Part of our guide to licensing cartoons for publishing (coming soon)
Do translations and co-editions need a new cartoon license? It depends on where you publish the translated edition. At CartoonStock, a different-language version for the same territory is part of your existing license, and its copies count toward your print run. A new edition in a new territory usually needs a new license, at 50% off. The caption is the other half of the question, and most cartoons already come with it translated.
Same Territory: Your License Already Covers It
A Spanish edition for the US, published alongside your English one, needs no new license. It’s part of the license you already hold.
The copies do count. Add every language together and choose the band that covers the total. English and Spanish editions of 30,000 copies each make 60,000, so the license needs the 50,001–100,000 band. If you’ve already licensed a lower band, tell us, and you’ll pay no more than the difference to move up.
Plan the languages before you license and you’ll choose the right band first time.
New Territory: A New License at 50% Off
A translated edition for a different territory usually needs a new license. Territory here means the two options our licenses offer: worldwide, or everywhere outside the US and Canada. Territory rights for publishing (coming soon) explains both.
Publishers and authors producing a new edition of an existing title get 50% off cartoons already licensed for it. We apply the discount by hand, so email us the cartoon IDs and the title of the earlier edition instead of buying at checkout. Relicensing images for a new edition or reprint (coming soon) covers the discount in full.
A co-edition partner publishing under its own imprint can’t use your license, since our licenses are non-transferable. It should license directly with us.
Caption Translations Come Ready-Made
You can download most cartoons with the caption in German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian or Portuguese, as well as English. Look for “Available in” on the cartoon’s page to see which languages it comes in.
If the language you need isn’t listed, ask us. We’ll translate the caption free of charge where the joke allows, or approve a translation you’ve written yourself. Either way, the translation stays as close to the original as possible. If a translation would change the meaning of the joke, we check with the cartoonist first.
You can change the caption’s font and font size to suit the layout of each edition.
Some Cartoons Don’t Translate
A few cartoons don’t translate at all. Sometimes the joke depends on wordplay that doesn’t exist in another language. Sometimes the words are drawn into the artwork, so changing them would mean changing the drawing.
So if translations and co-editions are likely from the start, check the cartoon’s page for its languages before you license. Visual gags travel well, and wordplay often doesn’t. Ask us and we’ll help you find cartoons that work across languages.
Picture researchers building a shortlist for a title with planned translations should know this from the brief. Briefing picture researchers and sourcing agencies on cartoon licensing (coming soon) covers what to include.
The Bottom Line
Translations and co-editions follow territory. Your license covers a different-language version in the same territory, with every language counted toward one band. A new territory usually needs a new license, at 50% off for cartoons already licensed for the title. Most captions come ready-translated into six languages, and we translate others free where the joke allows. Every license pays the cartoonist.
Licensing cartoons for publishing · Request custom terms
Q&A: Cartoons in Translations and Co-Editions
Q: The cartoon has no caption. Does a translated edition need anything?
A: There’s nothing to translate. In the same territory, your license covers the edition and its copies count toward your band. In a new territory, it needs a new license at 50% off.
Q: We’re publishing in two languages at once. Do we license each language separately?
A: No. For the same territory, license once at the band that covers both languages combined.
Q: Our translation needs a different joke to work. Can we use it?
A: Send it to us. A translation that changes the meaning of the joke goes to the cartoonist before we can approve it.
Keep Reading
How cartoon licensing differs across publishing sectors (coming soon)
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- Licensing cartoons for trade and academic books (coming soon)