The Rough Draft Is In Swedish

I'm an American author whose book is set in a foreign country. I've received an offer from a publisher in that country. They want to translate the book, and publish it there. This is great news, but the market is very small. I also want to publish in the US, not just because it is a bigger market but also because it is my home. Should I hold off on accepting the foreign offer until (if!) I can work something out with a US publisher? If I do go ahead and publish abroad, then can I revise the MS for a US publisher or is it set in stone and unrevisable once published?

If it's a very small market, your US publisher may not mind your having sold the rights already.  And more and more, agents seem to be going after foreign sales for their clients, so publishers are a bit more accustomed to not having a lot of foreign rights for novels.  So that's unlikely to be an issue.

As for revision, every translation fiddles with the exact phrasing of the text--if it doesn't then the translation won't sound natural to native speakers.  So some differences between the English and other language editions are expected.  

So if there were some way for you to be sure you weren't going to do very much revision (for instance if you've decided already that you're going to be inflexible and hard to work with--which I assume is not the case), then there would be no problem.  But imagine your US editor has a bunch of suggestions that get you really excited and that (for instance) change the ending completely. 

There probably still wouldn't be a problem with copyright between the two editions, but how would you feel about that scenario?  Would you want two very different versions of your story out there--when one of them might end up feeling to you like a beta version and not the story you most want to share with readers?

That's Not a Stranger in the Bushes. That's Santa!

I am a French author. I work with a dozen publishers in France and some of my books are translated into Spanish, Chinese, Korean, etc.. But not in English! I just moved to Ireland and I would like to see my books here. How do I do? Do I find an agent to translate and publish my books? In France the agents do not exist, I contacted the publishers directly and they deal themself for the foreign rights ...

The question is really: whose rights are these?

If the foreign language rights belong to your French publisher, how did your French publisher show your books to Spanish, Korean, and Chinese publishers without having shown them to US and UK publishers?  That seems extremely unlikely to me; it seems far more likely that the US and UK publishers simply weren't interested.  Some books, whether because of art style or topic or treatment, just don't translate to certain other book markets.  For every Everyone Poops, there's a Santa Through the Window.

If the foreign rights are yours, then you could get an agent to represent the foreign rights.  Readers, any agent suggestions?

Lost In Translation II

I have translated a wonderful children picture book from Hebrew that addresses social and emotional intelligence and compassionate communication geared toward children ages 4-8. The book sold 100,000 copies in Israel since 1999 and now we are seeking a US publisher.
I am wondering how to find a publisher or an agent for such a topic since the books that I see in the market are very preachy, written by therapists and published by big publishers that do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
I know there is a huge market in the US for this book because the author came for a tour last December with a play based on the book and I was able to arrange many performance with almost no effort. People where begging me for books after and before the performances. I am just puzzled with how to break in the market.
Would appreciate your professional advice.

When you say that the book addresses "social and emotional intelligence and compassionate communication geared toward children ages 4-8", I cannot be sure whether you see "very preachy" as a plus or a minus. If you see preachiness as a minus, be aware that your query letter may be giving the wrong impression.

I should also mention that based on the mistakes in your question (where / many performance / children book / break in the market), your translation may be giving the wrong impression as well.

If you are talking about a book published by an Israeli publisher, then (as I've mentioned before) the answer is that usually publishers in other countries are pursuing contacts at the large publishers themselves in an effort to sell foreign rights. As a fellow publisher, the 'no unsolicited manuscripts' rule doesn't apply to them. If this is the situation we're talking about, I don't understand why you would be the one pursuing a US publisher. (And just in case: if you don't work at the foreign publisher, you can't contact US publishers and say you're "representing" the foreign publisher.)

If you are talking about a self-published book, however, or (regardless of the term you use) any "publisher" where the author takes on the burden of selling the book, then you are effectively in the same boat with any other author attempting to find an agent or publisher, and all the same rules and advice applies-- except that you must also inform everyone you query or submit to that Hebrew rights are not available.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

Lost in (the process of) Translation

I have some questions about how translations work. If I see a book I love and translate it into English, would I submit that manuscript the same way I would if it were an original work? Or does the publisher acquire the rights to a non-English title and then find a translator for the book?

The latter. Unless the book was originated in an out-of-the-way country where publishing is a tiny industry, chances are high that the book's publisher is seeking or has sought a U.S. publisher for English translation rights. The U.S. children's book market is the largest in the world, so there's motivation.

Foreign publishers send us their catalogs and we request any books we'd like to see. And of course we send representatives to the Bologna Book Fair, where many translation deals are made.

English is the international language of business, so getting a rough translation of a picture book from the foreign publisher is not hard. (That's assuming it's a language no one in the office speaks, in which case we might not bother to ask for one.) Often an editor in house will then smooth the translation from broken English to fluid, and send it back to the foreign publisher for approval.

Longer texts require a translator.

How would one go about getting on that translator list?

You would send a letter to the publisher, advancing yourself as a freelance translator of X language, and you would include your qualifications. "I speak French" is not a qualification you should bother with. We want assurance that you do indeed speak the language fluently, and more than that, can translate it into an English that respects the style and flow of both written languages.

Do publishers tend to keep the original illustrator?

Often.

We occasionally get slush submissions that are translations of books the submitters found on vacation and fell in love with. This shows a very feeble grasp of how foreign rights work. Essentially, they're asking: "Wouldn't you like to figure out how to contact this [Israeli, eg] publisher, figure out who's in charge of foreign rights there, and see whether the rights to this book are even available?" The answer is most likely no.

But if this describes you, you're still a step ahead of the person who sent us a translation of Bili Bili.