I have an idea to publish my novel, in French and Spanish (along with English) as the story is historical fiction that takes place both in Spain and France. How would that work, and is it the best thing to do with a self published novel?
Works just fine so long as you have (pay) a native speaker to translate it into their language. And then have (pay) someone to market it in their native country if self pubbing. You can do it yourself if have the time/skills, but you'd need to have a lot of both to make it worth it.
Babelcube may be worth a look http://www.babelcube.com/more/rights-holders its a translation site that allows for royalty share so there's no upfront cost Personally though i think i'd concentrate on putting it out in English - the big problem with babelcube being that you can't check the quality of translation if you don't speak the language.
My hope is to use a beta reader to insure the quality of the translation. To be honest I don't know how accurate the translations sites are, in keeping a piece period correct. I spent a lot of money on a highly praised editor and she turned my 1800's story into modern day talk like 'cop a feel'. That is my main concern, but as you said it will release under different (translated) names and I could just concentrate on the English for now. I have finished the first draft and when I get it edited I will look for a beta reader.
This is important to consider. Unless you have a decent grasp of the languages your work is translated into, you're really up against it when it comes to marketing. And it's very rare for a novel or book to take off just by being published.
To be clear Babelcube isn't a translation site like say google translate, instead its a service that hooks you up with a real human translator who translates your book in return for a share of the royalties
That is one of the setbacks of being a dreamer. I need to reach out for a reality check from time to time. Thanks all
And please don't even consider using computer translation. It's getting better these days, but it's strictly useful for getting the overall meaning of foreign texts. Even the "close" languages are full of awkward idiom mistranslations and sloppy syntax. Take a look at this thread to see what happens with Google translate.
I thought it may be a little skewed, but I had no idea it was that bad. I looked into the babelcube and I may do it, after I finish my English version. My main reason for thinking of translating it was, the characters travel thru France and Spain. My thought was, that Europeans would have more of a love for historical things. Of course all I know is what I see on TV
course there's an English language market in france and spain - ex pats and french/spanish who speak English or want to improve
