I will be removing the translations for The Latest Game is too Amazing in a day or so.

Well I just made a thread on why you should not contact an author unless you plan to pay licensing fees
Tssk!!

 

That's so sad! If only the publisher was more lenient with the contract in regards to overseas translation. At least he knows now that English readers were enjoying his work overseas!

 

I obviously disagree that "it's satisfying my own vanity" because this is a translator's ethical issue (putting aside legal issues). Just look at wujigege, is he suggesting to future translators not to contact authors for permission? Or how about Roxism who puts his translations as fanfics? Yes, translating in the first place without the author's permission was a mistake, but the mistake is already done.

The author didn't give his permission now, so am I going to leave it on my website? I can't because he said no.

But you do make a good point that it doesn't help the author if I take it down now. Let me think about it a little longer.

 

Well... Unless you are asked by the English LN publisher to do so...
Which well... I'm kinda not doing since umm.... 2016?
Even after I had taken down the translation on my site. I get about 1 email per week, asking: "Where to read Volume 1", and seeing how my translation still exists in the aggregator sites, well......

 

In most cases, the WN is treated as a draft instead of a separate work. That means, it share the same status and rights over the LN automatically covers the WN as well.

Even in America, they treated drafts the same way. Once publication contract has been signed, even the draft of the novel gets the same restriction and is treated as "author's property but rights held by publisher". While nobody really cares if the authors let their friends and families read the drafts after the book is published, they're not allowed to release it for the public.

In Japan, the contracts slightly differ. Some publishers may allow the WN to stay up following the author's wish, some expect them to take it down. The WN remain the author's rights, but are treated the same as the LN in every other aspects. In other words, the author is allowed to offer the draft for reading by the public, but the author doesn't have the right to allow any kind of derivative work based on their draft, which translation and fanfictions are.

 

Sigh

 

This is a rather strongly worded reply. You can't really blame him from wanting to take the chapters down so that he won't get into any trouble moving forward. Even if it'll end up 'benefitting' the aggregators, the risk of future trouble just isn't worth it.

 

why do translators keep asking authors for permission, you know they're gonna say no to some random nobody asking to profit off their work.

 

Because, and I know this will come as a huge shock to you, some of us don't actually give a flying fuck about making a profit off translating. We would, on the other hand, very much like not to be the same kind of asshat like the dude that runs an aggregator.

In the end, it's a very simple thing:

You have no moral ground to rail against people stealing and monetizing your translation when you yourself steal and monetize other people's original work.

 

It's kinda like a guarantee. Without authorization, you might be asked to take it down after you're hundreds of chapters down. It's better to know whether you will be allowed to continue early on than being forced to stop after you've invested thousands of hours into the story.

Also, ethical stuff and whatnot.