Official Translation Policy

For a long time I have received requests to provide translations of my book, and for a long time I have avoided the issue by simply stating that I do hope to provide them one of these days. While that was absolutely true, the fact is that I really didn’t know how to go about doing so. And frankly, I didn’t want to deal with the complications that it would entail. There’s a bit of background to this, so let me explain…

I am a baker, not a professional writer. And though I wrote a book, it is a self-published digital product. I have no experience dealing with publishers, or translation rights, or any such thing. When I first published my book I had the option of assigning certain protection measures — digital watermarks, unique serial codes, etc. — in order to help prevent copyright infringement and online piracy. But these protections would be a nuisance to the customers buying my book. That didn’t sit well with me, and such protections operate from a position that assumes the worst of people. That’s not how I wish to make my way through this world.

So I chose not to use such protection measures.

Instead, I made a conscious decision that I would operate from a position of trust. My customers would necessarily have to trust that I’m offering a fair value for their money (never a guarantee when it comes to self-published ebooks), and in return I would trust them to be responsible with their unprotected copy of my book. But though I run a trust-based business, I am not a fool. From the start, I accepted the fact that I would lose a certain (and not insignificant) number of sales due to the ease of sharing unprotected digital products. I consider that a cost of doing business the way I wish to do business, and I’m willing to pay it.

What I hadn’t considered was that there could ever be so much demand for translations of my book into so many different languages, or the troubles that could arise from such demand. As I said, I am self-published — I am a one-man operation. I do not have access to a team of legal experts specialized in the fields of copyright law or derivative works. Though I have been approached many times by many folks offering translation services, I have always refused because of the complexities involved — contractual obligations, verification, copyright enforcement, etc.

Furthermore, I write in a “folksy” conversational style heavily reliant on the use of metaphor and simile. I frequently use figures of speech that native English speakers understand, but that probably don’t make any sense when translated. I write in this manner because it helps me get my message through in a way that makes intuitive sense to people. But can it be effectively translated? I don’t know. And since I have no way of verifying the accuracy of any particular translation, how could I ever endorse such a thing? I cannot put my stamp of approval on a translation if I have no way of knowing whether my message has been translated correctly. So I have not approved any translations, nor made them available to the public.

But this leads to a problem, and it’s a problem that comes back to my “trust-based” business model…

No demand can be left unfulfilled for too long. Eventually — one way or another — that demand will be met. And the demand for translations of my book has been growing… and left unfulfilled for far too long.

So what happens?

Unofficial translations start popping up all over the place. It’s easy to do since my book is unprotected. A copyright is only as strong as one’s ability or willingness to enforce it, and I have little ability — and even less willingness — to play whack-a-mole trying to chase down and snuff out all the black-market translations that have been circulating.

So my unofficial policy regarding this matter has been to simply look the other way. Yes, it costs me money. But again, I accept the loss of sales due to illegal sharing/selling as a necessary cost of running my business the way I choose to. Unfortunately, loss of income is not the only problem that has arisen from this unofficial policy of mine…

It turns out that the best translations tend to be made by the most ethical translators. And this makes sense — these are folks who found something special in my book and genuinely wanted to share that with their compatriots. They have taken great care to translate my work to the very best of their ability because they truly want to share my message. Then they approach me and ask if I would like to publish their translation.

And I have always said, “No.”

I have explained the reasons why I refuse, but I have never felt good about it. It’s an honor that anyone would feel my book worth the time and effort it takes to make a quality translation — and I truly do want to make my book accessible to more of the world. It always pains me to refuse them knowing all the hard work they’ve put into the task. Folks who approach me in good faith for permission do not generally turn around and publish their translation after I deny that permission. They sit on their translation, and it goes unseen in the world.

But not everyone is so noble.

Some folks are just looking for an easy buck, and it’s a simple thing to run my book through google translate, or some such, and then turn around and sell the results. They do not seek my permission. As most of us know, the quality of a machine translation is questionable at best. And with a writing style such as mine, the results are likely to be more harmful than helpful. Poor translations do not accurately convey my words — this leads to confusion for the readers, and generally just makes me look bad. Since my name is my business, this makes for bad business.

I’ve been pussyfooting for too long.

The situation has finally reached a point where I can no longer avoid taking a stand. So what stance shall I take? I’ve decided to make my unofficial policy official. Unofficially, I’ve been letting people do whatever they choose to do. Now I make that stance official.

Because I’ve continually denied the quality translators the right to publish their quality translations, there is now a proliferation of poor quality translations from those who never sought my permission in the first place. This is the “Law of Unintended Consequences” at work — I guess I had it coming. And the only practical remedy that I can see is to simply allow anyone who wishes to translate my book to do so, and to issue it on their own terms in whatever capacity or format they choose. My (fool’s) hope is that through market forces, the best translations will prevail — that the cream will rise to the top.

So let me make this absolutely clear…

Permission is granted to any and all who wish to translate my book, “Open Crumb Mastery” and issue their translations to the general public (future works I might publish are exempt from this policy unless I declare otherwise). And if you actually write a good translation, then you even have my unofficial blessing. I do not ask for any commission or fee, and so you are not obligated to pay me any commission or fee. Your translation is your work; and any profits, liabilities or obligations that arise from it are yours and yours alone. You set the price, you handle your sales, you deal with any issues, complications or consequences that arise.

But though you have permission to translate my book, your translation does not have my official endorsement. We are not partners. I will not vet or vouch for the accuracy of your work. I will not help to promote or distribute your work, but nor will I attempt to hinder its promotion or distribution. Regardless of the number or quality of translations that circulate, there will remain only one true “authorized” version, and that is the English version of which I am the sole author and seller.

Furthermore, I will not create any future policy that retroactively goes against this one. Though I retain the right to change my mind and endorse any particular translation if I so choose, that translation will simply join the rest of the competition. I will never take action, legal or otherwise, against those who are selling/distributing their translation under the policy as I’ve laid out here. Obviously, this is not a legally binding document, so you’ll have to take my word on that. The risk is yours, but the cost is mine.

And make no mistake, this policy will cost me money. A substantial portion of my sales are international. Most folks would much prefer to read something in their mother tongue, and I cannot fault them for that. There are many books I would like to read, but am unable to do so for lack of an English translation.

So if you prefer to purchase a translation of my work rather than the version I sell myself, I do not bear you any grudge. Nor do I hold any ill-will to those who seek to translate my book and profit off their work. I’m content knowing that my book will finally be more accessible to those who speak different languages.

Nevertheless, I understand that I may be opening a can of worms here. I can see many ways in which this policy might come back to bite me in the ass. It’s a very real risk, but I’m willing to take it. I’ve been on this planet long enough to realize that the more we try to assert control over a thing, the more out of control that thing becomes. So my choice is to relinquish control.

Let the chips fall where they may.

Trevor