Hello. I'm writing a novel about a world famous actress and I think I'm good at this job. Because I'm also a literature translator, so I know some publishers and after that some editors read my novel's a few chapters, they obssessed with me. They are sending trojans to my mails constantly, so I transferred my novel another pc without internet connection. But now I get threats from them. I'm Turkish and live in Turkey (It's a shame for my country--but publishers are very cheater) and writing my novel in Turkish. My english is very bad as you see. But I dont rely on them any more and want to publish my book a world famous publisher. But I cant write it in English. Do you know a publisher which accept it Turkish, then translate it then publish?
Won't happen. You'll have to write it in English yourself, or pay the considerable expense out of pocket to have it translated BEFORE you try to sell it. If you are a literature translator, you know how many nuances are simply lost in translation. What you end up with is unlikely to be publishable.
''What you end up with is unlikely to be publishable.'' I don't really agree with this, i've read a lot of books that were translated for english to french. There is a difference but with a good translator it can be done. The harryp potter series was awesome even in french. voltaires' candide was awesome even in english. details do get lost, but the story and characters are still there.
We're not talking about a foreign language adaptation of a primary publication in English, one which has already become a success in that primary language. A first novel by an unknown writer is hard enough to get published. One which is a translation of an equally anonymous piece in another language stands little chance.
It's a bit complicated mammamaia. I'm young and an unknown author. They read and liked my chapters but I think they thought it won't sell with my unknown name. So firstly they wanted to wed me to an author who famous in Turkey. When I didn't accept this, they started to send trojans to my computer, then send my home thiefs, they're fling dirt at me, speaking about me bad and lie things with other publishers (like I am a insane, bitch, liar, plagiarise and so on) Sorry, my english is limited so I cant expression myself well but everything I said is true and I lived through very bad days and I dont want to publish my book in Turkey anymore. I translated three young adult books from English to Turkish. But it's hard to translate from Turkish to English for me. But today I did a trying. Do you see any hope with my english writing? "A hot summer day of the year of 1919, a steamship belong to Royal Dutch Sea Line, cruising in the cool water of Atlantic Ocean. The destination of the steamship which departed from Rotterdam, was Paramaribo Harbour at Suriname. One of the passengers of the steamship was 19 years old Ella, the daughter of Suriname Governor Baron van Heemstra. She was going to go visit her father, together with her older sister Miesje and her husband Otto. That day there wasn't a single cloud in the sky and the blue water of the ocean shining with the sun's golden lights. Ella was leaning the railings of the deck and when staring at the wide ocean which widening in front of her, she was thinking about the future that waiting for her. Within a few months, she would marry a man who she wasn't in love and had to leaving both her family and her homeland Netherlands and going to Cava Island which her future husband was on duty as an officer. But Ella didn't want to marry. Still she was very young and must see nice days before she marry. She must show up every party, she must steal every young man's heart and play hard to get them, and finally if she had to marry in any case, she must choose the man who live a whole life together herself."
i understand how upsetting what you've gone through must be... as for your translation, sorry to say it will definitely need to be edited/rewritten, before it would be acceptable to publishers... i have done this for writers whose first language isn't english [am doing one now for a pakistani writer] and so i can tell at a glance that it would be a major job in your case, as virtually every sentence will have to be corrected/rewritten... this means it will be a very costly step for you to take... hiring one of the many cut-rate editors who advertise on the net would almost guarantee you will not get what you need, because anyone good enough to do a good enough job won't do it for those ridiculously low rates... the other bad news is that even with the best rewrite expert available doing the job, there is no guarantee the book will ever be accepted by a publisher, meaning that it's most likely the money you spent will never be recouped... it's just a fact of life in the writing and publishing business that only a tiny fraction of all the mss submitted to publishers are ever accepted... and of those that are, the majority won't make their authors much money at all... only the rarest few become bestsellers and make their authors more than a few hundred dollars... i wish i had better news for you, t-bell, but you need to be able to decide what to do based on reality, not wishful thinking... if there's anything i can help you with, or more info you need, don't hesitate to ask... either here, or by email... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
Thank you very much for your symphaty and advices, mammamaia. Hiring an editor is too expensive for me right now. But I think I made a decision. I was writing Audrey Hepburn's life story and they obsessed with it. It's a big project for me, I researched her life five years long and I'm writing it for three years. If it'll stolen I'd be devastated. So I put aside it some time ago and started another book (a fantastic novel about an undead man) and I'm working on it right now. I can't write it in English or cant hire an editor. But I want to write it. Then when it finished, I sacrifice it for the sake of becoming an author and will send it a publisher leaving it to chance. If they wont make a trouble and publish it with my name, then I can send the other book too or if I make money from the published book then I hire an editor for the other book and take a chance with the English publishers. What do you think about my plan? Is it realistic or not? Please say the truth. Loves Feyza
Since you're a literature translator, surely you have other professional translator friends? Might they be willing to do you a favour? Or work on other projects and satisfy yourself with publishing in Turkey and hope/wait for the day when you become a successful author, whereupon you'll be given translators or you'll have the money to hire one. But this is like winning the jackpot and you could be waiting forever
if you find a publisher to put out your other book in turkish, my best advice is to go ahead and publish the hepburn book in turkish, as well... there are already biographies of that amazing lady out in english, so i can't see any hope for you to compete with those, given your language problem and if she's popular in turkey, then you'd have some chance there, at least... and if your name is a problem, then use a pen name... i hope this helps... hugs, m
Okay, I take your advice mammamaia. Mckk, I have no translator friends. Of course I know some of them but they're not my close friends and they can't translate to English.
