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Book translation services
A translation can be correct and still read like a translation. Readers notice, and they stop. We translate your book, have a second reader edit it in the new language, then typeset and publish it.
Tell us the languages, the word count and what the book is about. A specialist sends a written price within one business day. Nothing is charged until you approve it.
The short answer
Columbia Publication translates books for publication into and out of English, including Spanish, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and the Nordic languages. A second reader edits each translation in the new language before it is typeset and published as its own edition. Pricing is per source word, quoted within one business day, and authors keep 100% of their rights and royalties.
Prices checked October 26, 2026 · Reviewed by Gia Kahn, Lead Editor · Next review November 2026 · How we check
Is this you?
Correct and readable are two different jobs.
Machine translation and general agencies are built to help someone understand a document. A book has to do more: it has to keep a reader turning pages. On a long text the terms start to drift between chapters, the author’s voice flattens out, and a layout copied from the original looks wrong in the new script. Then the author is handed a file and left to find an editor, a typesetter and a way to sell it.
We treat a translation as a publishing project. A translator matched to your subject. A term list agreed before the first page. An edit in the new language. Typesetting for the script. Then the finished edition goes on sale, handled by one team from your original to the store page.
Your quote
Translation is priced per word of the source text. The math is simple: on a 60,000-word book, every cent per word adds $600 to the fee. These six things decide where your rate lands.
| What sets the rate | Why it changes the price |
|---|---|
| Word count | Priced on source words, not pages |
| Language pair | Availability of qualified literary translators varies by combination |
| Subject and register | Literary, technical, scholarly and poetry are different jobs |
| Source condition | Clean digital text costs less than scans or annotated originals |
| Editing in the new language | Translation plus review is the publication standard |
| Typesetting and printing | Text length changes in translation, and right-to-left scripts change the whole layout |
Two quotes for the same book can differ because one includes the edit in the new language and the typesetting, and the other stops at the translated file. When you compare, check what each quote ends with.
Price My TranslationFor authors
In four moves: translate, edit in the new language, typeset, publish. Here is what each one protects.
The second reader works only in English and asks one question of every page: does this read as if it was written here? That edit is the line between a translated file and a publishable edition.
We typeset the edition, adapt the cover and book details, and publish and distribute it.
Arabic editions are typeset right to left, with fonts and layout chosen for that edition, not mirrored from the English.
Check that you hold the translation rights. If a publisher holds them, the edition needs their agreement before we start.
We translate into and out of English for these languages: Spanish, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Greek, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish.
For organizations
Yes, and keeping it one project is the point. Multilingual material breaks in the gaps between suppliers: one term translated two ways, a layout that collapses in German, a print run that does not match the Spanish edition.
One shared term list across every language edition.
Every edition set to the same design, so classes work from matching pages.
Names, dates, transliteration and citations agreed as policy before translation starts.
Translated editions can go straight to bulk printing and out to every site.
Long or multi-volume work? Start with a short paid sample, so you hear the voice before you commit.
Price My TranslationLong works
Because a long book has to sound like one writer from the first page to the last, and four separate jobs never do.
When it is done
A reader in Madrid, Riyadh or Stockholm picks up your book and reads it straight through, never once thinking about the language it started in. It is on sale under your name, set properly for its script, and every right and royalty is still yours.
Projects
Three kinds of project, each priced from the source word count, with the scope agreed in writing before you pay.
Authors
Per source word
Your book translated, edited by a second reader in the new language, typeset and published as its own edition.
For authors opening a new market: a book that reads naturally in the new language, published as its own edition with its own ISBN.
Translation, in-language edit, typesetting, publishing
Price This for My BookOrganizations
Scoped to your project
Manuals, curricula and handbooks translated against one term list, then typeset and printed.
For teams with readers in several languages: the same terms in every edition, typeset and printed, shipped to each site if you need it.
Optional bulk printing and split delivery
Price This for My BookHeritage
Scoped to your project
Multi-volume, historical and family works, with the source prepared and the volumes reconciled.
For families and historians: the meaning carried across intact, starting with a paid sample so you judge the voice before the full work.
Paid sample translation first
Price This for My BookWhat is agreed before translation starts
Approve the written quote and pay in full to reserve your translator and editor. Large or multi-volume work can come to us as an RFP.
What you can count on
How it runs
We’ve started with Translation. Add anything else your manuscript needs, and a specialist sends an itemised quote within one business day. Free, confidential, no obligation.
Written quote within one business day. Nothing is charged until you approve it. 100% of your rights stay yours.
Questions
Per source word, so on a 60,000-word book each cent per word adds $600. The rate moves with the language pair and the genre, and with whether the quote includes the edit in the new language, typesetting and printing. You get the whole project priced in writing within one business day.
Into and out of English: Spanish, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Greek, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish.
Good enough to understand a text, often. Good enough to publish, no. Across a long work it loses the voice, slips on register and lets terms drift, and it cannot make the editorial calls a published book needs.
A translation is a new work that can carry its own copyright, so we put ownership in writing in your agreement before any work begins.
Yes. We agree a term list and a style sheet, a lead translator sets the register, and the volumes are reconciled against each other before publication.
Yes, and on a long project we recommend it. A short passage is translated and edited first, so you can judge the voice before committing to the full book.
No. Certified or sworn translation for legal and immigration papers needs a separate accreditation, so a certified translator is the right call for those. What we do is translation for publication.
In full, once you approve the written quote for your languages and word count. Payment reserves your translator and editor for the agreed schedule.
Send the source language, the languages you want, the word count and the subject. A specialist writes back within one business day.
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