Books are commonly divided into fiction and non-fiction. Fictions are fictitious stories that are partly or completely untrue, such as novels. Non-fictions provide information and can be in the forms of reference book, dictionary, handbook, manual and textbook, among many others.

Only professional translators, who understand the source language well and are good writers in the target language, should attempt translating books. The translator should also have sufficient knowledge and experience in the subject matter of the text. Particularly when translating a book that is culturally unique, the translator should possess an excellent understanding of relevant issues in both source and target cultures in order to interpret them clearly, precisely and free of error.

The translator of a book should be as consistent in his or her writing style as the original author did. Not only should the translation be faithful to the meaning of the original text, but it should also appear to a native speaker of the target language to have been originally written in that language. The writing in the target language should abide by all grammatical, syntactic and idiomatic conventions. It should also be as fluent and polished as that in the source language.