I just got a note from a reader in Germany who bought EPUB für iPad & Co:Ebooks erstellen und optimieren von Text bis Multimedia, the German translation of my EPUB Straight to the Point, published by Addison-Wesley Buch with an ISBN of 978-3-8273-3051-2. He wanted a copy of my new Fixed Layout miniguide. After I sent it to him (it's free to anyone who's bought a copy of my book, from any store, in any language), I went to find the German edition, which I didn't realize was already for sale. It's for sale on Amazon.de, among other places.
There's also a Dutch edition. I know this because the Dutch translator sent me a photo! It's published by Pearson Education Uitgeverij and is called Aan de slag met ePub. Its ISBN is 9789043022163.
The prize for first translation, however, goes to Pearson in France for the French edition, Créez des documents ePub: Concevoir des livres électroniques pour iPad et autres liseuses, both in print and in EPUB, without DRM! Awesome!Do you have a foreign language edition of EPUB Straight to the Point? I'd love to hear about it, and what you think of it.
Last week I received the Dutch edition of your book. This book gives me good view of how to create a proper Epub. Thanks! Would have the comination of CS5 and Sigil a good idea?
ReplyDeleteI really like the cover of the Dutch edition. It is really sharp.
ReplyDeleteI assume that you get paid a percentage of these sales. Is it the same as the English version that you wrote originally or does the translator get a slice?
ReplyDelete@flowney. I get a very small percentage. It's pretty costly to translate and edit a local edition of a book, especially in languages in which the market is particularly small. I know because I used to do it in Barcelona, translating and publishing (mostly) Peachpit's books in Spanish and Catalan. Not only do you have to pay the translator, you have to edit the translation, which if you're doing a top-notch job includes redoing the examples and screenshots, layout the book, design the cover, redo the index, get the book printed, and then get it distributed. Each associate along the way must be paid.
ReplyDeleteAn average amount that a foreign publisher pays the original publisher for translation rights is about 8% of net sales (that is, what the publisher brings in, which might be as little as 40% of retail, since booksellers and distributors take a huge chunk). Then the original publisher makes a deal with the original author about how they split up that 8%. It's pretty minimal.
If I hadn't worked on the other end, I might feel very differently about it. As it is, I really appreciate the work that translators do and am happy to see my work available in other languages. But I'm not living off of it.