copyright and royalties Thread poster: Annette Granat
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Hello!
What happens when a translator is hired by an individual client to translate a book in terms of copyright and royalties?
In addition to the author´s acknowledgement in the book of the translator, what else should happen for the translator´s translation to be protected?
And is there a specific percentage for royalties that can be requested? Are there any links related to these issues that you could share?
This is a self-published autho... See more Hello!
What happens when a translator is hired by an individual client to translate a book in terms of copyright and royalties?
In addition to the author´s acknowledgement in the book of the translator, what else should happen for the translator´s translation to be protected?
And is there a specific percentage for royalties that can be requested? Are there any links related to these issues that you could share?
This is a self-published author that lives in the United States. I live in Panama.
I have only been hired by publishers who list my name in their books but retain all royalties and copyright. I´d like to learn more about this. Thanks!!
Best,
Annette ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 20:30
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Annette Granat wrote:
This is a self-published author that lives in the United States. I live in Panama.
What happens when a translator is hired by an individual client to translate a book in terms of copyright ...?
Firstly, regardless of law, it is likely that your US client is going to want to apply US law to your relationship, and it may even be possible that the client believes things about US law that is not true. So it would be best to address these issues in the contract itself instead of hoping that both parties will simply follow the law. Strictly speaking, since the service provider (you) are located in Panama, Panamanian copyright law would apply, regardless of what the contract says. But don't rely on that. And strictly speaking, since this is a book and not a magazine (or any of the other statutory work-for-hire categories), it's not a work for hire, regardless of what the contract says, so even if you were a US resident, you would be the copyright holder of your translation. However, under US law, a copyright holder can sell or give a way his copyright (so be aware of that when it comes to drawing up the contract). It is also possible for you to grant the author/publisher a license to use your translation, but you may wish to be very specific about what is included in that license (e.g. only printed books, only ebooks, in/excluding audio books, in/excluding audio or video adaptations, etc.).
Although you are the copyright holder of your translation, you are not allowed to publish your translation without permission of the author of the original work. And they are not allowed to publish your translation without your permission.
What happens when a translator is hired by an individual client to translate a book in terms of ... royalties?
Royalties is something you have to agree to with the author. But I can say this: it is unusual for a business translator such as yourself to translate a book and earn *only* royalties. It is more usual for the author to pay you an amount per word, and it is also not unusual for translators such as yourself not to receive any royalties after the original price of the translation was paid for.
It is tempting to want to work for royalties instead of payment-per-word, but do a realistic calculation of how much you are likely to earn either way.
(Various websites put the author's royalties at around 10% for printed works and around 60-70% for e-books or vanity publishing, and I suppose you could argue that the translator should be paid half of that.)
Suppose for example they sell their book for $10 on Amazon. They might get $6 themselves, and then you'd get $3. Suppose the book is 50 000 words and you agree to work for the very low rate of USD 0.03 per word. That's USD 1500. If you were paid in royalties only, they'd have to sell 500 books (at the full sale price) for you to get to that amount. How likely is it that they will sell 500 copies of your translation?
Also, it's going to be a lot easier for you to get paid if you are paid a single amount at the end of the translation job than to expect this private person to keep track of the pennies that they need to pay you, and to remember to pay them to you.
In addition to the author´s acknowledgement in the book of the translator, what else should happen for the translator´s translation to be protected?
It is not automatic under US law for the translator's name to be mentioned anywhere in/on the book. If you'd like your name to be mentioned, you have to put that in the agreement with the client.
| | | | | I've translated 25 books and never received royalties | Sep 26, 2022 |
They're only worth insisting on if the book is likely to be a big bestseller, like a Harry Potter or something.
I did write a book fifteen years ago which I still receive royalties on. It works out at about $50 a year if I'm lucky, so a translator would get substantially less. It's better just to negotiate a fixed fee.
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