Description

Your Book Has a Spanish Translation. But Is It Actually Ready to Publish?

There’s an open secret in the Latin American church — and honestly, in Spanish-speaking ministry circles more broadly: a significant number of English books that get translated into Spanish by well-meaning volunteers, ministry staff, or bilingual family members are translated terribly.

The people who did those translations aren’t bad people and they weren’t being lazy. They’re simply not trained translators. Being bilingual is not the same thing as knowing how to carry meaning from one language to another — how to preserve an author’s voice, handle theological terminology, pull Scripture from an actual Spanish Bible version rather than rendering it live from English, and produce something that reads like it was written in Spanish rather than assembled from Spanish parts.

Over the years, authors have sent me manuscripts assuming my Peruvian wife Lili would want to read them — because they’d been told the Spanish version was “done.” On the occasions she’s read them, her verdict has almost always been the same: the translation is poor. Not unusable, necessarily. But not publishable as-is nor high quality.

If you have a Spanish manuscript sitting in a folder, this is probably why.

Who This Is For

This service is for you if you are:

• A Christian nonfiction author whose book was translated by a church volunteer, ministry partner, or bilingual family member — and you’re not sure whether it’s accurate or reads naturally
• A business writer or entrepreneur who had a book or manuscript translated for Spanish-speaking markets and wants professional eyes on it before you publish or distribute
• Anyone whose Spanish translation has been sitting unpublished because something about it doesn’t feel ready — and you’ve never been able to get a clear answer on whether that instinct is right

You don’t need to have the translation redone from scratch. You need someone qualified to tell you what you actually have — and fix what can be fixed.

What We Do

My wife Lili is a native Spanish speaker who has worked alongside me on translation projects for years. Together, we review your Spanish manuscript against your English original, chapter by chapter. She reads for native-speaker fluency and natural idiom; I track accuracy against the source text and handle the editorial layer. What we check:

• Accuracy — Are the ideas faithfully carried over, or are key concepts softened, lost, or accidentally changed?
• Scripture references — Are Bible quotes pulled from a recognized Spanish Bible version (Reina-Valera, NVI, LBLA, etc.) or translated on the fly from the English quotes?
• Natural fluency — Does it read the way a Spanish speaker would actually write, or does it sound like an English document with Spanish words in it?
• Terminology — For Christian nonfiction: theological and ministry vocabulary that carries weight in Spanish-speaking evangelical and charismatic contexts. For business writing: professional and industry register appropriate for your target market.
• Consistency — Key terms, names, titles, and phrases handled the same way throughout
• Mechanical correctness — Punctuation rules specific to Spanish (inverted ¡¿, accent marks, dialogue conventions)

You receive the reviewed manuscript as a Word document with tracked changes and comments, plus a brief written summary of what we found — including any patterns in the translation that you should be aware of.

What This Service Doesn’t Include

• We don’t translate books from scratch — that is a separate and larger engagement
• We don’t design covers or produce Spanish audiobooks
• We don’t rewrite a translation that needs to be rebuilt rather than corrected — and if yours is in that situation, we’ll tell you before proceeding

Add-On: Formatting for Print & Ebook

Once the translation is reviewed and approved, we can format the final Spanish manuscript into print-ready interior and ebook files you can use to upload directly to KDP, IngramSpark or other sites.

Formatting is quoted separately based on length and complexity. Learn more about the formatting service, but we often throw this in as a package.

Why Steve & Lili

I’ve been based in Lima, Peru for over 17 years, working in and around Spanish-speaking ministry and online publishing. I’ve managed Spanish translation projects for Christian authors, narrated more than 50 Christian audiobooks, and built my editorial instincts around a career in publishing services — which means I read manuscripts for voice and meaning, not just correctness.

Lili is a native Spanish speaker who has served as the native-reader quality check on translation projects we’ve worked on together. Her reading of a manuscript tells you something a grammar check cannot: whether a Spanish speaker picks this up and reads it as a book, or reads it as a translation.

That combination — one of us tracking the source text, one of us evaluating the target — is how professional translation review is supposed to work. It’s not how a volunteer translation is typically done. That gap is usually where the problems live.

Rates

Pricing is based on word count and the condition of the manuscript. Contact us with your manuscript in Word format or Google docs or reach out to discuss it.

Ready to Find Out What You Actually Have?

Send a message with the name of your book, the approximate word count of the Spanish manuscript, and a brief note on how the translation was done. We’ll review the scope and come back to you with a quote and timeline.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a review take?

Most manuscripts in the 30,000–60,000 word range take two to four weeks, depending on our schedules. We’ll give you a specific timeline when we quote the project.

The person who translated it is a native Spanish speaker. Does it still need a review?

Almost certainly, yes. Just like how an English manuscript will still need an editor. Add to that the fact native fluency and translation skill are different things, kinda like how just having a beautiful voice alone doesn’t automatically make one a good audiobook narrator. A bilingual volunteer may produce something that reads fine in conversation but has accuracy gaps or register problems on the page. This is the most common scenario we see — and it’s exactly what the review process is designed to catch.

What if the translation turns out to need significant work?

We’ll tell you that before we go further. If the manuscript needs reconstruction rather than proofreading, we’ll explain what we found and what your options are.

My book isn’t Christian nonfiction — it’s a business or professional book. Can you still do this?

Yes. The review process is the same. We’ve worked primarily in Christian nonfiction, but the fundamentals of translation accuracy and natural Spanish fluency apply to any nonfiction book. Reach out and we can discuss your project. But note: at this time, we don’t do fiction novels. 

Can you also format the Spanish version once it’s reviewed?

Yes — print and ebook formatting is available as an add-on once the translation is approved. See the add-on section above or visit the formatting page.

What file format do you need?

A Word document (.docx) is preferred for both the Spanish and English versions. If you have something else, reach out and we’ll figure it out.

Reach out to us!