Dealing with translation rights for books/novels Thread poster: Dina Mardiana
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Dina Mardiana
France
Local time: 14:56
English to Indonesian
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Hello,
first of all, maybe some of you have discussed about this topic and therefore you may refer me to a topic link or thread here in the forum.
anyway, what i'm going to ask is, do any of you have ever had an initiative to translate literary works such as novels or romances without depending on agencies or waiting for the offer from the book publishing companies?
I am really interested in translating several literary works from French to Indonesian lang... See more Hello,
first of all, maybe some of you have discussed about this topic and therefore you may refer me to a topic link or thread here in the forum.
anyway, what i'm going to ask is, do any of you have ever had an initiative to translate literary works such as novels or romances without depending on agencies or waiting for the offer from the book publishing companies?
I am really interested in translating several literary works from French to Indonesian language since I am a graduate in this study area and I would like to introduce French contemporary literary works (especially written by francophone writers from the African continent which I found out having many cultural and historical background similarities with my country) to Indonesian readers, such as Monsieur Ibrahim et Les Fleurs du Coran, or those written by Amin Maalouf or Tahar Ben Jelloun's. I think it would be really interesting and the content is not very hard either to be understood by general readers in my own country.
If anyone knows how to deal with it, including to get the translation rights or permission, I would be very pleased to hear your suggestions.
Thanks a lot beforehand .
Regards,
Dina
[Edited at 2010-07-08 14:23 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Brian Young 
United States
Local time: 05:56
Danish to English
| translation of literary works | Jul 8, 2010 |
First of all, you can translate anything you want, but you cannot publish a translation unless you have the approval of the copyright holder.
Most copyrights expire 70 years after the death of the author, and in such cases you can translate a work, and then try to find a publisher.
If the copyright is still in effect, then you need permission.
You have at least two options:
1. Ask first. If you are not already some well known writer or translator, you will probably not r... See more First of all, you can translate anything you want, but you cannot publish a translation unless you have the approval of the copyright holder.
Most copyrights expire 70 years after the death of the author, and in such cases you can translate a work, and then try to find a publisher.
If the copyright is still in effect, then you need permission.
You have at least two options:
1. Ask first. If you are not already some well known writer or translator, you will probably not receive a positive answer.
2. Translate first, maybe even just a portion, and then send it to the author or copyright holder. If you have done a really great job, to the extent that you are able to impress someone, then you might at least get your foot in the door. Offer to do it at a low rate, just to get started. If this is your first try then you can consider yourself lucky if you are even allowed to proceed.
Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | sounds extremely interesting | Jul 9, 2010 |
Hello Dina,
That sounds like a fascinating project. Like Brian said, you need to call the French publisher listed in the book (I'm sure you'll never get a response to an e-mail and trying to directly contact authors doesn't sound very promising either).
Because your idea is so good (you presented a very convincing concept for a book series in the few lines you wrote here), I really think you will be successful - if you can somehow get someone to really stop and listen to you.
D... See more Hello Dina,
That sounds like a fascinating project. Like Brian said, you need to call the French publisher listed in the book (I'm sure you'll never get a response to an e-mail and trying to directly contact authors doesn't sound very promising either).
Because your idea is so good (you presented a very convincing concept for a book series in the few lines you wrote here), I really think you will be successful - if you can somehow get someone to really stop and listen to you.
Do you have academic connections in Indonesia or in France that could help you to get the attention of a good contact at a publisher?
Sincerely,
Michael ▲ Collapse
| | | | JoFP
Local time: 14:56
French to English
+ ...
| contact foreign rights people | Jul 16, 2010 |
I don’t think it will do you much good to send a sample translation to the French publisher or to the authors themselves, as they are highly unlikely to be able to read the language you are translating into and thus to be able to judge the quality of your work.
Better, perhaps, would be for you to send to send the sample to an Indonesian publisher, which, if interested, would then itself deal with French publisher (or other holder of the rights, possibly the author) and with you.... See more I don’t think it will do you much good to send a sample translation to the French publisher or to the authors themselves, as they are highly unlikely to be able to read the language you are translating into and thus to be able to judge the quality of your work.
Better, perhaps, would be for you to send to send the sample to an Indonesian publisher, which, if interested, would then itself deal with French publisher (or other holder of the rights, possibly the author) and with you. Is there really a market in Indonesia for translations of the authors you mention?
Look on the websites of the French publishers of the authors you’re interested in; there’s almost always an email address for the foreign rights department; if it’s not there you can usually find the name of the person by Googling the sites of book fairs the publishers attend (they go mostly to try to sell foreign rights, so you can usually find a contact address for them).
Authors are usually flattered by interest from translators, so even if they don’t hold the rights themselves they will almost always point you to the right people.
In my experience, the foreign rights people at publishers are perfectly willing to tell you if the rights are available; what they are much less willing to do is to enter directly into an agreement with a translator. They seem to prefer to deal with other publishers. ▲ Collapse
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