How do I go about acquiring the rights to a foreign title I am interested in translating and shopping around to publishers?
Translators should keep in mind that translation rights are generally sold or granted to publishers, not to translators, and that it is generally the publisher of the translation who selects the translator, not the original author or that author’s publisher. A prospective translator should not start by asking the author about the status of translation rights to a particular work: the author may say that those rights are available and encourage the translator to begin without knowing who controls the rights. The translator should contact the author with rights questions only if the publisher confirms that the author has retained foreign language rights. When proposing a work in translation for publication, the translator should clearly indicate the foreign rights holder of the work to all publishers contacted. The publication of an unauthorized translation of a copyrighted work is piracy. In the event that a translation is undertaken independently (i.e. not as a commission from a publis
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