Interview with Historical Romance Best-selling Author Kate Bateman
Today we open a cycle of interviews, where we will be asking our guests all the things indies want to know regarding the world of literary translations and maybe haven’t got a chance to ask. Our first guest is Kate Bateman, a best-selling author of Regency and Renaissance historical romance novels. Kate has had her books translated both via her traditional publishers into languages such as French, Italian, Croatian, and Japanese, and she has also outsourced some of her foreign editions, such as Brazilian and German.
Hello, Kate, and welcome to Spanish Book Translations. We are thrilled to have you as our first author guest on our blog.
As you may know, a lot of authors out there are considering having their books translated into different languages; but whether it is for budgetary reasons, fear of being scammed, language barriers, etc., not many dare to do it. Today, we would like to ask you some questions regarding your translations in the hopes of shedding some light on the topic from an author’s perspective, rather than a translator’s.
Before we get started…
Would you like to introduce yourself and briefly tell us a bit about your career, how you got started, and how your author brand developed over the years?
Kate Bateman: Hello and thanks for having me! I write ‘badasses in bodices’: sexy, snarky, adventure-filled Historical Romances. My books feature feisty, intelligent heroines, wickedly inappropriate banter, and heroes you want to strangle and kiss!
Writing Historical Romance is, in fact, a second career for me. I spent 15 years in the UK as a Fine Art and antiques appraiser, running my own auction house, Batemans. It was only when I moved from the UK to the USA in 2011, with my husband’s work, that I started to write romance full-time. Since I was a huge lover of reading historical romance, that was what I wanted to write as well—especially since my background in antiques gave me a great grounding in the period. I also have a degree in English (Literature), so I was hopeful that I could string a sentence together. . .
For my publishing journey, I was extremely lucky. My first book, an Italian-Renaissance set tale called The Devil To Pay was entered into a writing contest and resulted in an editor from Random House (who was a judge of the contest) asking for the full manuscript. She loved the book, but since Regency-set stories were much easier to sell at that time, she asked if I would write a Regency. I pitched a three-book Regency series, (my Secrets & Spies series), and was thrilled when it was accepted for publication. Those first three books were actually digital-first (meaning they never ended up getting a physical print run, since that line was eventually discontinued). I wanted to be traditionally published in print, so I had my agent pitch my next books to other publishers, and we sold my next three-book series to MacMillan / St. Martin’s Press. I’ve been with them ever since, for nine further books, (Bow Street Bachelors series, Ruthless Rivals Series, and Her Majesty’s Rebels series). Road Trip With A Rogue will be coming out in July 2025!
Coincidentally, I self-published The Devil To Pay a few years after it had been rejected – and it was nominated for the 2019 RITA award, which made me very happy! I’ve also self-published several spin-off novellas from my trad-published series, as well as some for anthologies and other collaborations. So, technically, I’m a hybrid writer right now; traditionally published and also doing indie projects.
Were your first translated titles handled by your traditional publishers? How much say did you have in the decision-making process? How long did the process take, and how was the experience?
KB: Yes, Random House and then St. Martin’s Press both sold the foreign rights to my books to various countries, (through a third-party foreign rights agency). I think my first foreign translations were the Secrets & Spies series in French, with J’ai Lu.
For the trad-organized translations I really have no input at all. The translator and covers etc. are all chosen and designed by whichever publisher has bought your books. I love seeing the different covers each country makes. They’re all quite different, but also capture the book in their own way. Styles for covers change quite a bit depending on the country.
I’m in awe of translators. It’s such an art to take someone else’s words and accurately convey them into another language. Sometimes a literal translation is impossible—perhaps because the words for a particular thing or concept don’t really exist in the target language—and a good translator will have to be creative in conveying the sense and tone of the original without losing the style of the author or substantially changing the meaning of the work.
It’s interesting for me to read the French translations of my own books, because I studied French at university level too, and I often find that the way something’s been translated is quite different to what I’d originally written, but the essence and meaning of the sentence are still there, so it’s a successful translation, if not a word-for-word substitution. An author puts a LOT of trust into their translator, entrusting them to convey their original message as well as possible, and the translator of a work completely deserves to be credited for their hard work.
Another thing that is sometimes hard to translate is humour, especially when it’s play on words or puns. Something like that might work in one language, but not necessarily in the target language – the joke would make no sense – so it’s up to the author and translator to have a discussion about how best to deal with that situation. Do you leave out the joke completely? Try to find a similar substitute in the target language? It’s a fun part of the collaboration for me.
In terms of timing, translations can be very slow with traditionally published books: it’s often many months, sometimes even a year, from when I sign a foreign-rights translation contract to when the translated book actually hits the shelves.
