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Literary Translation
Thread poster: Alisha Rice
Alisha Rice
Alisha Rice  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 23:15
Spanish to English
+ ...
Dec 16, 2025

My field is literary translation and my language pairs are Spanish into English and Portuguese into English. I have had my profile up here for a little over a year and on Translatorscafe for a little over a year. It took that long to get two authors to reach out to me for work on their books. Can anyone offer tips on how to reach out to potential clients for new projects? I would love to get authors who are interested or publishing agencies. I don't have the money to pay consultants to advise, s... See more
My field is literary translation and my language pairs are Spanish into English and Portuguese into English. I have had my profile up here for a little over a year and on Translatorscafe for a little over a year. It took that long to get two authors to reach out to me for work on their books. Can anyone offer tips on how to reach out to potential clients for new projects? I would love to get authors who are interested or publishing agencies. I don't have the money to pay consultants to advise, so any advice or tips would be much appreciated. So far just listing my work on those two sites hasn't generated any other work. I am also am a member of ALTA, but so far no bites on that site. Thank you. ▲ Collapse
 
Birte Mirbach
Birte Mirbach
Germany
Local time: 08:15
English to German
+ ...
Networking Dec 18, 2025

In my experience, networking is the only thing that really works. I have profiles on a bunch of platforms, which earned me only two literary translations within twenty years. Nowadays, I am working for several big publishing houses and that's only because I was recommended by colleagues. Publishing houses are more inclined to use the services of someone who has been recommended by an experienced translator. If they need a new translator, they will usually ask their trusted translators if they kn... See more
In my experience, networking is the only thing that really works. I have profiles on a bunch of platforms, which earned me only two literary translations within twenty years. Nowadays, I am working for several big publishing houses and that's only because I was recommended by colleagues. Publishing houses are more inclined to use the services of someone who has been recommended by an experienced translator. If they need a new translator, they will usually ask their trusted translators if they know someone. But I have never heard of a publishing house looking for translators on platforms like proz oder translatorscafe.

If you want to work directly with authors instead of publishing houses it might be worth to contact authors whose books have been translated where they found their translators. So you get an idea of where they are looking for translators.

Regards,
Birte ▲ Collapse


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Laura Curzi
Daryo
 
Emily Scott
Emily Scott  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:15
Member (2018)
French to English
+ ...
Books you've translated Dec 18, 2025

I don't have any experience in literary translation, but maybe it would be helpful to list the books you've translated in your profile's bio. That way, people can have a look at your work and decide whether they'd like to use your services. I just had a look at your profile and can only see one in your recent projects, but the title of the book isn't mentioned so I can't look it up.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Maria Laura Curzi
Maria Laura Curzi  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 03:15
English to Spanish
+ ...
Authors' associations Dec 18, 2025

Birte Mirbach wrote:

If you want to work directly with authors instead of publishing houses it might be worth to contact authors whose books have been translated where they found their translators. So you get an idea of where they are looking for translators.

Regards,
Birte



Or authors' associations/guilds that might provide lists of the authors interested in getting their work translated into the languages you work with.

Also, perhaps embassies, foreign or cultural agencies/ministries might help. Down here, we used to have the SUR (South) program: https://programa-sur.cancilleria.gob.ar/ but the current government cut it (sadly, among other cultural things).
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 07:15
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Alisha Dec 24, 2025

Your Proz profile says you charge USD 0.5 per word?! At this rate, I’m not surprised listing on those two sites hasn't generated much work…

philgoddard
 


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Literary Translation







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