Translating a Top Book

Just because a book is a bestseller in the U.S., does it mean it will be a bestseller in Sweden – or any other country for that matter? Not without some hard work. It does help if the book is smartly written, heartfelt and with strong characters, like John Green’s hit, the young adult novel The Fault in Our Stars. It also helps if the author is a genuine online celebrity with over a million Twitter followers and a “vlog” on YouTube with nearly a million subscribers and nearly 300 million views.

“Swedish fans have been on his vlog and his generous homepage, and through his engagement in social media, he’s almost more available than many Swedish writers,” says Karin Lemon, his publisher at Bonnier Carlsen, which has put out the Swedish edition of the book. “Both adult and teenage bloggers, who read other’s blogs, constantly scour international book sites for new, hot titles and this is a title that has seen a lot of success via the Internet. Goodreads, Amazon and other similar sites are a big influence even in Sweden and Swedish fans check them out, quite simply. Many have already read the book in English, but if you like John Green, you want to read him in whatever language you speak.”

Despite a built-in fan base clamoring for the book, which focuses on the love between two teenagers with cancer, translating the U.S. success to Sweden took some planning. For instance, just picking who should translate the book. In this case, Lemon picked Ylva Stålmarck, who has a good ear for how Swedish kids speak while avoiding sloppy slang.

“We thought Ylva could handle John Green’s well-known cleverness – he’s so witty – and humor, and she ended up really succeeding,” says Lemon. Stålmarck herself says that “it was really something special to translate this book, easy and hard, impossible and so much fun.”

Since the book had been so praised by Swedish bloggers, Bonnier Carlsen chose to pull them in to help get the word out on the book. During the fall of 2012, the publisher sent out an offer for bloggers to read a manuscript of the book. “The response from the blogosphere was fantastic,” says Lisa Lewin, responsible for the public relations for the book. “Hopefully these Swedish bloggers will help John Green reach the Swedish readers he truly deserves.”

Bloggers aren’t the only important part of the marketing, much of which is done through social media. “We’re working primarily with digital marketing focused directly at the target audience,” says Anna-Karin Stockhaus, web manager at Bonnierförlagen. “Bonnier Carlsen is focusing heavily on the book on its Facebook page, with a contest that’s getting a lot of attention.”

While there’s no way to easily translate Green’s social media presence into Swedish, and no real need to, he’s still helped out with a YouTube clip specifically for Sweden. He also gave kudos to the Swedish book as his favorite among all the international editions in his vlog this past summer. “He said that he likes the Swedish cover best of all the editions, which is nice for us since some Swedish fans have complained about the Swedish title and the cover,” says Lemon. (The original title is a paraphrase of Shakespeare, the Swedish title, Förr eller senare exploderar jag, which means “sooner or later I’ll explode” is a quote from the protagonist.)

Now it’s just a matter of seeing how the book takes off.

“We’re sure that many, adults as well as teenagers in different life situations, will have a lot to gain from reading the book,” says Lewin. And to help make sure it’s there in particular for Swedish teenagers undergoing treatment for cancer, Bonnier Carlsen together with the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation is sending copies to hospitals with cancer wards for children.