completely in your hands. Some of them openly recommend writers and translators to cooperate with each other and put symbolic resources on advertising. I am not going to write about promotions right now, but social networks can be one of the legitimate channels that will help you target your potential readers well.

WHAT HAPPENS WITH COPYRIGHTS?

Most of these platforms will retain rights to exclusive sales of a translated work over a period of five years. After that, all the copyright to the translation belongs to the author.

WHY SHOULD I TRY THIS?

If you do not have the money to invest in a professional translation, then you really have nothing to lose. What are the chances that you will ever get a opportunity to go on the Chinese market? You can not know until you try, and if the book does not succeed, after five years you will have a translated manuscript and be free to offer it independently to foreign publishers.

WHERE SHOULD I START?

Today I will describe the first service I came into contact with. This is Babelcube. The platform it offers is very easy to use and through it I have translated my short story "In depths" to Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Website: www.babelcube.com

After a simple registration, the first thing you need to do is fill out your profile. As you will look for potential translators as well translators are searching for writers, so be sure to introduce yourself in the best manners and provide them with all the relevant information that can help them gain a picture of your references. As you can see, below the biography is a list of books that the author made available for translation. About this process I will write in the next step.

Your books are placed in the "Books" section located in the navigation menu. Here you can find the books you've added, and also add the new ones.

Here I will describe the process of adding a new book, as this is exactly one of the key things that new users will be interested in. This section requires a detailed listing of all relevant information about the book, such as titles, details of the author, and short descriptions that will also be translated and used within the predicted positions in online stores.

You will also be able to choose a primary and secondary genre of books that will be used for the purpose of determining the category when publishing translations in e-bookstores. Identify key words with mandatory input of the number of words (this is important to potential interpreters in order to determine and suggest the duration of the translation when negotiating with you). You will also be asked about the sale success and rankings of the original book so far. Here you can tell about its success on Amazon, but also everything else you consider relevant.

In the final phase of adding the book, Babelcube will ask you to provide a link to its page on the Amazon Store. This is not mandatory for languages that are not included under the Kindle Direct Publishing policy. If you wish, you can also provide links to a page on one of the social networks (facebook, goodreads)

Once you have completed this step, you will find the option to upload the original translation file at the bottom of the page.

In the end, it should look like this. This is also the page that the translators will see when deciding whether to choose your book.

Finally, it's time for action. Do not wait for translators to find you. but be proactive and contact them yourself. In the navigation menu, select the "Translators" option; then select the original text of the manuscript and the language you want to translate. If the language in which the book is written is not on the list, select "Other" and enter the language in the "optional keyword" field (for example, "Serbian")

In the next step, you will see a list of available translators. I hid their names and references, but the picture bellow will be enough to get an impression of what is waiting for you.

Once you find the translator you want to contact, just click on his name to view his profile.

If the language of your manuscript matches with the languages the translator knows and you have not translated the book so far, you will be presented with an option to suggest your book.

And that's it. If a translator accepts your proposal, the platform will ensure that you agree to a contract which defines your rights and obligations. During your work, the translator will provide you with a translated section of your book, so you can check the quality of the translation. This can be difficult if you do not know the language, but people generally advise you to hire a freelance proofreader who will do this for you. I did not personally do that, and the experiences were more than positive. When the translation is completed (within the time that the translator states in his proposal) you will be asked to approve the final translation and submit a cover of the book. After that, Babelcube will prepare it in all necessary formats and publish it in the bookstores.

Later, You will have an insight into translated books and the results of their sales in every moment. Unfortunately, you will have to wait for the first reports for about three months, but after that they are regularly published on a monthly basis.

PROS

Platform is easy to use and understand
Service will do the all the book formatting after the translation is done

CONS

Some people are complaining about lack of technical support

That is it for today. I hope you find this useful, so let me know what you think about it. If you have any question or you need some help, please let me know :-)