Apart from Cornelia Funke’s books, it is rare to find translations from German in the children’s section of US bookstores. And it isn’t just German: translations from other languages are just as rare. We have “Babar” and “Madeline” from French, “Pippi Longstocking” from Swedish, and very little else. Why aren’t there more?
In an article in Time Out magazine (http://www.timeoutny.com/newyork/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TONYWebArticles1/583/books/found_in_translation.xml) Michael Miller reports that only 3% of books published in the US are translations. I would not be surprised to learn that the percentage is even lower for children’s books.
In Germany, meanwhile, about a third of the roughly 5,000 children’s books published each year are translations—primarily translations of books written in English. This information comes from the German Book Office, which also published an interesting interview with Chad Post of the Dalkey Archive Press, which specializes in translations of adult literary works (http://www.gbo.org/gbo/en/index.php). Post explains that it costs around $25,000 to publish a book, and translating costs typically add $10,000 more. The average sale of literary books is around 3,500 copies; for translations (which are often avoided by reviewers) it is often closer to 2,000 copies. At that level of sales, the publisher is likely to make less than $20,000, which does not cover the costs, Post says.
If translated books lose money, on average, it’s no wonder that publishers don’t do more of them. But the publishing world is changing, and it may be possible to create a viable business based on translations. The technology of print-on-demand (which can reduce the initial capital required to publish a book), non-bookstore channels such as Amazon (which can increase the percentage of the sales price received by the publisher), and the Web as a marketing vehicle can turn what used to be a money-losing proposition into a mildly profitable one.
That, at least, is one theory. I will be testing it shortly and will let you know what I find out.
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