How much should I charge? Thread poster: RKrause
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Just recently started freelancing as a proofreader again. Used to do 5 years ago and in different currency.
I have a 30 pages project and the client is asking me to set the price.
What is the current proofreading charges nowadays and in euro?
Do you charge per page? per project or per word?
Thanks a lot!
| | | | Márcio Clemente 
Portugal
Local time: 21:32
Member (2013)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| A 1/3 of your translation rate. | Jul 15, 2014 |
From my experience most people charge a third of their rate for translation.
| | | | | Need to charge according to how much work you will put in | Jul 16, 2014 |
RKrause wrote:
Just recently started freelancing as a proofreader again. Used to do 5 years ago and in different currency.
I have a 30 pages project and the client is asking me to set the price.
What is the current proofreading charges nowadays and in euro?
Do you charge per page? per project or per word?
Thanks a lot!
Have you seen the original text? Is that what you are doing, comparing and "fixing" or are you simply making stylistic changes to a text in the target language without looking at the original?
This will make a big difference but in either case, the quality of the text and the time you figure it will take you will determine your rate/price.
I wouldn't recommend simply charging a third of some translation rate you once charged.
| | | | Sarah McDowell
Canada
Local time: 15:32
Member (2012)
Russian to English
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| check out the text, calculate the hours required | Jul 16, 2014 |
I agree with Bernhard that your rate should depend on the task that you are performing, i.e. proofing a translation, editing or proofing a monolingual document.
I would recommend an hourly rate. Sarah's links are a great guide. (Thanks Sarah!)
Take a portion of the text - 300 words or so. Clients will usually gladly provide a portion if you explain that it allows you to accurately determine the final price. See how long it takes you to edit or proof that portion... See more I agree with Bernhard that your rate should depend on the task that you are performing, i.e. proofing a translation, editing or proofing a monolingual document.
I would recommend an hourly rate. Sarah's links are a great guide. (Thanks Sarah!)
Take a portion of the text - 300 words or so. Clients will usually gladly provide a portion if you explain that it allows you to accurately determine the final price. See how long it takes you to edit or proof that portion and then calculate the number of hours the project will require. As you know, text quality can vary widely. It's important that you see the text before giving the client an estimate.
Welcome back to translating/proofing. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Ideally, you should charge by the hour | Jul 16, 2014 |
Many clients are not happy with an hourly rate, because you cannot fix a fee in advance, and if you run into a problem, it may take a couple of hours to check it!
Proofreading - editing - reviewing ... what needs to be done is different for each text.
I used to reckon I could proofread 1000 - 1500 words in an hour for old-fashioned checking against the source by a second pair of eyes. (1500 if I knew it was a really good translator and there was no terminology to check.... See more Many clients are not happy with an hourly rate, because you cannot fix a fee in advance, and if you run into a problem, it may take a couple of hours to check it!
Proofreading - editing - reviewing ... what needs to be done is different for each text.
I used to reckon I could proofread 1000 - 1500 words in an hour for old-fashioned checking against the source by a second pair of eyes. (1500 if I knew it was a really good translator and there was no terminology to check.)
I would add 10% extra time and quote a maximum fee. Then when I invoiced for the time actually spent - and always deducted at least a symbolic 15 minutes  the client was usually happy.
These days, that is not always enough, and you can easily find yourself working for free.
There are lots of discussions and very good comments (as well as vented frustration) in this forum. The conclusion is that the only fair way is to see the text before you quote a fee and agree with the client in advance about what needs to be done. If they will not agree to a reasonable rate or their translations really need to be re-done, then drop them!
Proofreading is a very necessary job, so I wish you luck - and a lot of those texts that really are a pleasure to proofread! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 21:32
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| You need to get the quote right | Jul 16, 2014 |
Nancy Greenleese wrote:
Take a portion of the text - 300 words or so. Clients will usually gladly provide a portion if you explain that it allows you to accurately determine the final price.
I won't quote a guaranteed amount until I've seen every word. If it's a long text you could well find a substantial lowering of quality by page 40. You could also find it isn't all written/translated by the same person; or that the content becomes more complex (often the first few paragraphs are a general overview and the "meat" starts on page 2.
I charge for my time, too. I give a maximum amount of time I'll need for the job. If it takes less time, I'll charge less (very happy client); if it takes longer then I've messed up my quote and earned less per hour (unhappy proofreader ).
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 21:32
Member (2007)
English
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| duplicate post | Jul 16, 2014 |
[Edited at 2014-07-16 12:02 GMT]
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 21:32
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Oops - and another | Jul 16, 2014 |
[
[Edited at 2014-07-16 12:02 GMT]
| | | | | Hourly rate - but have a look at the whole text before | Jul 16, 2014 |
I would also recommend an hourly rate, but not all clients accept. So sometimes you have to give a rate per word.
The last time I asked for sending me a portion of the text before determining the final price, I made a bad experience. The part of the text I got before starting work had two faults on one page and when the rest of the text arrived it was "made by Google" and I had to retranslate the whole text.... (and finally renegociated the price...)
Now I ask for havin... See more I would also recommend an hourly rate, but not all clients accept. So sometimes you have to give a rate per word.
The last time I asked for sending me a portion of the text before determining the final price, I made a bad experience. The part of the text I got before starting work had two faults on one page and when the rest of the text arrived it was "made by Google" and I had to retranslate the whole text.... (and finally renegociated the price...)
Now I ask for having the whole document...
[Modifié le 2014-07-16 08:55 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Thank you everyone for all your wonderful insights and warm welcome to the proofreading, copy-editing, copy-writing and translating world.
| | | | vicaf
United States
Local time: 13:32
English to French
| consider these | May 11, 2016 |
RKrause wrote:
Just recently started freelancing as a proofreader again. Used to do 5 years ago and in different currency.
I have a 30 pages project and the client is asking me to set the price.
What is the current proofreading charges nowadays and in euro?
Do you charge per page? per project or per word?
Thanks a lot!
The pay should depend on whether you editing the piece or just proofreading for grammar and punctuation mistakes. I guess you can check out what the prices on websites like onlineessayeditor.net. But basically you should charge per page or 300 words and you should also take into account within what time you should finish the work.
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