Overcoming Pricing Issues as a Newcomer

Photo Credit bbalaji http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbalaji/560844967/ Overcoming Pricing Issues as a Newcomer A dilemma that is most definitely faced by every person that comes into the translation field is to decide upon what rates to quote while taking up projects. The difficulty lies in not knowing whatever the price you have zeroed upon is too high, too low or the right one. So how does one go about fixing a price for the services offered such that it is not too high or too low? One method to know more is to become a member of the various translation websites that are available. Being a member helps you access details about other members in the website and can give you some know-how about the average pricing of the others. There are even some tools on certain websites that will help you calculate the price that you need to quote keeping in mind some important factors while deciding. Some even suggest you to think of a figure that you would like to earn in a month to which certain expenditure like taxes that need to be paid are added. This figure is then compared with the amount of work load that you can complete in a working day of around 8 hours. This comparison can help you arrive at a rate that you need to charge per word to reach your dream figure every month. But, some argue that the above method could not be a right indicator for pricing the services offered as it is valued at expected monthly earnings which may or may not be at realistic levels. The following url http://www.translatorsbase.com/statistics/rates.aspx contains a big list which shows rates for many languages. Another factor to be remembered while taking up work through translation websites is that many a times there is a chain of outsourcing of work before it reaches you. So chances are high that the price at which you are offered work may be very low. Also, another point to remember is that agencies generally offer work at much lower prices than when you get work from clients directly. So, a good option to get good pricing for your services is to look for direct clients to provide you work. But, this may be easier said than done for which you might need to compromise and not be too rigid in selecting work initially.