A version of this post originally appeared in my newsletter, and so many readers responded to me about it, that I decided to run it here as well, in an expanded version.
Here’s a question that I’ve heard floating around lately: is it getting harder to make a living as a freelance translator? As usual with such big-picture issues, the answer is yes/no/maybe/it depends on what you’re actually asking, so let’s take a closer look!
What’s the state of my own business
I think that anyone who offers advice to other freelancers should give real data from their own business, so here you go. For about the past eight years, I’ve earned about 50% of my income from translation and 50% from online courses, consulting, and book royalties. I work about 35 hours a week, take about four weeks of vacation a year, and consistently earn in the low six figures in US dollars, and this year my overall income is on track to be the highest it’s ever been, due to an increase in both my translation income (several new large direct clients) and my online course business.
This year, about 70% of my translation income will come from direct clients, and about 30% from agencies and individuals, although the agency side of my business is shrinking, both in terms of the overall number of agencies I work with, and the size of the projects they send (more on this below).
Lots of people ask me whether I do teaching and consulting because I can’t make enough money as a translator. No. I do those things because I enjoy them, and because I like variety in my work. But I have as much translation work as I want, and I think that would also be true if I translated full time.
Where does this “harder to make a living” perception come from
-As compared to when I started freelancing in 2002, the agency market is definitely more commoditized. It seems almost quaint to think that even my larger agency clients used to call on the phone to ask if I was available for a particular project–and start the conversation with “How was your weekend?”–as compared to the “come and get it” systems that many agencies use now. It seems to me that very few large agencies want–or even have the bandwidth to cultivate–a personal relationship with most of their translators. Most agencies have moved to using online application portals–surely more efficient for them–that force you to enter one number for your rate, leaving no room for negotiation or conversation.
–Downward price pressure is also a factor. I work with both agencies and direct clients, and I’ve been charging my agency clients the same rates–14-16 US cents per word–for about eight years, because none of my agency clients can/will pay more than that (I know, because I’ve tried). That–flat rates for eight years–is bad enough, but lately the agency rates situation seems worse to me. I no longer proactively apply to agencies, but when agencies contact me, I do respond, and I ask them to approve my rates before I go through their application process. Lately (let’s say within the past two years), the typical agency’s response has gone from “that’s on the high end of what we pay for French to English, but for certain projects, it would be doable,” to either:
–No response at all, which leads me to believe that they’re looking to pay significantly less than what I charge
–A “not in a million years” response, such as “That’s actually almost as much as we charge the end client, so there is no way we can pay that” (which an agency responded to me a couple of weeks ago).
To clarify here, there definitely are still high-quality agencies out there, and I love the agencies that I still work with. However I do feel that the agency market in general has gone in this “faster, cheaper” direction in recent years.
But then, there’s the flip side
-My overall income–and the overall incomes of lots of experienced translators I work with–has risen steadily throughout my freelance career, and it continues to do so. This year, I’ve gotten larger, higher-paying projects from direct clients, and more students in my online courses. On my balance sheet, everything is on the upswing.
-I find that direct clients are perhaps more amenable to my rates than they were a few years ago, and certainly not less amenable.
-Anecdotally, I’ve talked to other experienced translators who say the same thing: “I broke six figures this year and don’t even feel like it was that difficult,” or “I’ve increased my income by $20,000 by contacting one new prospective client every week.” For example, here’s a blog post by French to English translator Michèle Hansen, who increased her income by 15K in one year through direct client outreach. I’ve also contacted several translators who work primarily or exclusively with direct clients, to ask them about teaching online courses for me, and who have turned me down because they have so much translation work that they don’t want to teach a class or a webinar. Also an interesting data point.
So, what’s going on?
Of course, I can’t say for sure. But I’ll offer a few theories:
–The commoditization of agency work is likely to continue, because (I think) it comes from the pressure agencies get from their own end clients, not from the agencies themselves. I really think that agencies–like the rest of us–know that quality work is not cheap, that pitting five agencies against each other to see who can do the job fastest or cheapest does not result in the best finished product, etc. etc., but agencies also have to stay in business, and I’m guessing that an ever-increasing percentage of their work comes from end clients with the “faster, cheaper” mindset.
