Survey on translating for the publishing industry Thread poster: Attila Piróth
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Attila Piróth 
France
Local time: 14:19
Member
English to Hungarian
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For many translators, working for publishers is a big dream: you can work with interesting texts, have real readers, have your name in print and sometimes even a fair amount of fame... On the other hand, translating for the publishing industry is notoriously badly paid in many countries - and publishers' standard contract terms are often unfavorable for translators and authors alike.
To get more insight, I compiled a short survey that aims to collect information about translators' e... See more For many translators, working for publishers is a big dream: you can work with interesting texts, have real readers, have your name in print and sometimes even a fair amount of fame... On the other hand, translating for the publishing industry is notoriously badly paid in many countries - and publishers' standard contract terms are often unfavorable for translators and authors alike.
To get more insight, I compiled a short survey that aims to collect information about translators' experience with publishers. It can be completed in less than 10 minutes at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YXLF5PG
Survey results will be published and integrated into a presentation about the publishing industry. Thank you for your help in advance.
Best regards,
Attila ▲ Collapse
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Milan Djukić
Serbia
Local time: 14:19
English to Serbian
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Hope it will help and that you will have enough responds for your presentation.
Regards,
Milan
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Tim Drayton
Cyprus
Local time: 15:19
Turkish to English
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| Borderline Case | May 25, 2010 |
I have worked on an English translation directly with the author of an academic work who paid me himself and is then trying to find a publisher for it. Do my experiences count for your survey, or do you only wish to hear from people who have dealt directly with a publisher?
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Attila Piróth
France
Local time: 14:19
Member
English to Hungarian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Tim Drayton wrote:
I have worked on an English translation directly with the author of an academic work who paid me himself and is then trying to find a publisher for it. Do my experiences count for your survey, or do you only wish to hear from people who have dealt directly with a publisher?
Hi Tim,
The questions in the survey may not be very well adapted to this situation – but I am very much interested in it. I have had my fair share of misfortunes in a similar setup, where, as a colleague very adequately put it, my personal connection to the author backfired on me, big time. So, I could give some advise on what to avoid in a similar situation – but a lot more can certainly be said.
As Niels Bohr said, "An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field" – and in that sense, I am on the right track to become an expert in working with publishers – but details of your experience may help me and others choose a less thorny path.
Kind regards,
Attila
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Tim Drayton
Cyprus
Local time: 15:19
Turkish to English
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| My own experiences | May 25, 2010 |
Attila Piróth wrote: Tim Drayton wrote:
I have worked on an English translation directly with the author of an academic work who paid me himself and is then trying to find a publisher for it. Do my experiences count for your survey, or do you only wish to hear from people who have dealt directly with a publisher? Hi Tim, The questions in the survey may not be very well adapted to this situation – but I am very much interested in it. I have had my fair share of misfortunes in a similar setup, where, as a colleague very adequately put it, my personal connection to the author backfired on me, big time. So, I could give some advise on what to avoid in a similar situation – but a lot more can certainly be said. As Niels Bohr said, "An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field" – and in that sense, I am on the right track to become an expert in working with publishers – but details of your experience may help me and others choose a less thorny path. Kind regards, Attila
In the past, I think I have been contacted about six times directly by authors who were looking to have their books translated from Turkish into English, so I get the feeling that this is often the way that book translations are done, at least from Turkish.
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| Is it just me... | May 25, 2010 |
... or has the publishing translation market gone into hibernation? I translated about one nonfiction book a year for the first 16 years of my career, and then I've had nothing for the past four.
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Attila Piróth
France
Local time: 14:19
Member
English to Hungarian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Over 50 replies thus far - please keep on | May 26, 2010 |
Very nice: over 50 people completed the survey in the first 24 hours – and I hope there will be many more. I lot of insightful comments were added, too.
Attila
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Attila Piróth
France
Local time: 14:19
Member
English to Hungarian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Survey results | Jun 15, 2010 |
Dear colleagues,
The survey on the publishing industry has received 93 replies (including 50 in the first 24 hours), greatly exceeding my initial expectations. A summary report is available here: http://www.pirothattila.com/PI_Survey.pdf .
Thanks a lot for everyone who participated.
Kind regards,
Attila
[Módosítva: 2010-06-15 0... See more Dear colleagues,
The survey on the publishing industry has received 93 replies (including 50 in the first 24 hours), greatly exceeding my initial expectations. A summary report is available here: http://www.pirothattila.com/PI_Survey.pdf .
Thanks a lot for everyone who participated.
Kind regards,
Attila
[Módosítva: 2010-06-15 08:45 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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John Rawlins
Spain
Local time: 14:19
Spanish to English
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| Good work Attila | Jun 15, 2010 |
Interesting work Attila. Well done.
Publishing translation seems rather bleak and unattractive from a financial perspective. Best left to those with a 'passion' for translation.
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