HOW DOES IT WORK?
Well, we probably do not need to give you any reason as to why your book would look good in German. You made it here, so that means that you already want it translated, so let's just skip that step.
When you get in touch with us, first of all we will let you know whether and when which one of us can "fit you in", depending on the length of the manuscript you would like us to work on. (If you want to get a general idea on how busy we are, before you get in touch, feel free to check our online schedule here.)
Unless you have a preference on who to work with, we will decide which one of us will work with you (depending on how busy our schedules are) and all communication will go through either Corinna or Katherina from here on, also all the contract details, as these we deal with separately.) Check our Pricing page for an idea how we calculate the cost - so you will know what you can expect.
When we schedule your work, we will give you information for the timeframe, deadline and quote you a feww according to the word count you give us. The word count at this point can be approximately, but should be as close to the final count as possible for accurate scheduling (if we schedule a manuscript with 50K words which then turns out to be 100K words long, this can lead to problems with the projects that follow ... we need to be able to give our clients deadlines we can uphold.)
In the week before work is due to commence, we will get in touch and ask you for the manuscript (unless you already sent that, which some clients prefer, but it not a requirement - we will ask when we need it ;) )Once we have that in hand and know the precise word count, we will send you a contract. This one will once again (along with some legal requirements in the small print, you might want to read this through before signing) state the already agreed time frame, deadlines and the finalized fee according to the word count of the manuscript - and depending on the accuracy of the word count you originally provided, this figure might vary slightly - or even not so slightly.)
(By the way, if, at ANY TIME between our original contract and the beginning of the work you change your mind - maybe you want a different work translated first, or you would like topush it back on the calendar for whichever reason, or indeed you with to cancel altogether - never hesitate to ask. We are told that neither of us bites - well, unless asked to, that is. Circumstances can change for everyone at every moment, and to get a novel translated is quite an investment. Indeed, someone else might be only too happy to take over your slot on the schedule. The one thing we do NOT like is just plain silence. Thankfully we have a steady client base, so this is a nice cushion to fall back upon, but when new clients book a slot and then we never hear from them again, that is not nice. Especially because we also enjoy working for new authors, as books can be like boxes of chocolate - you never know what you get, and sometimes out of the blue you come across a real gem which you might never have discovered otherwise.)
Okay, back to topic. After finishing the translation, your translator will go over the entire file again to eliminate any mistakes that have found their way in. This is done by two workings-through with different types of software and a final read-through on an ereader. If you would like us to organize an external proofreader go over the manuscript as well, we can arrange. This step you can decide on either before, during or after our work is completed. The proofreader will bill you separately for that, see the Pricing page for that. Or if you have your own copy editor or proofreader for the German translation, we can go over their notes once they have finished.
Our translation work will be invoiced and is payable upon completion of the work. There are no up-front payments required. (We keep the right to change this policy as soon as we have been let down by a non-payer for the first time, but so far this has never happened.) By default, our invoices have a two week payment window, but this is negotiable. Payment is possible via bank transfer (preferred) or Paypal.
In Germany, by law the copyright of a translation remains with the translator - this means, whoever has provided the service for you will be the owner of the translated work. By receiving payment from you, your translator grants you the sole right of use, so you can publish the text in any format you wish. But as the copyright is non-transferable, you must by law name the translator within the impressum of the book.
Small add-ons like the book description, any keywords you need and the likes, we do not include in the word count we charge you for. You will probably find that we need to work together to find a suitable title for your book. In Germany there is a law called the "Titelschutz" (title protection), which means that the title of any book has to be exclusive. You can often "cheat" by using a subtitle, if your preferred title is already in use, or sometimes when the book is part of the series, this makes a title unique, but this can also be tricky. Do not worry, we find a way by working together on this one.
Last but not least, you are probably wondering how much time might pass between you sending us the manuscript and us sending you the finished translation. Of course, this depends on the length of the work. But as soon as one of us is able to start a job (when everything else in the queue is cleared), we can finish a full length novel of say 300 pages / 75thousand words within a month / 30 working days. Add a few days to that if you would like it proofread externally. Under normal circumstances we tend to be a bit faster than those 30 days though, but it is always better to have a bit of a cushion so as not to make any promises which we then cannot hold.