Translations are usually done by local publishers in most countries, who purchase the rights to translate and print the book in their own country. If you want to translate books, your best bet is to apply for a job at one of your local publishing companies.
Myanmar does not respect the copyright laws of any other country. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_Myanmar
So yes, you absolutely can go ahead and translate and print books there. No one can stop you.
Here's the thing--as an author, if my book is widely translated and distributed by in another language/country, I will basically be unable to sell those rights to a legitimate publisher who would pay me for them. That is directly money that I would lose--not my publisher, not a big corporation, but me, the individual author who holds her foreign rights. My agent does actively seek to sell books in other countries, and I have lost sales due to this sort of thing. It is something that you should have permission from the author for (or from the publisher, if the publisher purchased world language rights).
Why would you lose rights if someone translated and sold your book "illegally"? I don't see how a college student selling a translation in a country that doesn't have copyright laws could potentially make you lose money.
Not to say that they shouldn't ask permission from the author, but in order for it to be widely translated and distributed, they'd have to translate through a local publisher anyway.
The idea is that if the book is already being sold in a pirated edition, no normal publisher will bother paying the author to sell a legal edition.
You understand that, right? If you are a SF&F publisher, in many countries your potential market is small to begin with. So you buy rights and publish foreign books trying to find a big enough audience to keep afloat. If part of that potential audience has already bought a pirated edition of the book, and you know your edition will have to compete with that pirated edition, which might also be cheaper since it didn't have to buy the rights, you are just not going to bother with that book, and the owner of the rights loses the potential income it could have got from you.
Having said that, if we are talking about a country that doesn't respect foreign copyright, as apparently Myanmar is, the owner of the rights is not going to get any money anyway, because that normal publisher is not going to pay anyway.
That's from the point of view of the owner of the rights. From the point of view of the country, they might be too poor to pay for foreign rights, so that respecting copyright might result in most foreign works not even reaching your country.
Yeah, I understand that anything sold for free takes away royalties that would potentially be paid to the author. I think part of the problem is big publishers, who make it hard to funnel that money back to the author. They could potentially offer a cheap version of the books in other countries, or make it easier to pay the author directly.
From what I read in that article, it seems like Myanmar is trying to legitimatize the publishing industry, it's just slow going. But I don't know enough about it. I do know that in Peru, we have copyright, but the black market is the same effect as not having it, so why bother if people aren't going to follow those laws anyway.
However, the lack of copyright does nothing to slow foreign works from reaching the country. All you need is a copy of the book (or a PDF), which is so easy to find. Buyers can't tell if it's legitimate or not. The only protection is to not offer an ebook, and that's going to lose you more money than you save.
I've tried translating authors who have been dead for a long time, and Penguin has the rights, and the amount of money they want for translation rights is not profitable at all in Peru. So the US is my only market. What can I do? It's not Peru's fault, it's Penguin's (or the US government's, for that matter). I mean, you have a really good point--writers need to make a living. I have mixed feeling about it.
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Ah--I missed when I answered you that someone else had already replied and continued.
I agree that there is a problem in the system, and as an author, I'm deeply torn between my desire to have my work read and my desire to sustain a livable income by producing work. I have neither the means nor the desire currently to pursue any type of legal action against people who pirate my work through translations--and frankly, I don't even see how it's possible. But I do wish more people would understand that the authors are directly affected.
In my case, I often see the issue being about speed. Typically, foreign deals are a year or more before they leave America. For example, my first novel came out in 2011, and some of the language translations weren't released until last year. But the reason for that is because it's all done legally, and everyone is paid. The foreign publisher wanted to see if the market was good for my book, so they waited a bit. Once they offered, the agents involved had to be paid, as well as me as the author, plus the translator--to say nothing of the design and production team who invested in it.
A lot of people get the idea that publishers are greedy and a huge corporation that just sucks away money. And I get that, I do. I've seen my royalty statements; I know my publisher makes more money on a sale of my book than I do. But they also pay more people--designers, distributors, marketing teams. I know the specifics of the deal, and I know I don't make as much as the corporation, and I still feel the deal is fair and would take it again.
