A review and my personal experience with Traduzione Libri (Tektime): Is it worth it?

What is Traduzione Libri (Tektime)?

It is a company that specializes in offering translation and related services for book authors based on a revenue sharing model.

Where is is Traduzione Libri based?

Traduzione Libri (Tektime) is company that is based in Italy, which means that it is an EU company.

How Traduzione Libri works?

Although the company operates from Italy, it covers the translation needs of authors in numerous languages by building partnerships with translators, narrators, proofreaders, and editors from all over the world.

Online reviews of Traduzione Libri

There are various reviews of Traduzione Libri online.

Some of them are from book authors, and some from translators.

The reviews discuss issues such as whether you can find quality translators on the website, whether authors have actually got any monetary benefit from using the Tektime’s revenue sharing model, after having their books published in different languages, whether translators themselves have made any money, etc.

Can you make any money with Traduzione Libri?

In a word: Yes.

The money may not be as much as you would expect, but you can definitely make money.

Since this money is shared among the various contributors to the book publishing process, it is of key importance that you put some effort to promote any books that you have been involved with.

For example, if you are a translator and you have translated an English book into German, promoting it in various ways to a German-speaking audience would help you earn more money by increasing the sales of the book.

I would say that, unless a book is an instant success, it takes time to build sales through advertising, social media engagement, word-of-mouth, and other marketing channels.

Generally speaking, you can’t, and shouldn’t, sit there just waiting for book sales to roll in.

You need to promote it heavily to see sales coming in.

Extra tip: On top of its revenue sharing model, Tektime also offers another earning opportunity to proofreaders, editors, and translators.

For example, if a book author doesn’t want to share his or her earnings from book sales with other people, he or she can use the services of a proofreader, an editor, or a translator through Tektime, by paying them a standard one-off fee, based on how much the latter charge per word.

In this way, proofreaders, editors, and translators are only paid once, and they are not entitled to any future earnings of the book.

Who is Traduzione Libri for?

Traduzione Libri is for book authors, translators, narrators, proofreaders, and editors.

In addition, publishers can use the services provided by Traduzione Libri, and this also applies to self-published authors, which means that not only can authors have their books translated and narrated, but they can also have their texts published through the company.

Another money-making opportunity is also available to those involved in affiliate marketing, and therefore, affiliates can also make money through Tektime.

Last but not least, members of the site who are involved as readers can enjoy various benefits, such as free book previews and buying books on discount.

Have I made any money myself with Traduzione Libri?

I have translated two books for Traduzione Libri.

The authors of the books, Traduzione Libri, and I have signed a standard agreement to share among us the earnings generated from book sales.

I haven’t done any promotion of the books, although I strongly believe that I should have, in order to stand a chance to make decent money.

As of the time of writing this article, one of the books has sold two copies, while the other have had zero sales.

My total earnings currently stand at 2.12 euro, which is literally nothing, considering the amount of effort and time that I have put into, but as I said above, marketing plays a huge role in earning more from book sales, since it helps in driving more sales.

Sources and further reading:

Have you tried Traduzione Libri? (a site like Babelcube)

Update on Translations

Books Audiobooks translation and narration in revenue sharing