UK publisher or agent for translation of a SciFi novel from German

[marcspaeni]

I am looking for an opportunity to have my science fiction novel “Westlake Haven”, published last year in German, translated into English and positioned in the UK book market. It is a mix of classic science fiction, cyberpunk, and philosophy, with fictitious newspaper articles, reviews, advertisements, and a lot of illustrations. Does anyone know an UK agent or publisher who could be interested in such a project?
Thank you very much for your help!
Marc Späni, Zürich Switzerland

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I think just the same way as you’d go about getting an agent anyhow.

 

[Serendipity]

I am looking for an opportunity to have my science fiction novel “Westlake Haven”, published last year in German, translated into English and positioned in the UK book market. It is a mix of classic science fiction, cyberpunk, and philosophy, with fictitious newspaper articles, reviews, advertisements, and a lot of illustrations. Does anyone know an UK agent or publisher who could be interested in such a project?
Thank you very much for your help!
Marc Späni, Zürich Switzerland

Most top big literary agencies have a foreign rights department which I suspect you could approach. Whether they'd be interested in your project is another matter. Each has their taste / speciality in what novels they take on.

 

[Brian G Turner]

translated into English

If you were traditionally published then the issue depends on who holds your English-language rights - the publisher or agent may have these, in which case it's up to them to make such an approach.

If you self-published your novel then you'll probably need a strong commercial sales record to interest any agent, let alone publisher - but you may have to be exceptional to bring the issue of translation in the equation. This is especially because market tastes are presumed to differ from region to region, and hence why non-English fiction does not easily get picked up by English-language media agencies of any kind.

In which case, your next option would be to self-publish your work, but you would probably need to make your own English translation.