Indie
Spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month Siobhan Daiko explains how to get indie titles translated.
“We wish to
change the publishing industry by giving authors the ability to reach global
marketplaces in foreign languages.”
This is the
mission statement of Fiberead. I
came across this innovative start-up company when I was looking for someone to
translate my novel, The Orchid
Tree, which is set in WWII and post-war Hong Kong. Currently Fiberead only
offers translations into simplified and traditional Chinese, but soon they hope
to be able to offer many more languages and markets as the company evolves. I
thought my novel would interest Chinese readers, so I decided to look into
placing it with them.
The company was founded
by Runa Jiang in Beijing in 2011. Jiang says she launched Fiberead because
digital book platforms are growing in China and there is a strong interest in works
by foreign authors, but the traditional publishing industry can’t keep up with
reader demand. “There are over one million English books published every year,
but only 10,000 are translated into Chinese and published in China,” says
Jiang. “With such odds, getting published in China is very competitive.”
Authors sign
contracts granting Fiberead an exclusive license to translate,
publish, and sell the eBook in Chinese throughout the world for three years,
after which all rights revert to the author. Stores listing Fiberead titles include
Amazon.cn, Alibaba, JD.com, Dangdang, NetEase, Baidu, and iBooks. Fiberead
shares its income with both the authors and the translators. There are no
up-front fees for authors. For eBooks: 30% is paid to authors, 30% to
professional translators, 5-10% to editors and the rest is re-invested into the
Fiberead platform.
Authors also
have the option of allowing Fiberead to be their agent for printed editions,
which pay 90% royalties. Fiberead maintains close connections with Chinese
bookshops and they update their booklist monthly. They also keep an eye out for
pirated versions of books in their catalogue. “We work with our authors to
protect their IP in China by watching and reporting any illegal uses of our
clients’ IPs,” says Jiang. “Chinese demand is high for international books and
many titles are translated illegally and spread online because a legitimate
translation is not available.”
Mark Williams,
an indie author who has worked with Fiberead, told me, "I have nothing but
praise for Fiberead. The experience has been fantastic from day one. Everything
from upload, through translation, selling and getting paid. Through Fiberead my
book Sugar
& Spice, published under the pen-name Saffina Desforges, became the
first and so far only Western indie title to reach number one on Amazon China.
Give Fiberead a try and you could be next."
If you want to
take the first step and start the ball rolling, email contact@fiberead.com
When I myself
signed-up, it took about two months to receive the invitation from them to
register and to fill out an Author Central profile. I signed their standard
agency representation contract, which authorises Fiberead to translate and
publish my book. Now I’m working with a team of Chinese translators, and The Orchid Tree is almost ready for
release in Chinese. I’m thrilled.
I took a
different route with my novel, Lady
of Asolo. It’s set in the historic town near where I live in Italy. Many of
my Italian friends wanted to read the story in Italian. I discovered that my
cover designer, who is also the indie author J.D. Smith, had her novel Tristan
and Iseult translated into Spanish via Babelcube.
She gave me good reports of them at the time, and now she says, “It’s easy to
work with their translators, and to get my books out there in other languages.
Marketing is hard though, and can't necessarily be done in the same way you
would if you were doing so in an English speaking country as you're marketing a
book in another language.”
Indeed, promotion
is a bugbear among many authors, and even translators, on this site. Unlike Fiberead,
who market your books for you in China, Babelcube leave you and your translator
to your own devices. I knew this before I signed up, but it did not put me off:
I filled out my profile and added my first book; again with no up-front fee. Babelcube
only accept books already listed on Amazon. I was asked to write briefly about
existing sales and rankings, and to give website and social media links to show my commitment to the platform, and to marketing.
The translators get
paid at a higher rate until your book generates US$2000 in royalties. (55% to
the translator, 30% to the author and the remaining 15% to Babelcube.) The
author does better as more books are sold. Babelcube’s cut is 15% across the
board. I’m happy with this arrangement as I know from experience that
translating is hard work.
Within a month
of uploading Lady of Asolo, I
received an offer from an Italian translator.
Signora di Asolo came out in mid-July and is doing well on all platforms.
In the meantime, I’ve accepted offers for the book to be translated into German
and Spanish.
I’ve had to
grant Babelcube exclusive licenses for my translated book for five years, but
that doesn’t bother me. I probably wouldn’t have got it translated without
them. I’ve established good relationships with my translators and am looking
forward to their translations of my other books in the future.
As an indie
author, I was delighted to find I could get my books translated without agency
representation. The opportunities for independently published writers seem to
be growing every day.