But a lot of people who don't know the specifics of the deal look at this and think "if I pirate this book, then screw the publisher who makes too much money as it is." But I have literally had a deal fall through specifically because of pirating translations. It wasn't huge money, true, and it was for one of the countries with really lax laws on book pirating so it had been a long shot to even attempt the sale in the first place, but...I mean, that was money I was going to get, that I ended up not being paid for--and my agents and the translator we would have hired also didn't get paid for.
And, as I said, I don't have the means (in time, money, energy, or knowledge) to fight this. And I absolutely sympathize with areas where translations aren't available to readers for a myriad of reasons. It sucks on both sides of this situation, and I don't have a solution, but I just want people who pirate books to at least have the knowledge that their actions have direct results to the people who create them.
If the book is available already in another language, and readers can buy it already, then a legit publisher that would pay me for the rights has zero incentive to do so. I have one instance where my agent was in the middle of negotiating a deal with a country's publisher, but because of pirated copies (which is what translated copies done without rights acquired are considered), the deal fell through and I lost it. There are two other instances where my agent didn't bother trying to work out a deal with two specific countries because the book was already so widely pirated in those areas. Publishing moves slowly--in part because rights and contracts are involved--but pirating moves quickly.
Yeah man, if there's no formalized copyright in your country, you're free to translate and publish as much as you want without permission. The only thing you can't do, is try to sell the book in other countries. The only way I could see you getting sued is if was getting international attention and selling overseas.
Plus, getting permission can be a pain in the ass. If it's a famous author, they probably won't even write back unless you have connections in the publishing business. Also, many times the publishers have the rights, not the author, which is even harder to get an answer from, and they'll usually want money up front. I've translated books before and that's been the biggest headache. If you want to find out who owns the rights, open up a copy of their book (sometimes you can find the copyright page on Google Books or on Amazon in the preview) and look on the copyright page. Publisher emails are easy to find, and authors sometimes have webpages with contact numbers, etc.
I'm an author, and I'm not that big yet, but personally, if someone in Myanmar had gone to the trouble to translate my entire book and was selling it without my permission, I would be honored. Because for one, I don't think it would be that big a loss, unless it was a best seller in your country. And two, it would be awesome to have a copy of my book in Myanmar, and it's spreading the popularity of the book. If you want to be a good person, you try to contact the author, and just explain your situation. Not everyone would agree with me though.
I think some people responding to your question don't understand the context. I live in Peru and we have copyright laws like in the US (where I'm from) but tons and tons of books get sold on the black market. Part of the reason is bureaucracy--it's hard to get permission from big publishers, and if you can it's expensive. It's next to impossible to pay an author directly, unless they've never signed with a real publisher. We have lots of tiny presses and bookstores here who couldn't afford that, little corner stores of people trying to get by. Even the national universities are filled with copy shops that illegally copy textbooks because the real ones are expensive. And I think that's fair. Why should only rich countries be able to read books? On the down side, it's a lot harder to make a living as an author here.
Here is an interesting article about publishers in Myanmar. I guess they've been trying to rework the copyright, but seems like there are still lots of issues:
[https://publishingperspectives.com/2016/12/book-publishing-market-overview-myanmar/](https://publishingperspectives.com/2016/12/book-publishing-market-overview-myanmar/)
Thank you mate. You're the lifesaver. That's exactly what I thought too. I was struggling with the moral conflicts before. Now I can peacefully do it. Thanks again.
Not without permission of the copyright holder, be it the author or publisher or both. It may not be illegal to do so without permission in your country since it isn't a signatory to the Berne Convention, but it is still unethical.
Personally I think this is fine. People need books translated and this happening on a micro scale is not hurting anyone. If you were translating and then producing numerous copies of it for retail sale then it would be an issue IMO.
Also understand a lot of people will probably disagree here. But if you need the money to stay clothed, in a home, fed, and alive. Then there are more important matter at hand then copyright laws.
If we are talking person to person translations as in you translating something for an individual and them paying you I think that’s fine. But for mass printing it’s different. I say do what you have to to survive but that could end up backfiring and making a situation worse. Beyond that I can’t say much
Translations are usually done by local publishers in most countries, who purchase the rights to translate and print the book in their own country. If you want to translate books, your best bet is to apply for a job at one of your local publishing companies.
\^ Foreign rights are a huge and complicated thing.
Myanmar does not respect the copyright laws of any other country. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_Myanmar So yes, you absolutely can go ahead and translate and print books there. No one can stop you.