–Agencies themselves are under more price and time pressure. End clients whose projects are small enough to manage on their own are likely to get quotes from freelancers and from agencies, and to ask the agency if they can match the freelancers’ prices. End clients whose projects are huge are likely to get quotes from multiple agencies and pit them against each other. Honestly I feel more secure as a freelancer than I would as a company owner, these days.
–The time to resist downward price pressure in the agency market has passed. Resistance only works if everyone resists, and when agencies started pushing down rates, many translators went along with it, for lack of other options. My sense is that translators generally fall into two buckets: a) those who really need agencies’ work and thus do not resist downward price pressure because they have no other clients, and b) translators who have a lot of other clients, and “resist” downward price pressure by leaving, and no longer working with low-paying agencies. Because more people–at least in the US–are drawn to freelance work, even low-paying agencies seem to have a steady supply of freelancers.
–Direct client rates are likely to remain higher and more stable. Again, I’m not an economist–so really, who knows? However, I do think that in general translators who work with direct clients are less interested in competing on price. They/we are more likely to simply turn down a job if a client wants to pay less; there’s also plenty of direct client work out there for people who are willing to assertively look for it. Just this year, I’ve gotten two new five-figure direct clients through a pretty basic marketing campaign–that kind of work is definitely out there if you look for it.
-In my opinion, these changes are most likely to affect translators who have historically earned a high income while working exclusively or primarily with agencies, and who either do not want to or don’t have the business acumen to market to and work with direct clients. Here’s what I mean:
–Translators who are comfortable working with direct clients have–in my opinion–a good amount of job security. Personally, my high-end direct clients think machine translation is a joke; they are very concerned with reliability, confidentiality, and personal service, so they prefer to work with an individual freelancer. They really do not (ever) pressure me to lower my rates, or compete with what they perceive another translator would charge. I feel secure with them.
–And on the other end of the spectrum, I think that translators who are comfortable in the large agency marketplace are also pretty much fine. There’s tons of that type of work out there, and if your financial goals are met while charging the rates that large agencies will pay, you’re probably also pretty secure. Those rates may still go lower, but in some cases are so low already that they may have reached bottom.
-I think that the biggest market squeeze will fall upon translators who are used to making good, or really good money working with agencies, without working 80 hours a week: translators who don’t want to work with direct clients, or who work in small languages where direct clients don’t generally have huge volumes of work, or in business sectors (pharmaceuticals, software) where end clients tend to use agencies, and who are increasingly being asked to do editing (at fairly low hourly rates) for projects where a cheaper translator has been hired. If I were in that situation, I’d be concerned.
In sum, I think that the translation world is becoming more polarized (perhaps like the world in general). Readers, what’s your experience? Are you having a harder time earning what you want to earn? Any other thoughts on this?
Kerstin says
Hi Corinne, hi all,
thanks for this interesting post!
What I’ve noticed this year is that I’m getting definitely more requests for quotes
which then will not result in anything. This happens with copywriting as well
as with translation projects.
Of course I don’t know, but I’m fairly sure those requests come from persons/companies
who are not willing to pay a “fair” price/who have no idea actually
what a “fair” price would be. I just sent a quote to an agency (I regularly
work for them, they are fair and nice to work with). They approved the
price I quoted but of course they’ll have to sell it to the prospective client –
and I wouldn’t be surprised if, once again, nothing will come of it.
Best regards,
Kerstin
Jennifer Case says
This happened to me a couple of times, quite close together actually, a few months back. The agency didn’t have a problem with what I quoted, but the end client did. It was a bit disheartening…
Kerstin says
Hi Jennifer, glad to hear I’m not the only one! 😉 Best regards, Kerstin
Corinne McKay says
Thanks, Kerstin! Really interesting observation and thanks for your comment!
Jennifer Case says
Hello! I am struggling to earn what I want to earn, but I think that’s largely due to my inexperience. I am planning on taking the ATA certification exam next year, so hopefully I pass and that helps my prospects. I am trying to find direct clients, but for now I am working with agencies. What exactly do you mean by “large agency”?
