Translations of Game into New Language

[drkrash]

One of my game's fans has become an informal associate of mine; he did editing and development work for a supplement, but was paid only in his listing in the credits, my sincere thanks, and a tiny stipend that I gave him after publication that was not part of any prior arrangement.

He has now expressed interest in translating the manuscript of the core rules into Spanish for publication.  I am very much in favor of the idea and we have discussed splitting profits of the completed work.  He is willing to do marketing on Spanish internet forums and maintain a Spanish Google group.

As I said, I very much want to do this, but thought I'd gather some data first.  Any problems or complications I should be aware of before beginning?

Thanks in advance.

[ODDin]

Well, I've translated Don't Rest Your Head to Hebrew. But there weren't any special complications there.

[drkrash]

Well, I've translated Don't Rest Your Head to Hebrew. But there weren't any special complications there.

Why not? Was it published in Hebrew? The possible complications and/or legalities associated with that is what I'm most concerned with.

[ODDin]

It wasn't published on paper. It's sold via DriveThru RPG and I also sell CDs with the PDF on them. The legalities were mostly me asking Fred Hicks for a permission.
That said, it's mostly based on trust. Had I really wanted to steal Fred Hicks' money, I could have.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi,

I've found two basic ways to work with translations and international publishing. The first is kind of like a marriage: you and the "other guy" effectively join forces in some way, and your own company's scope is now twice as big as it was. You have more-or-less a bi-national, hybrid company, and yours (the original) collects royalties from the new one.

The other way is more like outsourcing: the translating company acts as its own publisher, paying you a lump sum for the use of your material, for a limited number of copies. If it works out, you renew it for another round of copies at some realistic copy count. This is what I do with Narrativa, for instance.

Either way works, but they represent different kinds of investment and attention and economic outcomes.

Best, Ron

[drkrash]

My plan was to publish the translated book myself and pay the translator royalties.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi,

I guess it could go that way too - in this case, the translator is more like a layout or other production-freelancer. The same decision applies, too, whether to go with royalties or with a flat fee. In fact, now that I think about it, this is what I did (or am doing, rather) with Spione - I contracted translation as a service. In that case, I paid a flat fee. As you can probably see, I prefer straight-up payments whenever possible. But the royalties approach is definitely an option.

Best, Ron