How a book gets translated
January 2025
Hi friends,
I put out a call on Instagram for questions people might have for me, and I got this really brilliant one about translated books:
Books in multiple languages that aren’t in English—how do they come to be? How do you write books in other languages?
And I loved this question so much that I’m devoting this entire newsletter to it. Because I realized I haven’t really talked about the process of selling a book in another territory at all yet. And that it’s perhaps extraordinarily strange that I haven’t, since my books are bestselling in a few markets abroad!
So… let’s start at the beginning: when I sell a book to a US publisher. Foreign rights is something that my agency and my publisher negotiate. Each one wants to hold onto those rights because it’s another potential revenue stream… An author gets a much bigger cut of that stream if the agent sells the rights, instead of the publisher.
In the beginning of my career, we gave the rights to my publisher because I had little leverage. But when Case Closed went to auction domestically, part of negotiations was getting to keep those rights, so that my literary agency could sell them instead. (Best call ever.)
At my literary agency, there is a foreign rights department, where a few agents work just on selling subsidiary rights (or “sub rights”). To sell a book abroad, there are three festivals where they can display my work in a booth or in a catalogue for other publishers to peruse. The sub rights agents also work with agents in other countries to submit my work to publishers in each market. Basically, I go on submission!
If a publisher wants to buy the book, they’ll make an offer. If more than one publisher wants to buy, then the book can go to auction (which YES! has happened to me!!!), and if a publisher wants to make an offer so great that they take it off the table before it can go to auction, then that is called a “pre-empt” (and YES!!! that has happened to me too!).
It’s all very exciting stuff when you get an offer for your book in a different language or territory! For me, it comes with wondering whether they’re going to change the cover, the title, or even translate my name! It’s so cool when it’s in a language I can (kind of) read, like Spanish. And it’s so cool when the book is in a language that has an entirely different alphabet, like Bulgarian.
Here’s a list of languages my books have been translated into so far: Spanish, Italian, French, Catalan, Bulgarian, Greek, Czech, Turkish, Farsi, and Russian.
So how do I translate my work? HA!!! *I* don’t. But there are several geniuses who do: my translators!
Each publisher in each country assigns a translator to the project! My translators get a copy of the finished manuscript (usually before the book goes to print in the US), and they will translate it! The cool and interesting thing about this is that the translator has to make the jokes translate… sometimes English puns and idioms don’t have a direct translation, so a new joke or saying has to go in there to create a very similar tone to what it was in English.
I’m endlessly in awe of all my translators… They have to be amazing writers in English and whatever language they’re translating into. They have to understand the intricacies of language—and be able to be versatile in all different types of writing styles and voices. Go translators!!! Thank you for doing brilliant work!
Now, about covers! Some countries will let me see covers before they’re final. Spain, for example, always lets me take a peek at the sketch. For my Greek cover, I actually got to chat with the illustrator long before he drew the awesome cover—an exchange of many messages! That was really cool. (You can see that incredible cover in the pic above: fourth row, third column.)
I get copies in the mail when the book goes to print, and it’s always so surreal! Think about it: I am holding a book in my hands that I wrote AND ALSO cannot read! :-)
Case Closed has hit particularly well abroad… So much so that Spain actually extended the series BEYOND the four books I have in English. Case Closed—or Resuelve el misterio (Spanish), or Resol el misteri (Catalan)—actually is a nine book series over there! And there’s a spinoff mystery that released yesterday in two different languages in Spain called “Eliza’s Diary.”
Case Closed has been a big success in the United States! But it has been on another level in Spanish, Catalan, and Italian. I actually hit a whole bunch of major author milestones abroad before I did domestically… and it’s really cool to me that books can have different lives in different languages in different places!
I feel so lucky to have such lovely supportive editors around the world! I’m really excited to see where my work travels from here… hopefully to the same countries… and to new ones too!
And on that note: I have some great news to announce…
My next series, The Incorruptibles, is headed to Australia/New Zealand!!! It’ll be published by Scholastic, which is such a dream come true for me; inside my heart is still an elementary school version of myself who used to lose her mind over Scholastic bookfairs! And the release date? July 25th! So excited to see these little sorcerer-fighters making their way across the Pacific!!
What I’m Writing
THE INCORRUPTIBLES series (June 10, 2025): I’m actually finishing up the first draft of Inc2 right now, and I have a magnificent title for it that I hope I get to keep. (Gotta run it by my editor first though, sorry haha!) I’m really loving the sequel!!! And the more I work on it, the more obsessed I am with (from left to right on the cover below) Cameron, Fiora, Mel, and Onyx.
Preorders are really important to publishers. It shows them how much enthusiasm there is for a book and helps with early sales numbers, which are used to evaluate the potential of a series. Please preorder it, so that I get a chance to do an Inc3, Inc4, and/or Inc5… because with more time, this story is going to some WILD places!
THE MYTHICS series (available now): Haven’t read this one yet? Let some authors I love and admire sell you on it:
Tae Keller, Newbery Medalist and NYT Bestselling Author of When You Trap a Tiger and Mihi Ever After: “Magical, adventurous, heartwarming, and empowering.”
Booki Vivat, NYT Bestselling Author of Frazzled and Meet Me on Mercer Street: “An epic new series about the power of friendship and finding what makes you special.”
Amanda Foody, NYT Bestselling Author of the Wilderlore series: “Magical creatures meets the super girl squad meets awesomeness.”
CASE CLOSED series (available now): Haven’t read this one yet? Let some trade reviewers sell you on it:
School Library Journal: “An entertaining romp that will appeal to fans of humorous mysteries.”
Booklist: “Magaziner blends the fun of interactive stories with a suspenseful mystery and delightful characters.”
Trauma Project (work in progress): Sitting with my agent, waiting for feedback!
What I’m reading
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: It’s about humanity’s last ditch attempt to save planet Earth from a species that’s about to cause an apocalyptic level event because they eat up the sun. It’s going to be a movie next year with Ryan Gosling, but I honestly wouldn’t wait for the movie version… start with the book.
I listened to this on audiobook, and HOLY SMOKES. 10 out of 10, highly recommend that version. It’s a story that’s meant to be read out loud, in my opinion. It’s very funny, there’s some musicality embedded in the actual story, and a few scenes that made me absolutely PANIC (so good that I rewound and listened to them twice).
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo: I am seriously late to the party with this one, but WOW, this book was just so incredible. It was well-researched, gorgeously written, and brilliantly paced. And the feelings—THE FEELINGS!!! The slow-burn lesbian realization—the recognition of yourself in others—was just perfect.
I also really loved this one on audio! This was a big audio month for me—I think my eyes are tired from staring at my computer screen all day, every day.
Saying Goodbye
As some of you know, I do free 30-minute virtual visits during the week of February 3rd—February 7th (to celebrate World Read Aloud Day). This is the last chance / last call to book a visit with me! If you’re interested, please email me at laurenmagazinerbooks(at)gmail(dot)com.
Okay, back to writing… and not a single second to waste on anything but The Incorruptibles 2. You know, in high school I had an English teacher who used to say, “Deadlines are guidelines,” and gosh, how I wish that were the case with my author deadlines! But alas, we power through, fueled exclusively by sugar and caffeinated tea!
Catch you on the flip side,
Lauren
Loved this post! Loved seeing all of the covers of the different translations of your books! And SO interesting about some of your book series having more books in other languages!! Do you get to write those or do they have other authors involved?