print or not to print?

Katalin Horváth McClure wrote:

Dear hooshdaran,
I have read your posts several times, and it is still very confusing.
This is what I understand.
There is a book written in English, published somewhere outside of Iran.
That book is protected by copyright (quote obviously).
There is a publisher, again, outside of Iran, who wants to publish this book in Farsi (and perhaps sell it in Iran).
Number one question:
Did this publisher obtain the rights from the original copyright holder for translating the book into Farsi and publishing the translation? This is their job. This permission usually incurs fees, either a lump sum, or in the form of royalties, or a combination that is paid by the party who is buying the rights to the original copyright holder. But again, it is none of your business, the publisher should be taking care of it.
Once they do that, then they can hire you to do the translation.

So, just to make the story a bit more clear, could you state whether the publisher obtained the rights to translate and publish the book? It is a simple Yes/No question.

Katalin

Katalin Horváth McClure wrote:

Dear hooshdaran,
Your situation is clear for you, so it must be annoying to see us not comprehending the problem, but the truth is you are not explaining it very clearly.
So let me ask some more clarification.

Is the "contract" that you are referring to as "have difficulty signing" is a contract between you and the foreign publisher of the original English book, so that you would obtain the rights to (A) translate the book and (B) publish the translated book?

When you write "I have difficulty signing", do you mean it is difficult for you to sign? Or do you
mean it is difficult for you to get the other party (the copyright-owner publisher) to sign it?

Have you already translated the book?

Has the Iranian publisher already published the book?

(Are you yourself the Iranian publisher, by any chance?)

Phil Hand wrote:

You answered above that you're not the publisher, but that is incorrect. If you are attempting to buy the rights, then you are acting as the publisher. The Iranian company will be acting as printer/distributor.

You're saying you could print and sell this book in Iran without paying the author, and you would be in no danger of prosecution under Iranian law. Or you could pay the author a royalty, but cut into your own profits.

It's taken so long to get the story out of you that I no longer have any sympathy. It's simple: the right thing to do is to pay a royalty. What you do depends on your greed.

hooshdaran wrote:
What should I do?

Samuel Murray wrote:



From what you wrote, this is how I interpret the situation:
* You translated a book from English to Farsi.
* You want the book to be published in Iran.
* Your publisher is unable negotiate with the author/copyright-holder of the English book and has asked you to do it yourself.
* Your publisher wants you to be responsible for the royalties to the author.
* You have contacted the author, but he wanted you to sign a contract that you can't agree to. You explained the copyright problem to the author, but he got scared and then demanded more money.
* You are hoping to get the author to agree to a lower amount.

As an honest translator, you want to do the right thing. This is not only ethical, but also good for one's reputation.

I think you made a mistake to translate the book before you got permission/licence from the original author. Normally, the translator first gets permission, and then start the translation, because you never know whether the author will consent to have your translation published.

Some more questions:
* Does your publisher refuse to publish the book, if you don't get the author to sign a contract with you?

* Did the author demand that you pay a large sum of money in advance, and you are unable to pay that much?

I can understand the author's concerns -- he is afraid that people in Iran will start to make illegal copies of your translation, and then he will not receive all of the royalties that he deserves.

One option for you: If you think that you can prove to the author's publisher that there is a market for the book in Farsi, in Iran, then perhaps you can offer that the author asks his publisher to publish the book (using your translation), and get your publisher to distribute it. This is not an ideal situation for you, because the English publisher may decide to sell very few copies of the book (or not to print it a second time), and then your income will be reduced.

Another option for you: If it is very important for you that this book gets published in Farsi, then perhaps you can publish it under a pseudonymn, without the author's permission. I would only recommend this if you believe that it is morally more wrong not to publish than to publish without permission.

hooshdaran wrote:
His agent didn't continue the email negotiations. But we had agreed on a fee before that.

Samuel Murray wrote:



Well, let's hope that the agent considered the previous "agreement" as a binding agreement and not simply as a temporary offer or counter-offer.

Hello. I'd like to mention to you that I can pay the royalties to be permitted to distribute the Farsi translation. Iranian laws protect the translator until 30 years after his death from his work being replicated, reprinted, exploited, published, or distributed, by giving such right to him or his legal heir .according to a law enacted in 1974[clause 1 from http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/97002].

It's taken so long to get the story out of you that I no longer have any sympathy. It's simple: the right thing to do is to pay a royalty. What you do depends on your greed.