Book translation prices per page?
Thread poster: lien
lien
lien
Netherlands
Local time: 10:07
English to French
+ ...
Sep 9, 2003

What are the prices for a book translation, a fiction story ? They asked me to make an offer. Could you help me ?

Above that, they want to pay at 1800 characteres a page, I have absolutly no clue what to ask. 126 pages.

I just need to know the average, between such-and-such.


 
Ask for a *minimum* of 12 $ US cents a word. Better 14. Sep 9, 2003

lien wrote:

What are the prices for a book translation, a fiction story ? They asked me to make an offer. Could you help me ?

Above that, they want to pay at 1800 characteres a page, I have absolutly no clue what to ask. 126 pages.

I just need to know the average, between such-and-such.



 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 11:07
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
fiction pays badly Sep 10, 2003

If your client is a publisher, they probably will pay less than 0.10 dollars per word. I would try 25 USD per page, but look also at translatorscafe.com's statistics.
Or look at the American association for translator's site, if they do surveys about pricing.
In Finland publishers pay per sheet for fiction, one sheet is 16 pages, if I remember rightly.


 
nuvo
nuvo
Indonesia
Local time: 16:07
English to Indonesian
+ ...
It's even worse in my country Sep 10, 2003

Heinrich is right. Not only in Finland, we, in Indonesia, we are paid per page. You don't wanna the price. It's too bad!

 
Lorenzo Lilli
Lorenzo Lilli  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:07
German to Italian
+ ...
it depends Sep 10, 2003

Of course it depends on the usual rates for publishers in your country. Try asking in the Dutch forum, I'm sure the Dutch rates are higher than the Italian (good for you).

 
Narasimhan Raghavan
Narasimhan Raghavan  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:37
English to Tamil
+ ...
In memoriam
How much would have been paid to the translators of Harry Potter books? Sep 13, 2003

I have read all the Harry Potter books (five) in the original English, books two and four in German and the books one to three in French. Both the translations are very good and the magic of the words retained. As I have already mentioned in various other threads, I am all admiration for them. Now the question. How much do such high class translations cost? And for that matter the English and the French translations of Das Parfüm of Süsskind?

 
lien
lien
Netherlands
Local time: 10:07
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
We cannot know Sep 13, 2003

Narasimhan Raghavan wrote:

How much do such high class translations cost? And for that matter the English and the French translations of Das Parfüm of Süsskind?


But these guys are the top artists, they can ask what they want.

Lien


 
Soizic CiFuentes
Soizic CiFuentes  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:07
Member (2003)
English to French
+ ...
Translating remind me of show business Nov 12, 2003

There are the struggling actors and the stars! I know some wonderful actor who are still struggling but better actors than some stars.
Translating is an art of words. We start by struggling as well and can't ask for too much, which has nothing to do with the quality of the translation. And we hope to be able one day to ask for what we want as we are translating the bestseller of the year.
I have seen some horrendous translation from "experienced translators" with degrees and certif
... See more
There are the struggling actors and the stars! I know some wonderful actor who are still struggling but better actors than some stars.
Translating is an art of words. We start by struggling as well and can't ask for too much, which has nothing to do with the quality of the translation. And we hope to be able one day to ask for what we want as we are translating the bestseller of the year.
I have seen some horrendous translation from "experienced translators" with degrees and certifications. But they got the job.
In the mean time some of us still have to do with 0.08 USD whether other translators like it not.
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Book translation prices per page?







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