Translation licensing agreements—selling translation rights to another publisher—commonly include a fee for translation rights, to be paid to the original publisher. This fee may be an advance against royalties, which gives the licensing publisher and the author the potential to earn more via royalties received if the translated title sells well. Or the fee may be a flat rate or fixed price. This type of agreement is typically used when licensing for a limited print run or working with a publisher for the first time, and it can be an advantage when working with a new publishing partner, allowing more financial certainty for the licensing publisher should the licensee not publish. An author’s contract will stipulate the percentage they might receive from the sale of translation rights.
—MIT Press, March 2025
Also of interest: How does translation licensing work?