Michelle Vranizan Rafter’s blog, WordCount, has an excellent post about ways to promote your freelance writing, most of which are applicable to translation as well.
When it comes to things like blogs, e-newsletters, podcasts and even websites, part of the appeal for translators is that the market is quite open. While some demographic groups (moms, artists and political junkies, to name a few!) seem eager to write and podcast as much as, or maybe even more than people want to read, translators are amazingly reticent about putting their thoughts out there. So, it’s comparatively easy to draw a lot of readership or listenership to what you’re doing.
Of the tips that Michelle offers, I also strongly agree with her advice to attend conferences and visit clients in person. As largely web-based workers, I think it’s tempting for translators to think that e-mail does it all, without the need to even get out of your pajamas. In my own experience, every face to face encounter I’ve had with an existing or potential translation client has more than paid for itself.
Lastly, Michelle’s advice about “being the best at what you do” is fantastic. Bottom line, being a compulsive overachiever is very good for business when you’re self-employed. Take a look at Michelle’s post for more excellent tips on marketing!
Corinne:
Thanks so much for such kind remarks. I think that people like us who are writers or translators tend to shy away from the business end of our businesses, maybe it’s a left brain v. right brain thing. But it’s to our benefit to function like a business, which means paying as much attention to the other aspects of our “companies” as we do to the product we create. I’ve written about businesses for long enough that this lesson is finally sinking in!
I also wanted to let you know that starting today I am kicking off a blogathon where I’ll be doing a daily post for the whole month. I’ve gotten 17 other freelancers to participate – want to join us? I’m calling it A Post a Day in the Month of May. I came up with the idea as a way to make my blog posts more spontaneous.
Michelle Rafter