How much does it cost to translate a book?
You wrote a book. Or you found one you love in a language you can't read. Now you want it translated. The first question everyone asks is simple: how much will this cost?
The short answer is sobering. Professional book translation costs between $5,000 and $20,000 for a standard novel. Technical books, literary fiction, or anything requiring specialized knowledge can easily exceed $25,000. And that's before you factor in editing, proofreading, and formatting costs.
For most indie authors, these numbers are prohibitive. For readers who simply want to read a book that was never translated to their language, professional translation isn't even an option to consider. You can't hire a translator for a book you don't own the rights to.
But there's a shift happening. AI book translation has matured to the point where you can translate entire books at a fraction of the traditional cost, in hours instead of months, while maintaining the author's voice and style. It's not perfect, but for many use cases, it's more than good enough.
Professional translation pricing breakdown
Professional translators charge by the word. The rates vary dramatically depending on the language pair, the translator's experience, and the complexity of the content. Here are the typical rates you'll encounter:
| Translation type | Price per word | 80,000-word book |
|---|---|---|
| Budget (machine + edit) | $0.05 - $0.08 | $4,000 - $6,400 |
| Standard professional | $0.10 - $0.15 | $8,000 - $12,000 |
| Literary / creative | $0.15 - $0.25 | $12,000 - $20,000 |
| Technical / specialized | $0.20 - $0.35+ | $16,000 - $28,000+ |
These prices are just for the initial translation. Most professional projects also require a separate editor to review the translator's work, which adds another 30-50% to the total cost. Then there's proofreading, which catches the errors that both the translator and editor missed.
When you add everything up, a professionally translated and edited book typically costs 1.5 to 2 times the base translation rate. That $12,000 translation becomes an $18,000+ project. And you'll wait 3-6 months for delivery.
Why professional translation costs so much
Professional translators don't just convert words from one language to another. They interpret meaning, preserve tone, adapt cultural references, and ensure the translated text reads naturally to native speakers. This requires years of training, deep cultural knowledge, and subject matter expertise for specialized content.
A good translator produces between 2,000 and 3,000 words per day. Not because they're slow, but because quality translation requires constant decision-making. Every sentence presents choices: How do you preserve a pun that doesn't work in the target language? How do you handle a cultural reference the new audience won't understand? How do you maintain the author's voice when sentence structures differ between languages?
These decisions compound across a 300-page book. The translator must remember how they handled similar situations 50 pages ago to maintain consistency. They need to track character names, terminology, and stylistic choices throughout the entire manuscript.
For most authors and readers, the cost of professional translation is simply out of reach. A self-published author would need to sell thousands of copies just to break even on translation costs.
This economic reality is why the vast majority of books are never translated. Publishers only invest in translations when they're confident the book will sell enough copies to justify the expense. For indie authors and niche topics, traditional translation simply doesn't make financial sense.
The AI alternative: translate books for a fraction of the cost
AI book translation has fundamentally changed the economics of translation. Instead of paying thousands of dollars and waiting months, you can translate an entire book for a tiny fraction of the traditional cost, and have it ready in hours instead of months.
The key advancement isn't just speed or cost. Modern AI translation systems understand context in ways that earlier machine translation couldn't. They maintain narrative flow across chapters, keep character names consistent, preserve the author's voice, and handle the subtle stylistic choices that make a book feel coherent rather than like a patchwork of disconnected sentences.
Is AI translation as good as a skilled human translator? Not yet, for most literary fiction. But for non-fiction, technical content, and many genres of fiction, the quality is more than acceptable. More importantly, for many readers the choice isn't between AI translation and professional translation. The choice is between AI translation and never reading the book at all.
When you frame it that way, the decision becomes obvious. An imperfect translation you can read today beats a perfect translation that will never exist.
Who benefits from AI book translation
AI translation makes sense for self-published authors who want to reach international markets without gambling $15,000 per language on an uncertain return. It works for readers who want to read books that were never translated to their language and probably never will be. Researchers and students use it to access academic papers and textbooks published in foreign languages. And anyone who values their time appreciates getting a translated book in hours rather than waiting months.
Stop overpaying for book translation
Translate your book in hours, not months. For a fraction of the traditional cost.