Corinne McKay: Using objective data to price your work

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”5/12″][vc_single_image image=”8920″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”7/12″][vc_column_text]Pricing is a frequent source of stress for beginning and experienced translators alike. Many freelancers focus too much on factors that they can’t pin down or control: What would a given client be willing to pay? How much would another translator charge for this work? How do I know that I’m not under-charging or over-charging? The key to smart and low-stress pricing decisions is to focus on how much you want or need to earn from your freelance work, and what hourly or per-word rates you need to charge in order to get there. In this session we’ll use a simple, easy-to-understand (even for “word people”) worksheet to calculate our target rates, and then we’ll discuss rate zones. Having three rate zones: green (your ideal rate), yellow (a rate at which you must have a non-economic reason for working), and red (a rate below which you do not work) can help us identify the types of clients we want to target with our marketing efforts.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”blue” border_width=”2″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”9/12″][vc_column_text]Corinne McKay is an ATA-certified French to English translator and Colorado court-certified French interpreter, based in Boulder, Colorado. In addition to her own translation work —  specializing in international development, corporate communications, and non-fiction books — Corinne blogs, writes books, and teaches courses for other freelance translators. With over 12,000 copies sold, her book “How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator” has become a go-to reference for the profession, and her blog Thoughts on Translation has twice won the ProZ.com Community Choice award for best blog about translation; with fellow French to English translator Eve Bodeux, she also co-hosts the podcast Speaking of Translation. Corinne served as President of the American Translators Association from 2017-2019, and now focuses on her own translation and interpreting work and her online course platform, Training for Translators.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/12″][vc_single_image image=”8921″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”blue” border_width=”2″][vc_column_text]This talk is scheduled as the keynote address on 24 April[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]