ABSTRACT
The sale of translation rights often forms a large part of the work of a publisher’s rights department; with reductions in licensing income from areas such as serial rights and paperback rights, they have taken on greater importance and may be sought as part of the publisher’s overall package of rights, particularly if a large advance is being sought by the author or the author’s agent. However, translation rights may not always be granted, particularly if the agency has a specialist department for handling such rights. Literary agents often work through a network of subagents in individual overseas markets; in such cases, the subagent’s commission should be deducted from the overall commission deducted by the author’s agent from revenue earned.
