Once you’ve established that your book is a potential fit for a particular market, you’ll need to find a translator. Is your genre represented at all? If it isn’t, you may want to consider if the market is a good fit for you. Then look at the overall bestseller lists. You won’t be able to get sales figures, of course, but if you look at a bestseller list in your genre and the books have certain characteristics, you have a better chance of success and recouping your investment if your book shares some of those characteristics. Look at bestseller lists, both in your genre and overall.

Of course you can, but this is the most time and money heavy option.įirst of all, do your research in the market(s) you’re interested in. The French, German, and Italian markets are particularly rich in small, successful publishers at the moment, and we’re beginning to see small publishers in some of the Asian markets as well.Ĥ. They also have a much better sense of what will and won’t appeal to their readers, so going with a publisher could help you avoid the mistake of translating and publishing a book that won’t appeal to certain markets. Just like in the English-speaking market, smaller, independent publishers are showing up in other markets, and these publishers are looking for material to meet their needs. Because it’s a way to earn additional money on a book you’ve already written. The cat pretends they’re all beneath her, no matter what language they’re speaking.Īs the Translations Director of Dreamspinner Press, I get asked the same set of questions frequently, so I thought I’d break them down and share the answers with everyone here at Fiction University.

She now lives near Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her husband (who also speaks French), her kids (who understand French even when they’re too lazy to speak it back), and their two dogs (who steadfastly refuse to answer any French commands). That girl was everything Ariel wanted to be at age twelve and wasn’t. By the time she finished high school, she’d written four novels, none of which anyone would want to read now, featuring a young woman who was-you guessed it-bilingual. Those two loves have defined her ever since. When Ariel Tachna was twelve years old, she discovered two things: the French language and romance novels. Ariel Tachna answers some common questions about novel translations. JH: Translating a novel into other languages can add to an author’s sales.

Once in a Lifetime by Ariel Tachna