Licensing Fees for Translations
A philosopher who has written several books has a question about the publication of translations.
[Plate from “Metafisikal Translations” (detail) by Eduardo Paolozzi]
In this case, the author’s book was originally published by a well-known and well-regarded press. The process of publishing the translation has been underway, but the author was recently told by the person managing this process that the original publisher “has raised the licensing fee for this book to $3,000” and that “this amount presents a considerable strain on the [translating] publisher’s resources.”
The author is curious as to whether $3000 is a common licensing fee for academic books, and what goes into the determination of that fee. Another question is whether an author’s intervention in the process—say, by asking to lower the licensing fee—is appropriate or likely to be effective. Authors who have been in this position, as well as editors and others who work at publishers, are especially encouraged to comment. Thank you.
I just signed a book contract and it explicitly states the translation fee and my royalties on translations. I think your only option is to tell the press that you will waive your royalties on the translation. This effectively reduces the translation fee for the buyer
I’m pretty sure mine were $1,500 each, but that was a few years ago. $3,000 doesn’t sound out-of-bounds in 2026. It should all be spelled out in the contract.
Separate issue, but I am noticing the the fees to use readings in anthologies has been going wayyyy up. Like to the extent that it’s hard to put a textbook together. (My budget was $40k, and it would have cost $60k to use what I wanted to use.) Publishers are saying this is because of AI–rights-bearers don’t want their stuff training in-house publishing bots.
Former UP editor here. That fee sounds typical to me, although I didn’t handle translation rights directly. I’m not sure what the author can do. It can’t hurt to write their editor and ask them. They could also reach out to the person who handles translation rights at the press. Not sure if they would be able to adjust the fee.
I can say that some translation fees were reduced for my OUP book Very Short Introduction to Art Theory, due to local conditions and monetary issues (Tamil and Georgian). I did put in a good word for the Georgian translator, who had contacted me directly with a query and some background. But the press has its own translation editors who negotiated and made these decisions.
It appears that I’ll be able to secure a $5,000 dollar charitable donation for the translation, which thankfully renders the $3,000 licensing fee in question a moot point. Thank you, Justin, for posing my query to the profession, and thanks also to those who tried to shed some light on the sometimes rather opaque world of academic translation funding and logistics.