As taking the very first step followed by several thousands of steps
One of the classic ways of making a debut is to submit one’s writings to a publishing company.
Submission
An act of offering writings or the writings delivered to newspaper or magazine publishers without an order or request for it
In the same line, a book translator can earn a book to work on from a book publisher by sending a proposal regarding what she/he wants to translate(, I heard). In other words, it can be said a kind of report including the translator’s analysis regarding the original book. The detailed contents in it will vary depending on the translator’s strategies; the introduction of the main idea, how to appeal to the targeting market, expected responses from readers, etc.
Writing a Proposal
In fact, I’ve never written a translation proposal. Not at all. Of course, as a to-be translator, I’ve considered writing a proposal. However, honestly speaking, I had never read a book through until I graduated my graduate school. So, I don’t have many experiences of reading an English book. In addition, most of the English books I’ve read are when I decided to read again after reading in Korean (because I love them!). That is to say, I have almost no experience in searching and finding English books on Amazon or so. Therefore, I feel the whole process is a huge obstacle from finding an English book to translate to writing a proposal which I cannot be sure whether a publisher will read, or not.
Above that, considering already lots of qualified translators have already introduced great books to the Koreans, it would be almost impossible to grab a chance to translate a book by working with a traditional publisher. Besides, it looks difficult to feel a sense of self-efficacy. Then, what about in the reverse way? Delivering voices out of the spotlight in the Korean market, but meaningful and able to resonate with more people on the global stage. Translating Korean texts to English goes against the principle of translating from a foreign language to one’s mother tongue. However, given that the share of Korean translators in Ensligh-speaking countries is quite low, I would be able to be highly proud of it.
As a One-person Publisher
To be honest, my idea is a kind of thing a professional book translator would avoid, I think. A publisher naturally has to take the amusement and popularity of a story into consideration to create a book targeting as many people as possible. On the contrary, my goal is not to earn a fortune by releasing a beloved book for the public but to deliver the voices easily submerged by the mainstream that are definitely worth paying attention to. Of course, I have to learn from now on how to package the content to be attractive to the public, but simple entertainment is not the main feature of the writings I would choose for translation. Maybe, I’m being naive, hoping that unusual stories or voices worth listening to could provide a foundation for a good marketing strategy.
Anyway, as a whole, rather than searching for a possibility of hitting the market, I will discover meaningful stories I can translate with a sense of mission. As a result, I have to target the niche market rather than the mainstream. However, as a newly-built one-person publisher, which has no advantage over the existing companies in any perspective from design to promotion and marketing, I might be able to dig out a neglected opportunity. That’s because there could be a hidden chance looked down on by large publishing chains aiming to reach more people and sell more books.
Goal : Live on the Nich market, not suffocating
– Read books in a similar genre (in both Korean and English)
– Survey book designs and promotion and marketing methods
– Read and organize writings on Brunch
