Book translation, without the guesswork
Practical guides to book translation, international publishing, and AI-assisted workflows — pricing, formats, and quality.
When to translate your book: before success at home, after, or anyway
Should you wait for your book to succeed in Hebrew before translating it? When to wait, when not to, and which signs say it's time to translate.
Read the guideWhen the reading direction flips: a Hebrew book comes out in English
A Hebrew book opens from the right, an English one from the left. What else changes when the direction flips: cover, art, tables, numbers, and what not to flip.
Read the guideTypes of book editing: developmental, line editing and proofreading
A developmental editor, a line editor and a proofreader do three different jobs. What each one checks, in what order, and what a translated book needs.
Read the guideShould you translate your own book? When it works and when it doesn't
Your English is good, so why not translate the book yourself? What self-translating authors find out halfway through, and how to test if it suits you.
Read the guidePen name in another language: keep your name on the translation?
A Hebrew name can be spelled in Latin letters several ways. How to pick yours for a translated book, when a pen name makes sense, and why to stay consistent.
Read the guideFront matter in a book: what it is and what changes in translation
Title page, copyright page, dedication, acknowledgments and bio. What goes before and after the story, and what to update when a book gets a new language.
Read the guideAI pirate translation: a Murakami novel was online within 4 hours
A student used AI to translate Haruki Murakami's new book into Chinese and posted it four hours after release. What it means for an untranslated author.
Read the guideOne book or the whole series: where to start translating
Series readers have one habit: they read everything in a row. Here is how to weigh translating a single book against translating a whole series.
Read the guideHow to get reviews in a language you cannot read
A book in a new language starts with no reviews, and without reviews it is hard to sell. Here is what you may do, and what you must never do.
Read the guideHow to compare two quotes for translating your book
Two quotes can look alike and include completely different things. Here is what to ask before you choose, and what has to be in writing.
Read the guideHow much of the book's price actually reaches you
Amazon pays an author a percentage of the price, but the percentage depends on conditions and has deductions. Here is the arithmetic, in plain words.
Read the guideWho gets credit for the translation, and why it matters
Your translator can appear on the cover, on the copyright page, or nowhere at all. Here is what is customary today and what it changes for you.
Read the guideDo you need a foreign publisher to come out in another language?
Once the answer was yes, and without a foreign publisher the book did not appear. Today there are two routes, and they differ in almost everything.
Read the guideAudiobooks are starting to cross languages: what that means
Audible says it has quadrupled the number of its productions translated into English. Here is what is happening there, and why it touches your book too.
Read the guideWhich file the bookshop actually wants from you
Word, EPUB or PDF: what you really upload to a digital bookshop, what survives the trip, what breaks along the way, and what to send to a translator.
Read the guideWhat print on demand is, and why it matters for a translation
A printed copy is made only when someone orders it. No stock, nothing paid up front, and a few things worth knowing before you publish in another language.
Read the guideAmazon's free translation: what it does and what it does not
Amazon offers some authors an automatic translation service for digital books. What it covers, who can use it, and why an Israeli author is still outside.
Read the guideA translator now fits inside a phone. Your book still does not
In early September, free translation models that run on a phone with no internet were released. What that changes for an author weighing up a new language.
Read the guideHow a book becomes an audiobook, and what it asks of you
Three ways to turn a written book into a narrated one: read it yourself, hire a narrator, or use a computer voice. Which suits whom, and why.
Read the guideDo you need a native speaker to go over the translation
What a local reader catches that the translator and the system both missed, what it costs you in time, and how to ask for it when you cannot read the language.
Read the guideCategories and keywords for a book in a new language
Amazon gives you three categories and seven keywords per book. Why not to translate them from the original, and how to pick them for a market you do not know.
Read the guideWho owns the translation rights to a book?
Who owns the translated version, what changes when a human translator made it, and what you may not do with a book somebody else wrote. A plain guide.
Read the guideWhich language should you translate your book into?
Most authors pick English out of habit. How to choose the language for your book by your readers, your genre and what the stores actually allow.
Read the guideWhere to sell your book besides Amazon, and when it pays
Amazon is not the only store. A plain look at the other retailers, what exclusivity costs you, and why this matters especially for a translated edition.
Read the guideTranslate a sample chapter before you commit to the book
Before ordering a translation of a whole book, test one passage. Which passage to pick, what to look for in it, and what such a test cannot reveal.
Read the guideHow long does it take to translate a book?
The same question gets answers ranging from a day to six months. What really sets the clock, which part depends on you, and how to shorten it safely.
Read the guideDoes a translated book need a new cover?
What has to change on the cover when your book comes out in another language, what can stay, and when a redesign from scratch is actually worth it.
Read the guideInvisible AI text watermarks: what they mean for a translated book
Anthropic now embeds an invisible mark in text its models produce. What that means for an author publishing a translated book, and what it does not.
Read the guideWhat KDP is, and why Amazon wants one particular file
A plain explanation for authors: what Amazon's platform does with your book, which file it asks for, and what changes in another language.
Read the guideA short glossary: what each translation method actually means
Human translator, machine translation, post-editing, localisation. Plain explanations of what each term means and what it means for your book.
Read the guideAmazon raised its royalty ceiling, and it matters for a translation
For the first time since 2007 Amazon moved the price line at which an author keeps the higher royalty. What that means if you are weighing another language.
Read the guideDigital, printed or narrated: where to start in a new language
Three ways to sell a book, and you do not need all three at once. A simple guide for an author choosing a format for a translated edition.
Read the guideDo I need an ISBN, and what happens with a translated book
What the long number on the back of a book is, when you must have one, and why a translated edition counts as an entirely separate book.
Read the guideNovel, memoir, children's book or manual: each wants a different route
Not every book needs the same translation process. A simple comparison by kind of book, and what is riskiest to lose in each one.
Read the guideTitles and back-cover text get rewritten, not translated
Translating a book title and its sales text literally is the most common mistake once the translation is done. What to do instead.
Read the guideWhy your heroine's name changes halfway through the translation
The most common fault in a translated book is not a wrong sentence but a name that shifts. Why it happens, and how one page prevents it.
Read the guideWhy dialogue in a translated book sounds slightly stiff
Characters in translation tend to sound too polite and too tidy. Why that happens, and what to ask for so they talk like people again.
Read the guideHow to tell a translator what your book should sound like
Most translation requests specify language, deadline and file type — and nothing about style. Six questions worth answering before anyone starts.
Read the guideHow to check a translation in a language you cannot read
You cannot judge phrasing in a language you do not speak, but you can check plenty without it. Six mechanical checks that catch most book-translation failures.
Read the guideWhich file to send for translation: DOCX, PDF or EPUB
File format decides how much of your layout survives and what gets lost. What works, what breaks, and how to prepare the file in ten minutes.
Read the guideAI translation on Kindle: what Amazon requires you to disclose
Amazon KDP requires disclosure of AI-generated translations but not AI-assisted editing. Where the line sits, and what it means for a translated book.
Read the guideCan readers tell when a book was translated by a machine?
Someone tested it properly, on 15 novels with real readers. The answer is surprising, and it changes what you should be checking before you publish.
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