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Question

Hey there guys! My first post of the year! Hooray!

So, I have a question I want to ask you guys.

But first, since I feel uncomfortable with not putting reading content in a post, here’s something for you guys.

Because Janitor-san is Not a Hero – Chapter 52

Man, I have had that at like 90% done for more than a year now.

 

Anyway, my question is, would anyone like to abduct me and force me to just translate?

…Okay, that’s not my real question. But it’s kind of close.

Would you guys support me if I said that I just wanted to translate for you guys for work? As in, would you guys be fine if I translated stuff that you guys want for money?

Phew, that was kind of hard for me to type out. I wanted to ask this before I started to think myself out of it before asking you guys.

Ah, and sorry if I start to ramble somewhat incoherently. My minds kind of jumbled as I type this.

 

Well, this is just going to be complaints but, it feels like 2020 hasn’t exactly been my year so far. Feels like most of the days so far have been crappy bad days. I don’t really like my job (which I’ve been in for a year now and got sick of like 5 or 6 months in), my computer is starting to act up (the Wi-Fi doesn’t work and I have to troubleshoot the damned internet icon like every ten minutes when it stops working until it stops working and have to restart the damned computer. Just as I am typing this, it hasn’t even been an hour since I restarted it and had to troubleshoot the thing two or three times already).

Haa…Yeah, it’s just two problems but it’s just…ugh. And yeah, I know, I’m spoiled. Just first-world problems. A lot of you guys definitely have it harder than me. But still, ugh…

Anyway, like I said, I don’t really like my job. I have way more work than I did at my old job, and it’s not like I got a significant pay increase. Felt more like a lateral move if anything in terms of pay. But I’ve been thinking, I’m not all that in need of money. I live in my parent’s basement (living that otaku dream right there. Now if only I could stop “working” *wink, wink*) and I am just feeling…unhappy with my job. I don’t exactly get to translate all that much either in it like I could get away with in my old job.

And that’s where I had the thought, “can I earn money by translating?” And yes, I know, I have earned money in the past from it in the form of donations. But I want to know if you guys would support that idea. I mean sure, my track record hasn’t exactly been the greatest with my releases. And my translations aren’t exactly all that great (and if they are in your opinion, I just don’t want to say it since it makes me sound conceited in my mind, but thank you for thinking that). But, if I make translating my main way of making money, then maybe those would improve? I mean, my poor release schedule was mostly because I was doing translations in between work. I should improve if I could focus on translating. Well, what do you think? I’ve been mulling over this idea for like a week and a half now.

So I’ve been running the idea through my head. I was thinking maybe like a cent per character in what I’m translating? I put it at that since this is all just fan translations and nothing really official. But I feel like to make this all work out better, it should be at like two or three cents per character since I’m not exactly that fast of a translator. It would take me like three hours to translate a chapter of YHKO (if any of you guys read that series on Light Novels Translation).

Ugh…I feel so weird right now as I kind of vent on you guys. Plus, I’m also kind of scared of the idea of losing my guaranteed salary for a job that I don’t like in exchange for doing something that I do like (yes, I do like translating for you guys) but as kind of like a job with no actual guarantee of earnings.

Alright. Enough of this for now. Tell me what you guys think in the comments. And thanks for reading all of this.

50 thoughts on “Question”

  1. Listen, if you want people to pay you for your work – you have to put in the work. You go many months not replying to people, or even making social updates, which really shows a complete lack of conviction.
    Start translating on a regular schedule, make a patreon and build from that. If you are consistent and offer tiers (x amount of chapters per x monthly donation) you will build up fast and be able to make smart financial decisions about the feasibility of leaving your current work.
    I have been reading for a while with you,(as well as many other translators) and very very rarely comment on your stuff because frankly a lot of the time when you complain it does really tick me off as a reader. If you are doing this because you like translating and want to make a job from it, props to you and you will definitely make it work. If you are doing it to get out of your current job then it will inevitably fail as well since you won’t put in the effort.
    Anyway, that’s just my 2 cents. If you can get a consistent release and give rewards for those who contribute then you will find at least some success.
    – No this isn’t ‘hate’ but my opinion on the matter

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    • Yes, you are absolutely right. Although I had only put some hard thought into the idea only like last week or something, I have not proven to you guys yet that I can actually do it. Thank you for giving me a plan on how to do that. I hadn’t put that much thought into it. Plus, I kind of got scared off from Patreon since it was around the time when I first started that Isekai Maou got licensed and I got warned from J-Novel Club about trying to make money off of it there. But I will try again.

