I am a self-published author who has written three novels so far. All three books are on the Amazon KIndle Select Program, so my ebook sales are exclusive to Amazon. I have had pretty good sales so far, and surprisingly enough, most of my non US sales have been in Germany. I was recently contacted by someone requesting permission to translate one of my books and sell it on his website. http://www.wolffram.de/ I am intrigued, but not sure how this would work in terms of being part of the Select program. Does the program include all ebook versions? Or would a translated work not be covered? I would appreciate advice from anyone familiar with this situation, or with this specific website. Thanks.
Getting a German translation for my self-published novel
- Thread starter LOTLOF
- Start date
Be careful. If this person intends to sell the book on his website, he'll have full control of all sales and income to the translation. And he might well claim copyright to the translated version, which would cut you out of any payments at all. I would proceed with caution here.
I haven't heard of this specific site, but my rule in these situations is always: Don't call us, we'll call you. In other words, don't trust an unsolicited offer from someone you don't know.
If they are legit, there will be a contract spelling out responsibilities, royalty rates, reversion clauses, costs, advances, etc. They should be ready and willing to give you a copy to examine with no commitment. If they can't or won't, run.
Thank you for the advice. So yeah, as intriguing as getting one of my novels translated might be, I don't think it would be worth the potential trouble. I guess I'll pass.