How did you decide to outsource the foreign editions of your indie titles and release them in other markets, such as Germany and Brazil? What was the experience like? How long did this process take?
KB: For Germany, I’d heard from other indie authors that it was a good market for Historical Romance translations, so I decided to employ someone to translate the three books in my Secrets & Spies series (after I’d got the rights back from Random House).
I chose to pay outright for the translation, instead of doing a royalty-share of future profits with the translator. Obviously when the cost of the translations needs to be paid up front, or in stages, prior to publication, that can get very expensive. It’s definitely a big investment, one that you hope will pay off when the book gets published, but it can take time to earn back that initial investment!
For my Brazilian translations, I was contacted by Leabhar, a relatively new publisher in Brazil, and offered them the rights to translate my indie books. I negotiated the deal and contracts myself, and agreed to no advance, but a royalty split, (Leabhar pay for the cost of the covers and translations). This suited me, since each translation costs several thousand dollars, so the onus and risk are on the publisher’s part to market the books so they get the cost of the translation back, at the very least! When those initial translations went well, and the sales were good, they contacted St. Martin’s Press and actually ended up buying the rights to all of my traditionally published books as well, which was a great result.
How many indie books did you release in each foreign language? How do the sales of those books compare to the titles published traditionally?
KB: So far, I’ve only released three full-length books in German, but I plan to do several more this year! I’ve also had The Devil To Pay translated into Italian (since it’s set in Italy), which I did to coincide with the RARE book signing I attended in Florence, Italy in 2023.
For Brazilian, I think about six of my books and novellas have already been published there, with maybe another six or eight to come, so that’s early days in terms of sales figures. The first few books are already paying me royalties, though, which means they’ve earned-out their translation costs. Phew!
Right now, my indie-published translations haven’t sold as many copies as those translations which have been trad-published, but that’s probably because they haven’t been out for as long. Also, for countries like France, and Italy, the physical print copies are available in some of the big bookstores, like FNAC, and in supermarkets like Conad, which helps visibility and sales, whereas my own translations aren’t in physical stores (although print copies are available for readers to buy online.) Most of my indie-translation sales are from e-books, not print.
How did you find the right professionals to handle your foreign editions? How did you prove their skill set and experience? Did you always work with the same linguist team in each language? Would you do things differently if given the chance?
KB: I found my German translator, Dorthe, on Upwork, after posting the job description, but I got at least ten sample translations of the first few chapters from various people before choosing her. I had several German beta-readers review the sample chapters to help me decide which translation was the best.
I believe Dorthe took around three months to translate each book, which was the schedule we mutually agreed on. I found Stefanie, my German proofreader on Upwork too, and she took another few weeks to proof each book. For my German covers, I used an Italy-based cover designer I’d worked with before, Cora Graphics. The cover designs also take a few months to perfect.
For my Italian translation, I initially posted the job on Tektime, and received several sample chapters from potential translators, but I wasn’t completely happy with any of them. I finally contacted an Italian translator who had been recommended to me by some fellow indie authors, and we agreed his fee and a schedule for translation. Carmelo took around six to eight weeks to translate the book. My Italian proofreader, Maria Antonietta, was recommended by Carmelo, who’d worked with her before successfully. She took around a month to finish the proofing.
What were your main concerns when hiring a translator and an editor, and how did you handle them? What advice would you have for indies dealing with the same fears?
KB: I’d always suggest asking other authors who have worked with the translator if they’ve been happy with their services. Recommendations from people you know are always valuable.
Obviously, there’s a skill needed to translate historical novels set in the past, with different words and language needed, compared to very modern language. So I want to know if the translator can deal with that. Nobody wants very modern words in a Regency-set novel! So check to see if the translator has already dealt with other books in your particular sub-genre.
It’s also useful to check other books they’ve translated and look at the reviews to see if there are any negative comments on there about the quality of the translation!
As I mentioned before, it’s important to decide upfront the schedule of when the translations will be done, and when payments will be made, so deadlines can be met. Also, discuss things like how to translate humour and jokes that might not work in one language. And ask the translator to let you know if there’s something that might be offensive or make no sense to readers in the target language, so you can change that if necessary.
How do you deal with the marketing of foreign titles? Do you have a special Newsletter to connect with foreign readers and let them know about your releases in their language?
KB: I share new releases and sales of my foreign titles in my main monthly author newsletter, but I also have a separate mailing list for readers in each country, like Germany, and send them a second, specific email just about the translation. I’m not currently running any Facebook or AMS ads to my foreign translations, but that’s on my list to start again in 2025.