      I do really want to translate and make a job out of it. Having got somewhat depressed (I don’t know if was really was depression) multiple times at my current job, I got to wondering about what I really want to do with my life. And it was there that I thought that I really missed translating. So I want to see if I can make it. If I don’t, well, at that point, I can think I can say that I at least tried.

      Thanks for your opinion. Oh, and by the way, is it really just the complaints that tick you off? Or is there more about me that ticks you off? Did I really complain that much? If so, I apologize. But I hope that you do at least like the translations that I do.

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      • Hey thanks for your reply, glad to see you are listening to your readers!
        And I remember it (the complaints) much more vividly from earlier chapters of isekai maou especially, before you moved to your new job. That is when i stopped reading for a long while hence why it stuck with me even when of late there has been much less of it. A big part of it is also the lack of communication to the readers on releases, or even the satire when the release comes about, but each person has their own way of doing things and you aren’t trailing behind the Japanese releases, but at the same time it is sad and frustrating as a reader to not know what is going on.
        Your TL quality is high, so no complaints there but if you wish to build something from that you need more than quality, but also consistency and reliability in your product (aka the translations)
        A nice thing could be to use a portion of the funds towards helping the author, of the many dozen translators I read from I only donate to 2 since they use some of the funds to buy multiple copies of the original LN’s and support the author, of which i am sure i am not alone in feeling guilty when reading translated works that I am not contributing to the main work itself.
        But yeah legalities can be hard especially when you deal with work that is fully or partially licensed such as isekai maou, hopefully you can learn a bit about your own countries laws regarding fan translations and the red tape to be wary of when translating them and find a way that benefits yourself, the author and the readers. I would like to help on that front but I am just a University student from Australia who majors in social anthropology and Asian studies, so its far from my specialty after all aha.
        Anyways, goodluck with however you wish to go about this! looking forward to possibly hearing more from you into the future

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      • 2 advices, try to divide your projects between some that you do because you like them wether they are popular or not and some that are popular even if they aren’t your favorites.

        As for series try to pick some that are hard to be licensed due to the themes? That is hard to say so maybe don’t think to much about it. Something i would love you to do is pick up series that have been abandoned (or seen like it) or that were good but the translation was horrible.

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  2. I think if you can be regular with the schedule then why not try asking the guys at j-novel club. They may recruit you if you pass their test and tbh that is the only way I can think of where you can translate as well as earn money. And as the above comment said that if you really like translating(as a passion) then you can definitely make it at j-novel club.

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    • I’m not sure how they do things over there so I’m kind of hesitant to ask. I’m not really a fan of localization, if they do that in their novels. Plus, I don’t really know if I’m at a level where my work would be good enough to be an “official” translation. I did try taking a test once when they first contacted me when Isekai Maou was first licensed, but I never got a response back. So I’m guessing that I failed? For right now, I will try making a regular schedule here.

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      • Hmm about localization, I think it depends on the novel to be translated as Rokujouma has no localization do by warnis the current translator. Regarding the test, you can try one more time and also join the discord of j-novel club so that atleast you will now where you went wrong in the translation by asking from the admin of j-novel i.e sam

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  3. I have been reading Dungeon Seeker on an other translating site, who’s actually asking ppl to pay before he posts a new chapter per serie (and not just a few dollar per chapter)

    I think he quitted posting chapters while he had still 10 chapters worth of money (for Dungeon Seeker) and quite some chapters of an other serie has been blocked behind the patreon wall…

    Like the other comments, I think it’s better to apply at J-Novel club since you do have passion. Perhaps you could even quit your current job :p

    PS: can’t wait for the new chapters of Isekai maou

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    • Hmm…I see. Whatever I do here, I will try and be sure to not make that mistake. I am at least open to refunds if I became unable to translate like that. And I’m not really fond of the patreon wall either since those kind of annoy me too.

