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  1. kamil.tomaszun

    kamil.tomaszun New Member

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    Publisher for a foreigner

    Discussion in 'Traditional Publishing' started by kamil.tomaszun, Dec 3, 2017.

    Hello everyone.

    As i already wrote on the presentation thread, i'm a foreign guy (polish, living in italy)
    and i'm working on my first book. My english sucks and i know it, but i hope you all can forgive me, it's not my main language and i try hard to speak the better i can.
    Maybe someone can help me out with this question:
    Are there any English/american publishers who'd read and evaluate my book in italian? (as it's written that way and i really can't afford a translation)
    I dont want to be too much selfish or too much selfestimating myself but i think my story could work better for a english speaking audience, as in italy they use to concentrate more on erotic or romance stories and a noir/pulp story would not have followers here.
    Anyone could help me out?
    Thanks in advance and sorry again for my bad english.
     
    Alan Aspie likes this.
  2. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    I'd never say never, but... this seems really unlikely to me. Fiction is definitely a buyer's market - there's way more supply than demand. So I'm not sure what would motivate a publisher to translate something into English before even knowing if it's any good or not, not when there are so many English manuscripts vying for their attention.

    Sorry.
     
  3. kamil.tomaszun

    kamil.tomaszun New Member

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    In fact i was meaning that i'd like to know if there's the possibility that someone would first read the book in italian, i mean: a mothertoungue reader for evaluation, and then eventually talking about translating if there's the interest of the publisher. Don't know if i explained well what i'm meaning :D
     
  4. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    Okay, I see the distinction you're making... but I still don't think it's likely. Again, there are just so many manuscripts that are already in English... your book would have to be dramatically better than any of them in order to justify the translation costs. And finding that first reader who works in American publishing and reads Italian, and has enough pull to get a company to translate a book just on his or her personal recommendation... it'll be really tricky.

    If can find someone who works in American publishing (either in acquisitions or at a really high level in the company) and reads Italian, I guess it wouldn't hurt to approach them. But I don't think this is a strategy that has a significant likelihood of success.
     
  5. kamil.tomaszun

    kamil.tomaszun New Member

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    Probably you're right, but the fact is that i'd like more to approach myself in a wider market instead of the italian only... maybe i could try to see if there's any italian publisher that cooperates with an foreign one and risk it that way.
     
  6. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I agree with Bay - I don't see a publisher doing this.

    But the good news is that most (all?) agents will deal with foreign rights. If you get an Italian agent who sells to an Italian publisher, she will also try to sell the foreign rights to other countries (who will then pay for translation).

    Not sure if publishers do that, though.

    Honestly, your best bet is to pay to have your manuscript translated into English and then query that with US agents/publishers (whichever route you choose). Of course, it's likely that it won't be published and so you'll lose the € you spent on translation. But if you can afford it, then that will give you the best chance of publication.
     
  7. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    Your problem is, no agent/publisher is gonna take the risk. Books are generally translated only if they do well in their home country. Why would anyone put money into your book not just to publish it, but with the additional cost of translating it, without knowing whether it would even sell well? Publishing a book without translation costs is risky enough. Also, chances of finding an agent/publisher/editor who reads Italian in America, who would fall in love with your book, who has enough influence to get it published... Well people do win the lottery, but what are the chances?

    I think if you have enough faith in your book, then you would pay for a translator. You may just have to save up for a few years. And if you don't want to put that sort of money into a translator, then what makes you think a publisher would?
     
  8. The Kindle king

    The Kindle king Banned

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    Get the work translated to English and then publish it, some of my clients have had their German books translated into English for the USA/UK market.
     
    Alan Aspie likes this.
  9. Ivana

    Ivana Senior Member

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    Hi, don't lose hope, this is possible but it'll take some luck. My first novel was translated from my native language (Serbian) into German and then published. I was lucky enough to find a publisher (small one, though) who was previously publishing some work from writers from this region, so they had a Serbian speaking decision maker in the team. :) And it wasn't very likely, since not many people in the world speak my native language, right? I think you'd have more chance with Italian. So just keep googling about publishing houses that had already published Italian writers. ;)
     
    Alan Aspie likes this.

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