Corinne McKay says
Thanks, Jennifer! Right, “large agency” is kind of amorphous, but by that I mean agencies that operate on the mass market model, and don’t want any type of personal relationship with their translators, and are likely to choose the cheapest and/or fastest person. The hard part is that–for translators who have little or no formal training, which is often the case in the US–those are the easiest clients to get a foot in the door with when you don’t have much experience.
Laura Hastings-Brownstein says
Hi Corinne, and all!
I am an old-timer freelance translator. The quick answer to your question, in my case, is no. It has been easier than ever for me to make a living as a freelancer. One of the reasons, is that I have A LOT of experience.
However, at one time, I did not have that experience, and still I was able to muddle through using my translation skills. Getting work now is SOOOO much easier than it was when I started full-time translating in the 80’s. Just imagine no internet! Everything was local.
That being said it is never easy to make a living as a freelancer. However, the lifestyle, at least for me, is worth the struggle.
One of the keys to how I lived as a freelancer is that I was able to roll with the punches. If rates went down, I tried to compensate by doing more work or offering other services. One thing I see is translators trying to control pricing and in my experience, that is not realistic.
That is not to say you should not try to get good rates, but a lower rate is better than no rate. So work for lower rates at first and slowly let those slow rate companies go as you are able to contract for better rates over time.
If you have a slow period work on something that will help your business, like working on your website, or sending out advertisements to agencies, or offer a one time discount for clients you usually work for.
The main thing to do is NEVER GIVE UP. This is what you do well, so it is GOING TO WORK OUT over time.
Corinne McKay says
Thanks, Laura! That’s a really interesting observation about finding work now versus before the internet. In a sense, I agree with you that a lower rate is better than no rate (because one has to eat and keep the lights on), but I also think that’s the current mainstream agency situation in a nutshell: agencies cranking rates down and down, and translators who either have no other work, lack the time or business skills to market to better clients say yes to those rates, and the reverse auction cycle continues. But amen to “never give up,” a very important quality for a freelancer!
michaelschubert says
Brilliant insights, as always, Corinne! I’m giving a presentation on pricing strategies in San Francisco next weekend and will include a link to this blog post.
Your observations match mine on so many points. Honestly, most agencies talk so much about price and deadline and so little about quality (at least in a way that can be taken seriously). It seems that the only agency-driven path to success for freelancers is to put the head down and the blinders on and crank out as much sh*t as quickly as possible. And of course, humans will never outsprint Google or DeepL, so that seems a losing proposition to me.
Corinne McKay says
Thanks, Michael! Glad you enjoyed the post and definitely feel free to use it in your presentation! And I agree about the “outsprint” phenomenon!
christinedurban says
I observe the same thing, Michael — and note with interest that a point cogently made three or four (?) years ago by Kevin Hendzel and others is now apparently mainstream, to the extent that Corinne is writing about it :).
So: the middle of the market is hardest hit, and you can see/hear the pain there now.
And given your comments about the speed and improved accuracy of even basic engines like, say, DeepL Pro, I can’t see the bottom end of the market being viable for humans for much longer, except for utterly clueless (because occasional?) clients.
Here’s a point that I spend a lot of time thinking about: while the high end of the market is crying out for skilled translators, the bar is far higher than in the past, starting with *genuine* subject-matter specialization, not just the occasional MOOC or TranslatorLand course and “top 10 business tips for your freelance business” advice (as useful as that may be).
Which means a higher skills level and far greater investment up front in both time and money. And less room for life-style, often part-time translators (“I love working from home, can raise my kids/look after my aging parents/live on an island in the S. Pacific/(fill in blank).”).
To take another page from Kevin’s book: successful translators must be prepared to *show their work in public* (not just carry on about how great they are) and must work with their own reviser as a matter of course.
(Not to mention the challenge facing professional associations whose finances are built on membership fees from mid-market translators facing a crunch — a whole ‘nother can of worms.)
Good luck with your presentation!
Melissa Harkin says
Hi Corinne,
This is such a great article. I’ve shared it extensively over the past week.
I rarely work for agencies, but I am registered with most of the big ones (Lionbridge, TransPerfect, etc.) and usually turn down their projects because (a) I stand my ground on prices, and (b) I focus on direct clients since day 1 as a translator, and day one was in 1997 (occasional jobs/part-time until 2010 because I was afraid of leaving my legal profession behind).