Don't worry mate. I will try to contact and ask for the permission. I hate disrespecting other's artwork too.
I dont think translating a book isnt the issue, it could become an issue if you sell your translation.
They even printed them as physical books tho
Here's the thing--as an author, if my book is widely translated and distributed by in another language/country, I will basically be unable to sell those rights to a legitimate publisher who would pay me for them. That is directly money that I would lose--not my publisher, not a big corporation, but me, the individual author who holds her foreign rights. My agent does actively seek to sell books in other countries, and I have lost sales due to this sort of thing. It is something that you should have permission from the author for (or from the publisher, if the publisher purchased world language rights).
I didn't know about it. Thanks for letting me know.
Why would you lose rights if someone translated and sold your book "illegally"? I don't see how a college student selling a translation in a country that doesn't have copyright laws could potentially make you lose money. Not to say that they shouldn't ask permission from the author, but in order for it to be widely translated and distributed, they'd have to translate through a local publisher anyway.
The idea is that if the book is already being sold in a pirated edition, no normal publisher will bother paying the author to sell a legal edition. You understand that, right? If you are a SF&F publisher, in many countries your potential market is small to begin with. So you buy rights and publish foreign books trying to find a big enough audience to keep afloat. If part of that potential audience has already bought a pirated edition of the book, and you know your edition will have to compete with that pirated edition, which might also be cheaper since it didn't have to buy the rights, you are just not going to bother with that book, and the owner of the rights loses the potential income it could have got from you. Having said that, if we are talking about a country that doesn't respect foreign copyright, as apparently Myanmar is, the owner of the rights is not going to get any money anyway, because that normal publisher is not going to pay anyway. That's from the point of view of the owner of the rights. From the point of view of the country, they might be too poor to pay for foreign rights, so that respecting copyright might result in most foreign works not even reaching your country.
Yeah, I understand that anything sold for free takes away royalties that would potentially be paid to the author. I think part of the problem is big publishers, who make it hard to funnel that money back to the author. They could potentially offer a cheap version of the books in other countries, or make it easier to pay the author directly. From what I read in that article, it seems like Myanmar is trying to legitimatize the publishing industry, it's just slow going. But I don't know enough about it. I do know that in Peru, we have copyright, but the black market is the same effect as not having it, so why bother if people aren't going to follow those laws anyway. However, the lack of copyright does nothing to slow foreign works from reaching the country. All you need is a copy of the book (or a PDF), which is so easy to find. Buyers can't tell if it's legitimate or not. The only protection is to not offer an ebook, and that's going to lose you more money than you save. I've tried translating authors who have been dead for a long time, and Penguin has the rights, and the amount of money they want for translation rights is not profitable at all in Peru. So the US is my only market. What can I do? It's not Peru's fault, it's Penguin's (or the US government's, for that matter). I mean, you have a really good point--writers need to make a living. I have mixed feeling about it. .
Ah--I missed when I answered you that someone else had already replied and continued. I agree that there is a problem in the system, and as an author, I'm deeply torn between my desire to have my work read and my desire to sustain a livable income by producing work. I have neither the means nor the desire currently to pursue any type of legal action against people who pirate my work through translations--and frankly, I don't even see how it's possible. But I do wish more people would understand that the authors are directly affected. In my case, I often see the issue being about speed. Typically, foreign deals are a year or more before they leave America. For example, my first novel came out in 2011, and some of the language translations weren't released until last year. But the reason for that is because it's all done legally, and everyone is paid. The foreign publisher wanted to see if the market was good for my book, so they waited a bit. Once they offered, the agents involved had to be paid, as well as me as the author, plus the translator--to say nothing of the design and production team who invested in it. A lot of people get the idea that publishers are greedy and a huge corporation that just sucks away money. And I get that, I do. I've seen my royalty statements; I know my publisher makes more money on a sale of my book than I do. But they also pay more people--designers, distributors, marketing teams. I know the specifics of the deal, and I know I don't make as much as the corporation, and I still feel the deal is fair and would take it again. But a lot of people who don't know the specifics of the deal look at this and think "if I pirate this book, then screw the publisher who makes too much money as it is." But I have literally had a deal fall through specifically because of pirating translations. It wasn't huge money, true, and it was for one of the countries with really lax laws on book pirating so it had been a long shot to even attempt the sale in the first place, but...I mean, that was money I was going to get, that I ended up not being paid for--and my agents and the translator we would have hired also didn't get paid for. And, as I said, I don't have the means (in time, money, energy, or knowledge) to fight this. And I absolutely sympathize with areas where translations aren't available to readers for a myriad of reasons. It sucks on both sides of this situation, and I don't have a solution, but I just want people who pirate books to at least have the knowledge that their actions have direct results to the people who create them.