I’ve also joined several Facebook groups of authors who have been translated into other languages, and we often collaborate to do sales and promotions for our readers.
Have you received any feedback on the quality of the translations? Are there any recurrent comments that keep showing up?
KB: There are always going to be comments from people who aren’t happy with the translations, or who think the language used is too modern, but overall I think the quality of my translations is very high, and reviews are almost all positive. Even with my English books, which have been through numerous rounds of professional editing, one or two stubborn typos still manage to sneak through – after all, nobody’s perfect!
What are your best-performing foreign titles, and why do you think that is?
KB: I’m not actually sure which of my translated titles are selling the best! Reporting for my traditionally published titles is VERY slow – I usually don’t see the sales figures until at least six months after the start of the accounting period, so it’s hard to say for those ones. My German translations have all earned out the cost of producing them, although it took a little longer than I’d expected, but I think that’s mainly because I only have the three books in that series available for readers, and I’m not actively promoting them right now. I’m excited to see how my Brazilian sales are increasing – that’s something I’m looking forward to in 2025.
Would you recommend fellow authors to explore the exploitation of foreign rights? Is it worth the time and investment? If so, what markets would you recommend to other writers in your genre, and why?
KB: I’d definitely say ‘do your research’. Some genres sell much better in certain countries and marketplaces than in others, and some countries have a greater readership overall. If you have a series of books, especially one that’s over three books long, then it may be worth the investment, BUT it is exactly that – an investment, just like audiobooks and other diversifications. Be prepared (and financially able) to wait until those books earn out the cost of producing them.
If you only have one or two books published, I’d say maybe wait until you have a greater body of work before looking at getting things translated – you need readers who love your work to be able to read more than just one book from you! Better to write the next few books first.
That said, I have no regrets about having my books translated, and I’m definitely looking to have more translated in the future. It’s a long-term strategy, but once they’re done, they’re out there forever, and all future sales are very welcome to subsidise your income.
Also, there are many ways to go about translations, and several new companies that have appeared catering to this trend, including royalty shares, and other models. Look at all the options and decide which works best for you.
For markets, I’d say that Germany is probably the most easily accessible and potentially profitable market right now, although I have high hopes for Brazil!
In recent times, there has been an increasing trend for AI translation. As an author who has worked with human translators and editors, what are your thoughts on this?
KB: I’m extremely wary about using AI for anything to do with a creative process, including writing, translating, narrating audiobooks, and art design. Not merely because I’m not convinced of the ethics of using a tool that has been trained using the creative endeavours of others without giving them any payment for that use (or, indeed, often without their agreement or even knowledge!), but also because I just don’t think there’s any substitute for a real, live human in these cases. There’s something quite static and soulless about things made by AI. Just look at AI-generated art; it’s derivative from a billion different sources, but it also all looks the same, somehow, and weirdly fake. (And still rife with errors like six-fingered people!)
I personally will continue to deal with human translators and artists because I value the quality of their work. Humans have the ability to understand nuance, style, subtlety, context, and humour in a way that AI cannot. Plus, I enjoy the collaborative process of dealing with a human translator.
What is next in your writing journey? Are you considering translating into new languages? If so, which ones have crossed your mind, and why?
KB: I’m about to start a brand new 3-book series for 2025, so that will take up most of my time, but I’m also going to look into possible translations. I may get more of my novellas translated into German, and also French.
Are there any final words you would like to share?
KB: Be professional. Always sign a contract with your translator, one that clearly outlines the rights and responsibilities of each party. For copyrights, make sure you understand the rights for each country, since those can vary greatly. In Germany, for example, there exists the ‘Urheberrecht’ clause, whereby the translator has the right to be acknowledged as the ‘creator’ of the translation. According to German law, the translator holds the copyright of the translated work as an inalienable right. However, this doesn’t really have any practical implications, because the translator can contractually agree to transfer all of the exploitation/publishing rights to the author. This will have the same effect as transferring the copyright itself. The author will be able to do anything they please with the translation, as long as the translator’s name is stated (in the imprint, for instance). But this is something you need to have written in your contract, so it’s clear where everyone stands.
Also, consider whether you plan to publish your translation wide, or just in KU / Amazon. In some places, like Germany, KU is very strong, whereas in others it might pay to publish wide, on all the available platforms. Also, I personally went direct and published with Tolino, and other platforms in Germany, instead of going through an aggregator like D2D (Draft2Digital). It’s a bit more work, but you don’t give up an extra % of your royalties to the third party. Again, decide which route is best for you!
Thank you so much, Kate, for your time today and for sharing your experience with us and many other fellow authors out there, wondering whether it is worth it to translate their titles.
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