Book Translation Fees & Rights Query
Thread poster: Ronan_F
Ronan_F
Ronan_F
Ireland
Local time: 04:35
French to English
+ ...
Oct 19, 2020

Hello everyone, I apologise in advance for the lengthy blog post, but here goes:

I do quite a bit of translating and editing work for a couple of institutions, mostly academic and technical. There has never been any question of rights or royalties or anything of the sort, and that is fine.

Recently, I have begun to research and translate, for my own pleasure, the works of a now-deceased author, in the domain of popular philosophy/psychology. This has involved quite a lo
... See more
Hello everyone, I apologise in advance for the lengthy blog post, but here goes:

I do quite a bit of translating and editing work for a couple of institutions, mostly academic and technical. There has never been any question of rights or royalties or anything of the sort, and that is fine.

Recently, I have begun to research and translate, for my own pleasure, the works of a now-deceased author, in the domain of popular philosophy/psychology. This has involved quite a lot of research, collating and editing different versions of texts etc., in order to produce a corrected and annotated edition. As I say, I enjoy this sort of thing and it has helped me in my own personal studies.

I have contacted a small press editor to propose my translation, and they are interested, contingent on my clearing the rights. So I have started to track down the various rights holders, journals and publishers. The author’s estate is also interested in seeing this through.

Now, I have not yet come to any agreement business-wise with the publisher, although it has been made clear to me not to expect any royalties, but only a fixed fee. I have yet to make any estimate as I do not know whether the rights holders will agree so it is not possible just yet to determine exactly how much - if anything - might eventually be published. We would be looking at a fairly small print run (I don’t know exactly how many though), but no digital edition.

Given the personal nature of the project, I would be prepared to accept a lower fee (sorry, professionals), but I would like to know the gory details about retaining some rights, specifically reversion rights, in the event of a reprint, or republication by a larger publisher, or perhaps even foreign translations based on my edition (these works have never been republished in the original language, never mind corrected).

To put things into perspective, one of the classic works in this field was recently published in Chinese, not from the original French, but from the English translation, and was something of an unexpected hit. I don’t want to indulge in wishful thinking, but it remains a possibility, and I would not like to feel hard done by further down the road.

The thing is, this is a different field from what I am used to working in; it is the first time I make a proposal, and it is a small press specialising in this type of literature so I am naturally sympathetic to their financial situation.

A friend in publishing (but who doesn’t handle translations) said I could set a fixed fee for the first print run or 1,000 copies, and then have some percentage of royalties kick in if that gets exceeded.

What would be a reasonable fee and percentages to set, given the above? And is it reasonable to expect a reversion clause as well? I have consulted the PEN model contracts, but I hope to gain some insight from experienced members.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.
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Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 12:35
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
You get paid? Oct 19, 2020

If you're the one who initiated this project, just having someone share any part of the cost is already a win, never mind actually getting a fee for it.

Dylan J Hartmann
 
Ronan_F
Ronan_F
Ireland
Local time: 04:35
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
One would hope so. Oct 20, 2020

Lincoln Hui wrote:

If you're the one who initiated this project, just having someone share any part of the cost is already a win, never mind actually getting a fee for it.


One would hope so. But you think there is a material difference whether a publisher commissions a work, or accepts a proposal?


 
Woodstock (X)
Woodstock (X)  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 05:35
German to English
+ ...
Have you tried other sources of information? Oct 20, 2020

I'm particularly thinking of PEN, https://pen.org/, which has huge amounts of information for authors and has a page on their website called "PEN American Translation Committee". You might find something useful even though it appears to target the US specifically, they claim to represent writers' interests worldwide. There may also be similar organizations in Ireland (where you are) who are able to provide more detai... See more
I'm particularly thinking of PEN, https://pen.org/, which has huge amounts of information for authors and has a page on their website called "PEN American Translation Committee". You might find something useful even though it appears to target the US specifically, they claim to represent writers' interests worldwide. There may also be similar organizations in Ireland (where you are) who are able to provide more detail specific to your situation. As I recall, they used to have sample contracts on their site many years ago, but I don't know about now. At the time I was interested in translating literature, but ended up going in other directions.

In any case I wish you luck!
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Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 22:35
Dutch to English
+ ...
No royalties Oct 20, 2020

Royalties, especially if it's not a large print, are bound to be very disappointing. I would suggest you ask to get paid as a 'work for hire', similar to being paid a modest per word rate. Since you started the ball rolling yourself, you are not in a strong position to ask for more.

 
Ronan_F
Ronan_F
Ireland
Local time: 04:35
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
A Couple of Further Queries Oct 21, 2020

Woodstock wrote:

I'm particularly thinking of PEN, https://pen.org/, which has huge amounts of information for authors and has a page on their website called "PEN American Translation Committee". You might find something useful even though it appears to target the US specifically, they claim to represent writers' interests worldwide. There may also be similar organizations in Ireland (where you are) who are able to provide more detail specific to your situation. As I recall, they used to have sample contracts on their site many years ago, but I don't know about now. At the time I was interested in translating literature, but ended up going in other directions.

In any case I wish you luck!


Thank you, yes the PEN website is very useful. I am based abroad, and the publisher is in a different country so I must look into things on that front. I was once interested in translating literature, but now work on rather different texts; this is just a sideline interest of mine I'd like to try and have published somehow.

Tina Vonhof wrote:

Royalties, especially if it's not a large print, are bound to be very disappointing. I would suggest you ask to get paid as a 'work for hire', similar to being paid a modest per word rate. Since you started the ball rolling yourself, you are not in a strong position to ask for more.


Thanks Tina, I think you are right. I am just trying to get a feel for the standard as I have not had to negotiate anything like this before really, other than basic rates and that. Rather than a "work for hire" arrangement, would you think it is reasonable to ask for a flat fee, no royalties, but with a reversion of rights clause once the print run is up or when the author's rights revert ?


 
Helen Shiner
Helen Shiner  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:35
German to English
+ ...
Suggestion Oct 22, 2020

Since you are based in Ireland, I would suggest you contact the Irish Writers Union: https://irishwritersunion.org/publishing-contract-advice/ or, as I have done in the past, the Society of Authors: https://societyofauthors.org/advice

 
Eliza Hall
Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 00:35
French to English
+ ...
Rights? Oct 26, 2020

How long ago did this writer die, and assuming it was less than 70 years ago (i.e. still in copyright), are you directly in touch with his estate? It should be pretty straightforward to get the rights to do this from the estate, if as you say they're interested in having it done.

 
Ronan_F
Ronan_F
Ireland
Local time: 04:35
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Rights Nov 5, 2020

Eliza Hall wrote:

How long ago did this writer die, and assuming it was less than 70 years ago (i.e. still in copyright), are you directly in touch with his estate? It should be pretty straightforward to get the rights to do this from the estate, if as you say they're interested in having it done.


The author died some 10-15 years ago, and the family have told me to contact the former publishers for the rights. Unfortunately as none of them have replied to my inquiries, this project looks like it will be on hold indefinitely.

Thanks to everyone who provided some information and insight into this.


 


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