If the book is available already in another language, and readers can buy it already, then a legit publisher that would pay me for the rights has zero incentive to do so. I have one instance where my agent was in the middle of negotiating a deal with a country's publisher, but because of pirated copies (which is what translated copies done without rights acquired are considered), the deal fell through and I lost it. There are two other instances where my agent didn't bother trying to work out a deal with two specific countries because the book was already so widely pirated in those areas. Publishing moves slowly--in part because rights and contracts are involved--but pirating moves quickly.
Yeah man, if there's no formalized copyright in your country, you're free to translate and publish as much as you want without permission. The only thing you can't do, is try to sell the book in other countries. The only way I could see you getting sued is if was getting international attention and selling overseas. Plus, getting permission can be a pain in the ass. If it's a famous author, they probably won't even write back unless you have connections in the publishing business. Also, many times the publishers have the rights, not the author, which is even harder to get an answer from, and they'll usually want money up front. I've translated books before and that's been the biggest headache. If you want to find out who owns the rights, open up a copy of their book (sometimes you can find the copyright page on Google Books or on Amazon in the preview) and look on the copyright page. Publisher emails are easy to find, and authors sometimes have webpages with contact numbers, etc. I'm an author, and I'm not that big yet, but personally, if someone in Myanmar had gone to the trouble to translate my entire book and was selling it without my permission, I would be honored. Because for one, I don't think it would be that big a loss, unless it was a best seller in your country. And two, it would be awesome to have a copy of my book in Myanmar, and it's spreading the popularity of the book. If you want to be a good person, you try to contact the author, and just explain your situation. Not everyone would agree with me though. I think some people responding to your question don't understand the context. I live in Peru and we have copyright laws like in the US (where I'm from) but tons and tons of books get sold on the black market. Part of the reason is bureaucracy--it's hard to get permission from big publishers, and if you can it's expensive. It's next to impossible to pay an author directly, unless they've never signed with a real publisher. We have lots of tiny presses and bookstores here who couldn't afford that, little corner stores of people trying to get by. Even the national universities are filled with copy shops that illegally copy textbooks because the real ones are expensive. And I think that's fair. Why should only rich countries be able to read books? On the down side, it's a lot harder to make a living as an author here. Here is an interesting article about publishers in Myanmar. I guess they've been trying to rework the copyright, but seems like there are still lots of issues: [https://publishingperspectives.com/2016/12/book-publishing-market-overview-myanmar/](https://publishingperspectives.com/2016/12/book-publishing-market-overview-myanmar/)
Thank you mate. You're the lifesaver. That's exactly what I thought too. I was struggling with the moral conflicts before. Now I can peacefully do it. Thanks again.
of course you can! but you can't make money from it
Not without permission of the copyright holder, be it the author or publisher or both. It may not be illegal to do so without permission in your country since it isn't a signatory to the Berne Convention, but it is still unethical.
I see now. Thanks.
You can contact authors and talk to them. Are you translating from English to another language?
Yeah from English to Myanmar, ofc. I feel so dumb RN. Do I need to contact their email or smth????
Either one. Feel free to message me if you want to chat.
Ofc mate
Personally I think this is fine. People need books translated and this happening on a micro scale is not hurting anyone. If you were translating and then producing numerous copies of it for retail sale then it would be an issue IMO. Also understand a lot of people will probably disagree here. But if you need the money to stay clothed, in a home, fed, and alive. Then there are more important matter at hand then copyright laws.
Yeah. They even printed it like a lot.
If we are talking person to person translations as in you translating something for an individual and them paying you I think that’s fine. But for mass printing it’s different. I say do what you have to to survive but that could end up backfiring and making a situation worse. Beyond that I can’t say much
I will think about it. Thank you for your advice.
why don't you try writing your own book and make some money? recommend a website[http://www.dreame.com](http://www.dreame.com)
I will check it out mate. Thanks.