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  4. Ok, going by my memory, the average cost to get some H’manga translated is about 30$. (Can’t remember if that includes typsetting or not)

    I know this isn’t what you want to translate(probably) but it should be a decent measuring stick. Do you have the motivation and time to translate 1-3 projects per day?(To equal whatever your current pay is).

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    • I feel like I would have the motivation to translate 1-3 projects per day if I had the time. Well, depending on the length of the work for each project. I feel like I might be able to do it if I turned this into my day job. I haven’t tried it yet so I can’t give a definite answer.

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      • Basically dedicate 9h per day at least 5 days a week and it will be better than most real jobs xD.

        You can both set up a patreon and leave way to simply donate for those that can’t afford patreon reularly (like i bet a lot of people can donate 1 or 2$, wich is little unless you get many fans).

        If there are patreons etting up to a 1000$ for a few por drawins (like not even 3 per week) i bet you can get that too with 2 or 3 projects.

        Also try to translate soemthin before setting up to build a backlock, that way you can realease stuff right away regularly while you work on newer things.

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    • Sites like fiverr have many who do similar work as well, and could be another starting point. Sure you may not get the most glamorous TL’s especially to begin with, but you can start making some income off of side projects as well as your main novels (H manga does seem to pay reasonably well at between 75cents up to 5 dollars per page, depending on volume of text and editing needed, but that is of course manga and not a novel)

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  5. I don’t think you’d even be able to earn minimum wage translating on the back of this website.

    In addition, your income will depend on you translating popular series and will be based on the whims of fans.

    For unofficial translators, I think the only ones that make money are MTLers that target popular series. And even in that case, you have several people translating on a single website. Not one person translating and uploading to their personal blog.

    I think it would be better to concentrate on your current career. For example, you could talk to your boss and explain that your workload is too high. He might deal you to just suck it up but he might also try to reduce it or promise a raise or something. Or you could consider moving to a new job.

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    • Dependin on what the job is and where he lives that could be hard, where my bother works (Chile) for example he says is easier to leave a company and re enter with a higher salary than to get a raise, why? don’t know is just how thins are done there.

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  6. You’re certainly not the first person who hated their job and instead wanted to make a living doing what they like to do. Usually the main stumbling block for most is they have no marketable skills to speak of, but since you appear fairly fluent in JP you’ve already tackled a pretty serious barrier to entry. Like previous comments have said, I think if you end up going for it you’ll be doing a lot of xlation you would not normally choose to do yourself in all likelihood. You could consider doing xlation for non-otuko content as well, technical writing and the like -although that might be what your current job you hate has you doing already, don’t know.

    There is lots of information online about the benefits and risks of self-employment, it would give you a better perspective if you look into that before taking the leap. As long as your parents are willing to let you live in their basement it certainly lowers the floor of what your required income would need to be to pull it off successfully.

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  7. I say do it, concentrate first on Maou but be open to other series (voting for wich series could be a tier), specially if you enjoy transalting more than your current work, if it “only” takes 3h per chapter you can make it 3 chapters per week and not only will it be satisfying to your readers but you won’t be a slave to the pc xD

    If it works ok you can increase the work and series until it match a standar dayjob, and still have time to enjoy your life (if you have xD)

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  9. Get google adsense on all your releases new and old, get Amazon affiliate links and link official novels/manga that are related and you recommend, get a patreon and promote the shit out of it.

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  11. I see too much text I will be short, as once a grate artist told me. “Don’t quit you’re day job until you can afford it.” Ignore everyone else except me.

