In the 21st century, cross-cultural communication is everywhere. It is really hard for authors to ignore the growing market abroad. According to the 2017 Global Ebook Report, the US and the UK together only make up 34 percent of the global Ebook market. The other 66 percent is split up between China, Germany, Japan, France, and the rest of the world — a giant slice of the pie that many writers end up neglecting if they only self-publish in English.

But the time, attention, and money required for translating a book also can’t be underestimated. Is it really necessary to get your book translated? It depends. If you are new to book publishing and know little about the book market, then forget it. If you are an established author who wants to connect with more readers or sell more books, then this article is the one for you. So how to get your book translated well in a labor-saving way?

Learn more about your audience

It’s easy to know the audience in your own country as you share the same language, culture, and all information. But it doesn’t work for the audience aboard. A professional translation service cost a lot, especially from native translators. So to recoup its cost, pick the right foreign market according to your book theme. German, France, Italy, Spain, China, and Japan are highly recommended for their enormous reading population.

Of course, Only you know what is best for yourself. Here are 3 factors you need to consider before making the right decision in the target market abroad.

Be sure to confirm your genre match with the target market.

Find popular books on their online stores like Amazon, Dangdang in China;

Review the international sales of your book.

The next step, find a professional translator or translation agency as the book translation is not only translating languages but also ideas.

Pick a translator or translation agency?

It depends. Unlike normal translation, book translation, one kind of literary translation is an incredibly important ability to find in a translator, especially when the genre of your book is in the minority. So you are lucky if you got any candidates from friends or peers or a translation agency is more recommended.

A translation agency can get access to many kinds of translators and get them contracted, including literary translators whose insight, years of training will make the translation process smoothly and efficiently.

A translation agency like HPTRANS, who has jointly translated and published thousands of works with hundreds of publishing and development institutions around the world over the years, is familiar with the book industry in the target market like China and helps you a lot during publishing your book. Save time, effort, and money.

Then how to pick the right translation agency? 6 questions before making your final decision?

1.      Who will own the copyright?

2.      How much input will they be able to give?

3.      Which genres do the translator of this agency primarily work in?

4.      Can the translation agency provide samples of past work?

5.      How much do they charge?

6.      What is their quality audit process?

Make a chart to bring together all quotes you get and then the answer will be clear. Then send them the sample of your book and wait for their work. If you are satisfied with their work, then you can start the translation process: sign a contract—get the book translated –check –modify—finalized.

The last step, format and publish our translated book.

For your target market, you need to do a lot of research to find a big retailer to distribute your book and then all sorts of things, especially communicating with people who speak a different language. This is another advantage to work with a professional translation agency that has many resources in the book industry in your target market and they will get all things settled.

See, this is how to get your book translated and we will talk about how to market your book in a new county later. Please subscribe to stay tuned.