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Selling Short Story Translations
Thread poster: Eric Stone
Eric Stone
Eric Stone
Taiwan
Local time: 05:42
Chinese to English
Sep 8, 2021

(Not sure if this is the best forum for this question; please let me know if there's a better one you would suggest.)

On top of my regular commissioned translation projects, I sometimes like to translate old stories from my source language to my target language, and recently I've been thinking about trying to sell some of them (*note that the source text for many of these stories is 300 - 2000 years old, from Classical Chinese -- thus, there shouldn't be a copyright issue.)
... See more
(Not sure if this is the best forum for this question; please let me know if there's a better one you would suggest.)

On top of my regular commissioned translation projects, I sometimes like to translate old stories from my source language to my target language, and recently I've been thinking about trying to sell some of them (*note that the source text for many of these stories is 300 - 2000 years old, from Classical Chinese -- thus, there shouldn't be a copyright issue.)

Does anyone have experience with translating literature or other non-commissioned texts and then trying to sell them as a business practice? I'd greatly appreciate any advice on how to go about doing this. For instance, should I be targeting magazines? Or newspapers? Who do I contact about this within the target publication? etc.

Thanks, ▲ Collapse


Yaotl Altan
 
Barbara Carrara
Barbara Carrara  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 23:42
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Getting the ball rolling... Sep 8, 2021

Hi, Eric

I see that PEN International have an office in Taipei,
https://pen-international.org/centres/tapei-chinese-centre
Why not contact them and take it from there?

Another option would be the Translators' Association at the Society of Auth... See more
Hi, Eric

I see that PEN International have an office in Taipei,
https://pen-international.org/centres/tapei-chinese-centre
Why not contact them and take it from there?

Another option would be the Translators' Association at the Society of Authors,
https://societyofauthors.org/Groups/Translators
Hopefully, they can help you even if you are not a member. Better still if you are.

I'm sure you'll get more tips from our colleagues working in your pair.
Good luck! ▲ Collapse


P.L.F. Persio
Eric Stone
 
Recep Kurt
Recep Kurt  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 00:42
Member (2011)
English to Turkish
+ ...
E-books? Sep 8, 2021

How about selling your translations as e-books?
If the original titles are copyright-free, you might be able to translate and sell them as e-books.
It might be worthwhile to look into this option.

P.L.F. Persio
Yaotl Altan
 
Arabic & More
Arabic & More  Identity Verified
Jordan
Arabic to English
+ ...
Some resources Sep 8, 2021

I think this forum is fine; however, you may also wish to visit this one dedicated more specifically to literary translation:

https://www.proz.com/forum/literature_poetry-22.html

I recently compiled an e-book listing 350 paying literary markets of interest to creative writers and translators, which can be foun... See more
I think this forum is fine; however, you may also wish to visit this one dedicated more specifically to literary translation:

https://www.proz.com/forum/literature_poetry-22.html

I recently compiled an e-book listing 350 paying literary markets of interest to creative writers and translators, which can be found here:

https://amzn.to/38OVxdh

As detailed in the book, there are numerous literary publications (including websites and magazines) that pay for short stories translated to English. Some publishers may also be interested in including your work in anthologies or other collections.

See Two Lines Press (one of the markets listed in my book) for an example of an entity that publishes translated works of fiction as stand-alone pieces on their website as well as larger collections that are published as books:

https://catranslation.org/journal/

https://twolines.submittable.com/submit

https://www.catranslation.org/books/submit-work/

Here are two short stories translated from Chinese to English and published on the same website:

https://catranslation.org/journal-post/the-killer/

https://catranslation.org/journal-post/empty-rooms/

There are many other high-quality publications listed in my book that have a track-record of publishing short stories of this type. Typically, the publication will provide guidelines and other information on its website that explains how to submit your work for publication.

You may also find this website useful as one that is dedicated to Chinese literature in translation:

https://paper-republic.org/



[Edited at 2021-09-08 12:05 GMT] ▲ Collapse


P.L.F. Persio
Eric Stone
 
Eric Stone
Eric Stone
Taiwan
Local time: 05:42
Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks, Sep 8, 2021

These are great resources, thanks to both of you a bunch!

Barbara Carrara
Arabic & More
 


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Selling Short Story Translations






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