Translation and the French Book Industry
Opinion seemed to be divided between a number of participants on the ease or otherwise of getting one's work published in France in French.
Authors present who had had their work published in French had all had their foreign rights sold by their UK agent or by their agent's foreign rights colleague or collaborator.
As for translators, it was reported that French publishers prefer to work with their own translators, something of a risk if you are not happy with the outcome, but seemingly unavoidable.
But there was also a positive sentiment that the French book market was in fact extremely open to foreign works, indeed the average French bookstore will have a far wider collection of non-French writers available in French than your average Waterstones in England. And this was not just something that applied to mass market paper backs, but a far wider range of writers.
But finding translators one's self with the aim of getting the work into French before selling into the French publishing houses (almost exclusively a world that operates entirely without agents) was going to be expensive (someone quoted around 120 euros per 1,000 words) and equally was not going to satisfy their requirements to work with their own translators.
This all said, some words of hope.
One member spoke of a new agent, Ana Jarota, who was actively looking to set herself up as an agent in France, and even had her email address.
QUESTION: IF YOU ARE THAT SOFA MEMBER PLEASE POST A COMMENT WITH ANA'S EMAIL CONTACT AND SOME MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HER.
Other members spoke of AX, La Nouvelle Agence and Andrew Nurnberg all as having a useful potential role to play in this area.
QUESTION: IF YOU WERE ONE OF THE MEMBERS WHO HAS MORE INFORMATION ON EITHER OF THESE PEOPLE OR AGENCIES PLEASE POST A COMMENT BELOW AND LET US KNOW MORE.
There was an interesting conversation about writing in French, how that affected form and style, and what opportunities that offered. Indeed one biographer present had been unable to sell her book to a UK publisher but managed to find a French publisher provided she wrote it in French, which, with some corrective help, she is doing.
Authors present who had had their work published in French had all had their foreign rights sold by their UK agent or by their agent's foreign rights colleague or collaborator.
As for translators, it was reported that French publishers prefer to work with their own translators, something of a risk if you are not happy with the outcome, but seemingly unavoidable.
But there was also a positive sentiment that the French book market was in fact extremely open to foreign works, indeed the average French bookstore will have a far wider collection of non-French writers available in French than your average Waterstones in England. And this was not just something that applied to mass market paper backs, but a far wider range of writers.
But finding translators one's self with the aim of getting the work into French before selling into the French publishing houses (almost exclusively a world that operates entirely without agents) was going to be expensive (someone quoted around 120 euros per 1,000 words) and equally was not going to satisfy their requirements to work with their own translators.
This all said, some words of hope.
One member spoke of a new agent, Ana Jarota, who was actively looking to set herself up as an agent in France, and even had her email address.
QUESTION: IF YOU ARE THAT SOFA MEMBER PLEASE POST A COMMENT WITH ANA'S EMAIL CONTACT AND SOME MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HER.
Other members spoke of AX, La Nouvelle Agence and Andrew Nurnberg all as having a useful potential role to play in this area.
QUESTION: IF YOU WERE ONE OF THE MEMBERS WHO HAS MORE INFORMATION ON EITHER OF THESE PEOPLE OR AGENCIES PLEASE POST A COMMENT BELOW AND LET US KNOW MORE.
There was an interesting conversation about writing in French, how that affected form and style, and what opportunities that offered. Indeed one biographer present had been unable to sell her book to a UK publisher but managed to find a French publisher provided she wrote it in French, which, with some corrective help, she is doing.
posted by SOAF Chairman at 8:54 AM
1 Comments:
Bonjour!
I am interested in translating French books, particularly historical romances, from French to English. Is there a way of getting this information to the French authors?
Claire.Thomas@villanova.edu
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