How can a Russian writer get his work translated into English?

Question

There is a famous Russian writer named Yuriy Mukhin. He writes books about Stalin and about alternative economic system. All his books are in Russian and have never been translated into other languages. He doesn't know English.

Can you describe plan in steps how can he publish his books in not-russian publishing house without leaving Russia?

How can he get his books translated into English? How does he go about hiring a translator? What publishing houses could handle the translation for him? What would translation typically cost? What kind of royalties or payments does an author receive for a translated work? How does he find and contact a publishing house?

Answer 1

If he's been already published in Russia, his publisher should be able to handle it - offer his book on a book fair (Frankfurt Book Fair comes to mind), make a deal with foreign publisher, find a good translator (preferably English translator, not Russian)...

If the author does not want to use publisher (maybe he has way too much free time on his hands :)), the best way would find some foreign publishing house who might be interested in his books (perhaps he specializes on similar books or Russian authors) and send him an email with the offer - whether he would like to publish his books, possibly include some excerpts, manuscript, etc.

Before doing that, he might want to buy some book about creative writing, where the process of communication with publishing house is usually described in detail. Western authors are very good at "selling" themselves, eastern authors - not so much (applies even here in CZ).

I wouldn't worry about translation and royalties, especially at this stage - these are publisher's concerns.