A Closer Look at Babelcube for Translation

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by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

My strategy for the last couple of years is increase the income streams for my already-published books by branching into international publishing, libraries, and translation.

 

I’m about to publish my first translated book, A Dyeing Shame, in Spanish.  My translator is the gifted Alfredo Moyano-Barroso.  I was lucky that Freddy not only speaks Spanish and English fluently, but he lives in the US and was easily able to convey Southern US customs and traditions to a new audience.  Right on that book’s heels is an Italian version of A Body in the Backyard, translated by Valeria Poropat, another wonderful translator.

 

Babelcube is a platform that allows indie authors to audition and retain translators for their books.  Here is my experience working with them:

 

The Good: 

  • The royalty-share agreement. For writers, there’s lots that’s good.  There’s very little risk on our side as writers (except, perhaps, the risk of a bad translation).  We pay nothing upfront.  Babelcube handles payments to the translator, distribution of the books, etc.
  • Checkpoints for quality control. We have opportunities to end the translation process.
  • A partnership (for ebooks) with StreetLIb: a company I already do business with and respect a good deal.  That expands the distribution options (although I wish that StreetLib would take over the print distribution–more on that below).

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