    If you wana be full time translator maybe work more, and use every possible resource (and I mean everything you can think of sereusly )

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  12. Posible project that will get people to notice you: overlord, the current translator already said he won’t continue working on the series and it is really popular, if you translate it fast it can make a lot of money for you, that and it will atract people so you can pick other less known projects too.

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  13. There is a posibility i would pay for overlord or Youjo senki for example…. but that would depend if it free somewhere else …. not to offend you but…. then i am not going to pay for it. And even if i decide to buy it from you dont expect a lot of money. I am talking about 15-20 dolars at most(the same i would pay for a paperback).

    I dont think you can make a living out of that…

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    • Imagine 1000 views per day, of that if even 10% pay him 1$ then he will make money, more if some like you pay more for the whole thing as donations, and that is only in a basic manner, things like tiers to vote on projects could generate more, and yeah Youjo Senki is another good one, full metal panic too but i could have sworn it was already translated…..

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      • I dont know…. I personaly dont think you can do this kind of job full time. And even thought i said i would buy his translation i was thinking about 1 or 2 books. Even if he for example translated the whole remaining 6 volumes of youjo Senki thats what 60 $? but thats 60 $ for translating something around 1800 pages….. that takes a lot of time, like a year i would imagine.

        I dont know how popular he actualy is but just by looking on this webpage i can see like 100 active people at most. Dont expect to make money with such a narrow audience.

        What i worried about was that the post made it look like he was planing on quiting a job or something and might get into a financial trouble thereafter. I just dont think you can substitute a dayjob with this. Not to discourage him from continuing his wonderfull work.

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        • I still think is possible but needs a lot of planning, like i said 1 or 2 attention grabbing novels like Overlord, then he can make others, or for example pick 1 with lots of volume and transalte at least 1 or 2 then start releasing them, basically have a backlog so he isn’t rushed.

          Also you need to take into account the fact that the way he speaks he really kind of hates his current job xD

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  14. Man I don’t even care if you release shit whenever you feel like it because il donate whenever I have money to spare for the content. I might just request a chapter in the future too, that’s if I find something I just need to read

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  15. In regards to your computer’s wifi acting up, I had the same exact issue not too long ago. What the problem was(as I finally found out after 3 months and replacing the wifi card in the hopes that that would fix it) was that my wifi drivers had become corrupted and had to be re-installed. I would recommend giving that a try.

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    • Greetings, the busy cyborg 🙂
      How are things? Hope you’re well.
      Quarantine seems like a good time to give it a try. Also you did translate for money with LNT, so if they would have you again why not.

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  20. I don’t wanna be that guy, but if you wanna translate for a job, why not apply to j-novel or some other official company for a regular salary? Might even get health benefits….I don’t know how they operate.

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  21. Hey can you please resume the translation of the next volume of Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo Dorei Majutsu? Volume 13 has been out for about a month now, and I’d really like to read what happens next!

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  25. Does someone know if soul-cyborg it’s ok? Have almost a year since last time he show life signals here. And more than one year since last update of the novel

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  26. It’s been a long run guys. I enjoyed the translations, and even the Short novel starring it’s own character he made here, but it’s fairly sure to say now that he/she left for good. Was a good ride, enjoyed the quality and it was rather fun to talk and speculate what was next.

    Soul Cyborg-San, I don’t know if you are well or healthy (I pray so) but I thank you from the bottom of my heart for years of joy. Although we never talked and it’s possible you won’t ever read this, I just want to state somewhere that I wholeheartedly enjoyed this website, and you made lots of my gloomy days a little bit brighter.

    ありがとごうさいます!

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  27. Well it’s most likely only when the author finishes vol 13 that the translator will start translating vol 13 as I noticed a pattern.

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  31. I would be happy to see you paid for your efforts. Sadly im poor and genuinely cant help in that regard. You’re probably the whole reason why anyone on this side of the world even heard of Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo Dorei Majutsu. A thing I really appreciate.

    I hope whatever method you come up with does not prevent those lacking money from viewing your future works. I am alright with waiting longer. Being prevented from ever seeing things due to poverty however is a real kick in the pants.

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