The Wuxiaworld Way + Full-Time Translator Recruitment

As found on ww homepage
http://www.wuxiaworld.com/the-wuxiaworld-way-full-time-translator-recruitment/

Greetings, friends! As Wuxiaworld continues to expand, collaborate with various rights holders, and also possibly accepts outside sources of investment, we shall have an increasing need for more translators to work on projects. I thought it would be good to make a post that transparently explains how Wuxiaworld operates, shows a sample Wuxiaworld contract, and makes it clear that we are seeking motivated full-time translators! We need both translators for new projects as well as some to buttress existing projects, so give us a ring!

To begin, Wuxiaworld Limited is an actual company incorporated in Hong Kong, a locale famous for being where East meets West. While the content we work on and generate is Eastern, our culture and our business model are definitely Western and is very similar to Western publisher models.

Let me start with the most important thing of all. On Wuxiaworld, our default stance is that the translators maintain ownership over their work, with Wuxiaworld being the exclusive publisher. In other words, the relationship between you and us is a collaborative relationship, rather than an employer/employee relationship. We bring the platform and the audience and take responsibility for procuring authorizations from authors/platforms and compensating them, while you just bring your work. We keep both of us fed through sharing advertisement revenue as well as future revenue from ebooks and other revenue streams, and together we bring wonderful, high-quality translations for people to read for free.

There are certain other sites in which translators are paid flat fees of say $35/chapter, with all ownership going to the site. As a translator myself, I believe the Wuxiaworld model to be a superior type of relationship. Translators who own their work and depend at least in part on it performing well have a vested interest in making it the best quality product they absolutely can. The term is known as ‘pride of ownership’. If all you get is $30-$35 a chapter and you lose your ownership rights, the incentive is for you to pump out as much chapters you can, irrespective of quality. That’s not good for the publisher OR the readers, and frankly it isn’t good for the translator’s mindset either. Note – I’m not saying that being a flat-rate translator will necessarily result in bad quality, I’m just saying that it incentivizes it.

In fact, the standard Western model in which authors/translators maintain ownership rights is more rewarding long term for translators. Due to having ownership rights, if the quality of your work is high you’ll be generating revenue from ads and other sources of revenue for years after you finished the work. As an example, I finished Coiling Dragon in late 2015, but in 2016 we still saw over forty million pageviews, and we’ll be publishing ebooks soon as well. I don’t actually give myself revenue share… but if I did, the completed Coiling Dragon translation would be have generated more for me in 2016 than the average full-time ‘paid per chapter’ translator would be getting on flat-rate sites. This is the power of ownership!

Never underestimate the power of ownership, no matter the industry; when you own your work, if you work hard one year you will continue to benefit from it for years to come. Remember what you are signing away and make sure it is worth it! I will say, however, that almost every single ‘full-time’ Wuxiaworld translator (by which I mean at least 2-3 chapters a day) who has been translating for a while is earning significantly more from ads + donations than the ‘flat rate’ sites of certain competitors… and even after our translators finish the translation and move on to a second one, they’ll still be earning from the former!

So what type of translators should be interested in joining Wuxiaworld? Those who love this work as much as I did and do, are capable of high quality work (or improving to that level), and who are interested in doing it full time or at least half time (1 chapter a day). If you join us, you will be a true partner, an owner of your own intellectual property (pursuant to our negotiations with the rights holders, of course!), and be able to pour your effort into making the finest translations you are capable of. In short – do you wish to work for yourself, with us as your publishing partner? Or do you just wish to be paid labor? If the answer is the former… give us a ring at contactus@wuxiaworld!

Our contracts are very clean and honest, and don’t include nonsense like non-disparagement clauses; I’ve always believed that if you treat people right, there’s no need to put in such clauses. And if you find the right persons to work with, you don’t need to put in all the other punitive clauses either. Indeed, Wuxiaworld has been around since 2014 but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen our translators disparaging us! Our contract also puts in specific protective clauses in for our translators; any decent contract should protect the rights of both parties, not just the ‘big company’ (although Wuxiaworld is still tiny!).

For the sake of complete transparency, I’m actually including a sample Wuxiaworld contract below. All actual contracts are of course individualized, but this should give you all a rough idea as to how Wuxiaworld works. I hope this was interesting and instructive, and I hope to hear from some of you!

_________________

AGREEMENT dated May 25, 2017 between Wuxiaworld Limited (“Publisher”) and _____ (“Translator”).

The parties to this Agreement are working together to publish and make use of Translator’s translation of _______ (“the Translation”). The two parties agree as follows:

Usage and Rights

1. Translator shall deliver to Publisher an original Translation of [Novelname].

1. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, Translator grants to Publisher the exclusive rights to print, publish, distribute, make use of, sell and license the rights to any and all editions and/or formats of the Translation on Publisher’s website under paragraph 2a, in whole or in part, in the English language throughout the world.

