Author's words regarding LMS translations

Hello guys.

I'm from Korea and as you might have guessed, a big fan of The Moonlight Sculptor.

Only recently, I've learned about there are people overseas who share the same taste with me.

I've come to know about you from the recent post of the author himself on his blog.

(The original post by the author, Heesung Nam is on the following link : http://blog.naver.com/wargod80/150128599820 )

After reading this, I've decided to translate the post for you.

Though I'm posting this here because I have no idea where the official translation site is,

I believe that you would help me on letting fellow readers know what the author thinks of us.

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Regarding translation of The Moonlight Sculptor -words from the author


English translation of The Moonlight Scultor was conducted and it was published in US market. However, it was only for the first volume of the story. Due to troubles the distributor there is in, publication of following story has not happened yet. Aside status quo, the first volume which was officially published has been on sale up until now in forms of e-book and make-to-order product.

It's already been three years since things stopped running, and recently I came to know how the following stories of the book is being translated and distributed. People who involved in this practice are from some US forum and such, after reading the first volume published.

I've read an article in the forum saying they should pay their own money for quick, precise translation. Also I found a lot of people worrying about if it wouldn't violate copyright-related rules. So I've decided to straighten things up by telling you, the readers about what I have in mind.

As of now, the Moonlight Sculptor published in US haven't reached the break-even point. In fact, there is no commercial profit from the book. And I doubt it would ever in the future. My guess is that official translation of the following story wouldn't happen in near future; not in three years at least. Therefore, I will not exercise my copyrights over the translated works of fifth volume of the story published in Korea. For now, I am saying that my promise will take effect until December, 2014.

Of course, the promise will stay valid under one condition; the readers translate the story with noncommercial intention and enjoy it.
If someone officially profit from the translated work by selling them over Amazon.com and such, it might make things difficult and complicated.

If people who enjoy translated versions of the story increase in numbers, I will extend the valid terms of my promise. Not to mention that I will agree to have people enjoy further part of the story in terms of promotion on Korean literature.

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ps. Let me know if you want me to lend a hand in translation work of the story. I'm a translator under training and I'm willing to help as much I can.

Err well that's good, I for one find that "pay 4k for one volume" idea quite foolish, I'm surprised the author even paid it enough attention to make a post about it. Anyway, we do need translators for LMS, please apply~

noobzilla wrote:Err well that's good, I for one find that "pay 4k for one volume" idea quite foolish, I'm surprised the author even paid it enough attention to make a post about it. Anyway, we do need translators for LMS, please apply~

just lemme know

In order to be one you need to "apply" like a normal person here. http://www.oddsquad.org/2010/01/translator.html

p.s. I am slightly unnerved by knowing there's a project author lurking in our forums somewhere...

noobzilla wrote:In order to be one you need to "apply" like a normal person here. http://www.oddsquad.org/2010/01/translator.html

p.s. I am slightly unnerved by knowing there's a project author lurking in our forums somewhere...

no worries mate. he rather seemed happy to find people enjoy his novel overseas.

plus, the author is one of more sensitive people about reproduction.

he is famous for his random inspections when he pays secret visit to P2P warez site and such..lol

you know, reproduction in Korea is much more problem than it may be in US or other countries.

However, the author himself allowed it up until the fifth volume of the story and that's good news=)

THIS IS GREAT NEWS! SO GOOD that it motivated my leeching ass to register!

OSS TRANSLATIONS ALL THE WAY! Keep up the good work!

Regards,

One happy reader!

Nice! sounds like a pretty cool guy. ;D

It doesn't sound like s/he's talking about us specifically though... As an example kind of way, the author talks about those who pay money to professional translators for English version LMS.

And the author is such a cool person! Sounds like many Korean fans who posted comments sees the translations happening in US very positively too.

To me it feels like it was directly adressed to the topic we had going. *shrug*

But this is great news, I love this author, my new hero!!! Well... Actually, been my hero since I found out about LMS! LMS is brilliant, love it so much! <3

And did I get it right that if LMS gets more popular it'll be allowed to translate further from the 5th volume?