Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing EP 085 - Annette Spratte on German Translations

Jul 19, 2019

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In this episode Mark interviews Annette Spratte a bilingual author living in Germany who has published books in various genres and languages, including a contemporary romance series self-published in English, a children‘s book series in German with three traditionally published books and two more scheduled for 2020. A historical romance will also be traditionally published in German in 2020. In addition to writing, Annette loves to support Indie authors with affordable translation services.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a word from this episodes sponsor...

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

Mark then goes on to thank Patrons of the show as well as those who left comments on episode 84, and who were entered in a chance to win a copy of Patrick O'Donnell's book COPS AND WRITERS.

Thanks to Amy Tasukada, Chad Boyer, MZ Lowe, and Vale Nagle for leaving comments. Also, thanks to Patrick O'Donnell for answering the police related questions.

In their conversation Mark and Annette talk about:

Annette's history as a translator since 1995 before she moved over into book translation, which she enjoys far more
The importance of getting the emotion and the tension right in a literary translation (as opposed to legal document translation)
Annette's own writing experience with contemporary romance fiction (English) which was self-published and the children's adventure fiction (in German) that has been picked up by a publisher
How Annette initially started with a self-publishing services company that she later on found out charged almost $50 for the print book in the US - she managed to get out of that deal and published the book directly herself
The size of the German book industry and the fact that eBooks might be as little as 5% of overall book sales
Those magic words from a publisher who said to Anette: "I read your book and I couldn't put it down!"
How a lot of the romance books on the market in Germany are translations from English
A bit of a perspective on the size and reach of Tolino, a major eBook retailer in Germany
What it's like for an author from Europe using an American platform for eBook publishing
Why authors shouldn't use something like Google translate for translating their novel
Subtle differences in the form of address in the German language (formal VS familiar)
The genres that Annette works with and prefers to work with in her translation business
Why she prefers to avoid horror and erotica translations as well as a preference for fiction over non-fiction
The research that can be involved in doing a literary translation, particularly for historical fiction
Examples of terms or services that aren't used or known in Germany - such as "Uber" - for example
The importance of using the same translator when working through a book series in order to have a consistent style/voice
How word of mouth is the most common way that authors and translators connect with one another
Typical costs of translations, and Annettes current and lower fees of 3 cents per word
How an English speaking/reading author would be able to determine if the translation is a quality one
Some of the legal aspects associated with copyright on translations in Germany
The fixed price laws for books in Germany and how that has allowed for the continued existence of both chain and independent bookstores in that country
The continued popularity of thrillers and romance in the German book market
How German readers are perfectly content with books that aren't set in Germany
The value of the resources on the site indiesgogerman.com

Mark then reflects on the subtle differences in languages, terms, and even different laws in different countries, provinces and states and how this can both be something that can harm a story (ie, an inaccurate overlooked detail), or it can be something that brings an additional depth and realistic richness to a story if used effectively.

Links of Interest:

The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0