2a. Publisher has unrestricted rights to use the translation on Publisher’s website, wuxiaworld If and when Publisher intends to make additional usage of the translation outside of Publisher’s website, a secondary agreement must first be reached between Publisher and Translator regarding the scope of usage and revenue share as appropriate. If a satisfactory agreement cannot be reached, Translator has the right to reject and veto the proposed additional usage.

2b. Translator shall receive remuneration of $XXX USD per 1000 pageviews which the Translation receives on Publisher’s website, calculated monthly and to be paid on a NET60 basis either by wire/bank transfer or Paypal. Publisher is responsible for providing translator with a monthly report detailing how many pageviews the translation received.

2c. The Translator shall have the right upon written request to examine the books of account of the Publisher insofar as they relate to the Translation; such examination shall be at the cost of the Translator unless errors of accounting amounting to five percent (5%) or more of the total sum paid to the Translator shall be found to his disadvantage, in which case the cost shall be borne by the Publisher.

Legal Responsibilities

1. Translator guarantees that the Translation work is his; that to the best of his knowledge, and subject to paragraph 5, the Translation will not infringe upon the personal rights of or give rise to any claim by any third party, including, without limitation, claims in defamation, privacy, copyright, or trademark; and that the Translator has the authority to grant Publisher the rights granted in this agreement. Translator guarantees that the Translation will be of high quality and faithful to the original text.

1. Publisher will make no changes or alterations to the Translation without the Translator’s permission.

1. Publisher will be responsible for procuring the relevant trademarks, copyrights, and/or authorizations from the original rights holder of the work which Translator is translating.

1. All sums of money due the Translator under this Agreement shall be paid to the Translator in a timely manner, and the receipt of the said funds shall be a good and valid discharge of all such indebtedness.

Disputes

1. Both parties will make a good-faith effort to resolve any disputes which arise out of this agreement. If there is a disagreement which the two parties cannot resolve, it will be resolved in good faith through an arbitrator in Hong Kong to be selected by the parties. The arbitrator’s decision may be entered in any court having jurisdiction.

No arbitration can be commenced and neither Translator nor Publisher can be found to be in breach of this Agreement unless they have been given written notice identifying the breach and a thirty-day opportunity to cure it.

1. Should the Publisher be found in breach of this Agreement and does not rectify the breach or comply with the arbitration decision within 30 days of the arbitration decision, in addition to any other remedies available to Translator, all rights shall revert back to the Translator.

Final Notes

1. This agreement is subject to the laws of Hong Kong.

1. This Agreement may be assigned by Publisher as part of the sale or transfer of all or substantially all of Publisher’s business or is part of a merger or consolidation of Publisher with another company. This agreement may also be assigned by Publisher to any subsidiary or affiliate or any company or entity under controlled by it. The performance of the terms of this Agreement is personal to Translator and may not be assigned. Otherwise, the provisions of this Agreement shall be binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of the parties, their respective successors, legal representatives, and assigns.

1. This Agreement reflects the entire understanding between the parties and it may not be changed except in writing signed by both parties.

Signed:

 

RIP my inbox

 

Interesting, Qidian novels are still avoided from now on right ?

 

Rip

and no advertising?

edit: No Blantant Advertising - You can link to your own site for more information. Do not put terms or benefits on NUF.

 

Wait what? im too lazy to read this.... can anyone summaries it to me?

 

Where the fuck is the signature

 

Lmao ^.^

 

WW loves it's translators and wants to treat them nicely so they can produce high quality stuff

 

if i signed it how i wanted to, i'd probably get banned for TOS violations

 

I hope a lot of people woulf join WW and translate more novel

 

Ohhhhhhh

 

So can someone compare and contrast Qidian and WW deals. WW sounds better, but despite it all Qidiancis larger.

 

When you don't care about the contract as long as it's not with Qidian

 

Just because the guy has a bigger dick, doesn't mean he will satisfy you better. Kappa.

 

It should be illegal to be this savage towards other companies.

Also I love the fact that you treat the translators working with you with respect for their work and what they actually do, provided they do their share of course. This is the kind of stuff we need to see for the future of translations, otherwise people won't want to translate, after all who would want to translate for pennies and not even own the rights to their translation, when learning a language is difficult enough, let alone translating it. Anyway I wish you guys the best.

 

Is this official?

 

You know what?? This is what I call transparency... Yes!! I feel so good knowing that I can actually understand a legal document!!

 

Funny, but doesn't really apply. qidian is like the guy who buys a big truck or expensive car to make up for his tiny dick

 

Are you suggesting that I have a small.... HEY!