Comments on: Ranty rant rant about publishing http://www.kelleyeskridge.com/ranty-rant-rant-about-publishing/ Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:38:01 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: karina http://www.kelleyeskridge.com/ranty-rant-rant-about-publishing/comment-page-1/#comment-5381 karina Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:15:30 +0000 http://www.kelleyeskridge.com/?p=443#comment-5381 The bit of your rant where you <i>turns</i> into Gollum cracked me up. I can't say much about this from an author's perspective, as I'd only be contributing second hand experience. I know of a colleague in the UBC Creative Writing program who got a $30,000 two-book deal for her thesis YA novel. She's definitely not quiting her day job, though she did celebrate the breakthrough. Then there's sessional instructor Steven Galloway who managed to get a little more than the six-figure advance for <i>The Cellist of Sarajevo</i>. He could quit his day job, but doesn't want to. As far as literary translation goes, which is my field, we certainly <i>does</i> it for the love of words and sharing. We can expect between $1,000 to $3,000 for a 150-page work, as an advance against royalties of 1 to 2%. If a publisher has already signed us up for a particular book, we could apply for translation grants and get an extra few thousand. Most literary translation is done on-spec. I'll even be putting money into it, beyond MFA tuition and such, by paying my own travel expenses plus professional fees in November to attend the <a href="http://www.fil.com.mx/ingles/i_index.asp" rel="nofollow">Guadalajara International Book Fair</a> just so I get a chance to pitch the English-language works I've been translating into Spanish. Hopefully, a Hispanic publisher will give them a go. Do I expect to make a living from literary translation in the future? No. There isn't even academic recognition for such work. Will I keep translating, then? Of course! Why? Because I'm mad, probably. And because I love the challenge and insight that comes from experiencing my favorite authors' words and phrases so closely. The bit of your rant where you turns into Gollum cracked me up. I can’t say much about this from an author’s perspective, as I’d only be contributing second hand experience. I know of a colleague in the UBC Creative Writing program who got a $30,000 two-book deal for her thesis YA novel. She’s definitely not quiting her day job, though she did celebrate the breakthrough. Then there’s sessional instructor Steven Galloway who managed to get a little more than the six-figure advance for The Cellist of Sarajevo. He could quit his day job, but doesn’t want to.

As far as literary translation goes, which is my field, we certainly does it for the love of words and sharing. We can expect between $1,000 to $3,000 for a 150-page work, as an advance against royalties of 1 to 2%. If a publisher has already signed us up for a particular book, we could apply for translation grants and get an extra few thousand. Most literary translation is done on-spec. I’ll even be putting money into it, beyond MFA tuition and such, by paying my own travel expenses plus professional fees in November to attend the Guadalajara International Book Fair just so I get a chance to pitch the English-language works I’ve been translating into Spanish. Hopefully, a Hispanic publisher will give them a go. Do I expect to make a living from literary translation in the future? No. There isn’t even academic recognition for such work. Will I keep translating, then? Of course! Why? Because I’m mad, probably. And because I love the challenge and insight that comes from experiencing my favorite authors’ words and phrases so closely.

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