Foreign and translation rights for a nonfiction book

This guide explains how foreign rights usually work, from published sources. It is not legal advice; for a specific contract, use a publishing lawyer or, if you are a member, the Authors Guild's contract review.

What foreign and translation rights are

Foreign rights are the rights to publish your book outside your home market. They come in two kinds. Translation rights let a publisher in another country translate the book and sell it in its language. English-language rights in other territories, such as the British Commonwealth, let another publisher sell the English text where your US publisher does not.

Both grow out of your copyright. The US Copyright Office lists a translation of an English-language novel into another language as an example of a derivative work, and says "only the owner of copyright in a work has the right to prepare, or to authorize someone else to create, an adaptation of that work" (Circular 14). So nobody can lawfully publish a translation of your book without a license from whoever controls those rights.

Those rights are also local. The Copyright Office says "there is no such thing as an 'international copyright' that will automatically protect an author's writings throughout the world"; protection in each country depends on that country's laws, which treaties such as the Berne Convention have simplified (Circular 38A).

In a traditional contract, foreign and translation rights are subsidiary rights: rights the publisher may license to others, splitting the income with you. The Authors Guild's model contract puts the author's share of foreign and translation income at 75% to 80%, with 20% to 25% to the publisher (Authors Guild, section 6). The broader list of subsidiary rights is covered in advances and royalties explained.

Who sells them, on each path

Who sells your foreign rights depends on who holds them after you sign. There are three common answers.

Your literary agent keeps them

An agent may hold back translation rights from the publisher and sell them separately. Marleen Seegers of 2 Seas Agency, a foreign rights agency, writes in Poets & Writers that "the standard commission for foreign rights sales is 20 percent," and that agents work with co-agents abroad who "typically receive a 10 percent commission on all proceeds," deducted from that 20% (Seegers, P&W, September/October 2025). Writer Beware gives a similar range: no more than 15% for domestic sales, with 20% to 30% normal for co-agented or foreign sales (Writer Beware).

Agencies publish their co-agent networks. Jenny Brown Associates, for example, says it sells "translation rights directly to publishers throughout the world" through "our network of sub-agents and relationships with literary scouts," and lists sub-agents for territories from Brazil to Korea (Jenny Brown Associates). If foreign sales matter to you, ask an agent who handles them and what they sold abroad recently. How to find and vet an agent is in how to find a literary agent for nonfiction.

Your publisher's rights team sells them

If you grant translation rights to a large publisher, its subsidiary rights department sells them. Hachette Book Group says its subrights teams "attend international book fairs, including the Frankfurt, London, and Bologna book fairs," and work with co-agents who know each country's market. It also explains what comes off the top: "deductions are taken for the co-agent fee, bank fees, wire transfer fees, and the subsidiary rights split." Your share is credited against your advance first, and the process "often doesn't start until the book is published in the US" (HBG subsidiary rights FAQs).

You sell them yourself

A self-published author keeps every right, including translation. The hard part is reaching buyers. Jane Friedman writes that "self-publishing authors have largely been unable to access meaningful international-rights-trading activity without an agent" (Friedman). The routes that exist:

• Book fairs. Frankfurt, London and Bologna are the fairs Hachette names. Frankfurt's Literary Agents & Scouts Centre "is exclusively reserved for independent literary and scouting agencies"; anyone else is told to "book a table in the Publishers Rights Centre instead." An agency table for the 2027 fair costs €1,415 at the early rate, before VAT (Frankfurter Buchmesse).
• Rights platforms. PubMatch calls itself "A Book Rights Network for Global Book Publishers," where publishers can buy available rights directly from rights owners. It offers a 30-day free trial, and a featured title placement on its home page costs $300 a month (PubMatch).
• A foreign rights agency. Some agencies represent rights for publishers and a few independent authors; 2 Seas Agency, for example, says it represents a select number of publishers, agencies and some independent authors (2 Seas Agency).
• Publishing a translation yourself. This is not a rights sale: you pay for the translation and publish it. Amazon's Kindle Translate, an "AI-powered translation service," is currently an invite-only beta for eligible KDP ebooks (KDP). Have a fluent reader check any translation before it carries your name.

Hybrid and full-service companies

Here the contract decides. Some hybrids license foreign rights, some leave them with you, and some offer to sell them. Ask who holds the rights, who sells them and what share they keep.

One example from Scribe's published success stories: Steve Susi's story lists "Korean edition" with the line "The book earned a translation deal" (Steve Susi on scribemedia.com). That is one author's result, not a typical one.

How a translation deal is usually structured

The figures below come from one experienced rights seller's description of common practice (Seegers, P&W), with Hachette's own policy where it publishes one. Individual deals vary.

Seegers adds that at the big fairs, rights sellers have "back-to-back thirty-minute pitch meetings with foreign publishers."

Following the money: a worked example

Seegers uses an $8,000 German deal as her example. Here is where that money goes on two paths. The arithmetic is ours; the percentages are from the sources above.

What to keep in your contract

The Authors Guild's advice is plain: "many small and medium-sized publishers don't have the resources or intent to exploit both foreign print rights" and non-print rights, so if you have an agent and a smaller publisher, it "strongly recommends" trying to keep foreign and non-print subsidiary rights (section 6). Points to check:

1. The grant of rights. Which languages and territories are listed. If the publisher has no rights team or record of foreign sales, ask to keep translation rights.
2. The split. Compare it with the 75% to 80% author share in the Guild's chart.
3. Consent and notice. The Guild's model says the publisher "shall give Author at least 15 business days written notice of the terms of any proposed license." Ask for the same.
4. Accounting. Whether rights income is paid to you separately or credited against the advance, and what deductions come off first.
5. What happens to unsold rights. Ask whether rights the publisher has not licensed come back to you, and when. Reversion in general is covered in who owns what: rights and contract terms, and how to ask for rights back in getting your book rights back.
6. Copies and approvals. Copies of each edition, and whether you see the foreign cover and title.

What most people get wrong

• Paying for a translation before anyone has bought the rights. In a translation deal, the foreign publisher translates the book, as the Scribe FAQ answer above describes.
• Signing away world rights by default. If the publisher will not use them, they earn you nothing.
• Expecting the advance in cash. With publisher-held rights, your share often goes against the advance first.
• Assuming a self-published book cannot sell rights. It can, but it needs a seller, and that is the hard part.