Re: How do I find technical editing...

[Judyth Mermelstein <Judyth_Mermelstein -at- BABYLON -dot- MONTREAL -dot- QC -dot- CA>]

Hello, Robert:

This really reponds to all three of your messages...

1. There is no "easy way" to find on-line work, any more than any other
kinds. The advantage of the Internet is that you can widen your search to
cover people all around the world, locate agencies which deal with your
preferred types of projects, and send your resume and samples out without
incurring the costs of printing and mailing. However, you will still have to
write your covering letters, targeting prospective clients' needs and
explaining your ability to help them.
    I can't offer you any specific leads, but I would be happy to pass on
your name and e-mail address to anyone I deal with who happens to need a
Hungarian translation.

2.  >>The reason I can charge low rates is that I live in Hungary, where hard
currencies are worth about 5 times what they are worth in the west. My fees
are on a sliding scale from $25-$35 per hour, depending upon your ability to
pay...<<
    The rates of $25-$35 an hour which you consider low do not seem so to me,
especially if you multiply the value of the currency by 5! This is about the
middle of the price-range here in Montreal, and in Canadian dollars which are
worth about 65 U.S. cents. Of course, you may be able to find work at those
rates, here or elsewhere, if you can make a case for your degree of skill and
experience AND if your potential clients are willing and able to pay them.
This is an imponderable, depending on so many variable factors that I
wouldn't presume to tell anyone what to ask for. However, I do think you
should be careful about how you approach pricing and de-emphasize the idea
that you are offering to undercut the locals. Ideally, those of us who are
language professionals should also be concerned about the respect (or lack
thereof) accorded to our profession, which is not helped by "I'll do it for
cheap" approaches. Personally, I make a point of quoting the appropriate
market rate for what I do, but offering to discount that rate (considerably)
if the client is a struggling small business or a starving author. That way,
the client knows the true value of the work and how much of a bargain he/she
is getting; also, I find this often makes it possible to negotiate better
deadlines or payment terms because the client appreciates that our time is
worth money, too.

3.  Your on-line writing coaching sounds like a very good idea. No doubt
there are many writers who would gladly pay you to un-block them. Obviously,
you could try setting up your own Web site to promote your services in this
regard to writers around the world. More helpful, though, is participating in
mailing lists where writers congregate to discuss their work. I don't mean to
be churlish here, but I should point out that just posting messages offering
your c.v. will not work very well. Those prospective clients will come to you
if you offer intelligent comments and useful information on the topics of
discussion on the lists--it's a great way to make contacts by demonstrating
your talents as a communicator, which is not achieved by simply asking for
leads or offering your services.

Anyway, please do send me your resume (text or RTF, NOT a large
wordprocessing file attachment). Also, let me know if you are interested in
doing some volunteer translations from English to Hungarian for non-profit
organizations, which can also help to show your work to others. (I do some,
French-English and vice versa, for groups I want to support.)

Regards,

Judyth Mermelstein
judyth_mermelstein -at- babylon -dot- montreal -dot- qc -dot- ca


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