A contract with a translator: what it must include

A contract with a translator should answer six questions: who owns the translation, what you may do with it, when it's delivered, how many revisions are included, how the translator is credited, and what's allowed and not allowed with artificial intelligence. Everyone remembers to write down the price. These are the questions people forget, and they're the ones that blow up later.

This article is a checklist, not legal advice. For a contract on a book you plan to sell in several countries, it's worth showing the draft to a lawyer.

Why you need a contract with a translator at all

Because translating a book isn't translating a letter. It's months of work, on a text you'll sell for years. Over that time questions will come up: can the translation also come out as an audiobook? What happens if the translator gets sick midway? Who decides the main character's name in the English version?

The Authors Guild has published a model contract for literary translators. It's written from the translator's point of view facing a publisher, but when you commission a translation yourself, you're effectively in the publisher's role. Its list of clauses is a good map of what needs to be settled.

Clause 1: Who owns the translation

This is the most important question, and the answer surprises many authors. The Authors Guild writes to translators in its contract notes: "Copyright in the translation belongs to you, and the contract should make that clear."

In other words, even if you paid for the translation, it isn't certain that it's "yours" in the legal sense. What you receive is permission to use it, and the contract sets the limits of that permission.

So the contract should state explicitly:

• Which formats. Print, digital, audio. Each one is a separate right.
• In which territory. The whole world, or specific countries.
• For how long. The full copyright term, or a set number of years.

In the Authors Guild contract, the translator keeps everything not expressly written down, including, for example, a translation of their translation into a third language. If you want to use the English translation as the basis for a Spanish one, write that down. More on this in who owns translation rights.

Clause 2: Delivery and deadlines

When is the translation delivered? All at once or in parts? A first chapter for review, and then the rest?

Delivery in parts is good for both sides. You see early whether the tone is right, and the translator gets feedback before investing months in the wrong direction. We wrote about this in translate a sample chapter first.

Clause 3: Editing and revisions

The Authors Guild contract has a whole clause on editing. In yours, it should answer:

• How many rounds of revisions are included in the price.
• Who approves changes to the text after the editor has been through it. Does the translator see them before printing?
• What counts as an "accepted translation," and when that happens.

This clause prevents the situation where an editor changes ten pages and the translator only finds out in the printed book.

Clause 4: Payment

We won't write amounts here, because they vary by language, genre and length. What matters is the structure: one payment at the end, or in stages by delivery? Are there royalties, meaning a percentage of sales, or only a one-time fee? The Authors Guild notes that many translators get no royalties at all, and that it's one of the things it recommends they ask for.

How to compare offers we explained in how to compare translation quotes.

Clause 5: Credit

Where will the translator's name appear? On the cover, on the title page, on the product page in the store? It's a small clause that stirs up a lot of feeling, and it's worth settling in advance. We wrote about the question itself in does the translator get named on the book.

Clause 6: Artificial intelligence

A relatively new clause, and now nearly a must. It has two directions:

• Whether the translator may use AI tools during the work, and if so, to what extent. If this matters to you either way, write it down.
• What you may do with the translation. The Authors Guild model contract prohibits the publisher from training AI systems on the translation without the translator's explicit permission. It also prohibits producing an audiobook with a synthetic voice without the translator's written consent. If you're planning such an audiobook, raise it now.

Clause 7: Ending the contract

What happens if you need to stop midway? What happens if the book stops selling? The Authors Guild contract has a clause that returns the rights to the translator when the book barely sells. Think about what's fair from your side, and write it down.

Before you sign

Read the contract once with the question "what happens if": if the translator disappears, if you want an audiobook, if you sell the rights to a publisher abroad. Every "what if" with no answer in the contract deserves another line. More common questions are waiting in the FAQ.