In 2010, I decided to make it as a full-time translator and resigned from Greenpeace in December 2011 because I had achieved the target income I had set for myself in order to become a freelancer. In 2012, I broke six figures and only kept on growing. In 2015, we moved back to the States (remember I took your getting-started course so I could learn more about the specifics of working in the US market?) and broke six figures in 2017. I also took Chris Durban’s master class in Cambridge in early 2018, and that served as validation for what I had been doing.
Recently, a client (large international NGO) approved my quote even thou it was the highest price they got. They wrote: “Given your environmental public policy expertise, and the fact that we are certain you will deliver a high-quality translation, we would like to go ahead with you.” Note that the deciding factor was not my price, but trust and quality.
In 2017, a German pharmaceutical company called me to talk about translations. They said they were quite dissatisfied with the quality of their translations and wanted to understand how I work and get a quote. We talked for a long time on the phone, and I realized they didn’t know how to find good translators. I told them not to close with me right away, and suggested they “take a look around,” search the websites of professional associations (I suggested ATA and ABRATES), and talk to other translators. A few days later, they contacted me again and said, “We did what you said, and your quote was not the most expensive one, but also not the cheapest. Still, we want to close with you because it was clear that you were worried about helping us even if we didn’t close with you, and that’s what we need.”
The fact of the matter is, there’s a bunch of clients “out there” who don’t think big agencies are a good fit for them, and the demand is so big that I dare say there’s work to spare—and price is not always their go-to decision factor.
Melissa Harkin says
Clarification: 2012 = six figures in Brazil. 2017 = six figures in the US.
EP says
Thanks for that upbeat take! Really enjoyed hearing something positive about this profession for once. Keep up the good work!
Tapani Ronni says
A great article, Corinne! In my language pair (EN-FI) I am now seeing some MTPE offers from big agencies and I don’t touch those with a long pole as MT simply doesn’t work with Finnish. This trend seems to show that there’s a lot of work but not enough qualified people to do it for the rates offered. That being said, I don’t see much room for raising my rates with agencies. I have given some high end (aspirational) quotes with prospective new agency clients and the results indicate that I am already on the top range of most agencies.
In my language pair and specialization (medicine, pharma, biotech) it is hard to find direct clients. I don’t want to travel much in US or internationally due to my family situation. That limits direct client options somewhat.
I have considered forming a virtual translator team to handle a big direct client if one shows up unexpectedly, but don’t plan to do active marketing to get one.
I have made six figures per year on average for almost 10 years now but cannot keep up with inflation. Still, it could be much worse.
Corinne McKay says
Thanks, Tapani! Super interesting to hear about the situation with Finnish, and I agree that in your specializations, most (not all, but most) end clients are likely to prefer agencies because they have such large volumes of work and probably need languages other than Finnish. Let me know if you decide to go ahead with the virtual team; that would be interesting to hear about!
Lisa says
As a freelancer, it is getting easy for anyone to participate.
James Calder says
Thanks, Corinne, for a very informative article. I’ve been pretty gloomy of late about long-term prospects for freelancers but your words have given me fresh hope. I’m an experienced UK-based sports translator working from French and Spanish into English and I’ve noticed a downturn in work over the last year or so, due mainly to my agencies’ clients going in-house or trimming their volumes in my language pairs. Other clients and agencies have popped up or resurfaced in the meantime, but the work they’re giving me hasn’t quite made up for what I’ve lost. I’ve largely relied on word of mouth so far (the sports translation world is surprisingly small and I get good feedback), but I’m at the stage now where I need to take action by approaching clients directly, joining the ITI here in the UK (something I should have done years ago but was too lazy to do because the work always rolled in), and perhaps branching out into other areas aside from sport. I’ve always been reluctant to work for peanuts (I used to live in Spain, where rates are a joke, and worked on my French so I could earn better money with clients and agencies in the rest of Europe) and I think I’m at the point now where a similar reinvention is needed. It’s been a decent enough year but laurels have been rested on for too long.
Corinne McKay says
Thanks, James! Really interesting comments here. I actually think your story is really common (“coasted…always had enough well-paying work…now, not so much”), and you have a good plan for moving forward. Let me know how it goes!