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Direct client marketing is a hot topic right now, with a lot of translators looking for their first direct clients. A common question: “What do I do about QA/editing/proofreading, when there’s no agency in the mix??”
And, it’s true…to be successful in the direct client market, you need at least one trusted colleague, who can:
-Edit/proofread/revise for you
-Share large projects, if the client needs them faster than one person can work
-Fill in for you if you’re sick or on an extended vacation
Let’s look specifically at the issue of QA, because, although many agencies do not do a full review of every translation, they should. And it’s an advantage to have your translations reviewed by a skilled colleague.
Most importantly, you make the decision as to whether the client’s project needs a secondary editor. For direct clients, hopefully you’re pricing per-project. So you would simply say to the client, something like, “Since this project is for publication/distribution, it will need to be reviewed by a second translator, and that is included in my quote.” In my opinion, it’s really important not to frame secondary editing as optional, or an add-on that the client can include or exclude. If you feel that the client’s project requires a secondary editor, that should be included in your quote and the client has to pay for it.
In my opinion, not every project absolutely requires a secondary editor. I typically do not use a secondary editor for:
- Official documents
- Translations that are for in-house use only, and will be read once or twice by one or two people; for this type of document, I do text-to-speech proofreading and then a final review of a PDF or hard copy
- Translations where the client has a good in-house editor, who often knows their projects, programs, and terminology better than I do
But for any direct client project that is for publication or distribution, I include editing, by an editor of my choice, in the quote, the client has to pay for it if they want to work with me, and then I pay the editor out of what the client pays me.
I hope this is helpful, if you’re working with, or considering working with, direct clients!
Corinne McKay (classes@trainingfortranslators.com) is the founder of Training for Translators, and has been a full-time freelancer since 2002. She holds a Master of Conference Interpreting from Glendon College, is an ATA-certified French to English translator, and is Colorado court-certified for French interpreting. If you enjoy her posts, consider joining the Training for Translators mailing list!
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