A budget is a document businesses use to track income and expenses in a detailed enough way to make operational decisions.
Budgets are typically forward-looking in nature. Income is based on projections and estimates for the periods they cover, as are expenses. For this reason, organizations often create both short- (monthly or quarterly) and long-term (annual) budgets, where the short-term budget is regularly adjusted to ensure the long-term budget stays on track.
ex: we shall give some links –to help readers make up their own minds … see BooklinKer Blog: https://booklinker.com/
How much does it cost?
As a blanket estimate, it’s safe to assume your book translation will cost anywhere between $500-$2000 depending on the language you’re translating your book to, as well as the length of the book.
I’ve only used one company, but I can tell you about that experience. All book translation costs were negotiated upfront. Once you agree on the price and the time, and sign the agreement, it takes about 2-3 weeks to get it back.
They do charge by the word, so for my books, which are all about 32,000-34,000 words, I paid about $500-$600 for a Spanish translation. The Spanish language is significantly cheaper than German, likely due to the lower labor costs.
I paid closer to about $800-$900 to get my book translated into German. This is still very inexpensive, especially when you consider that I likely spent about $4000 to produce my first book (and a lot of time!)
Curious about what the average cold email response rate is?
Most cold emails have one simple objective: To get the recipient interested enough to engage with you.
And tracking your response rate, which is the number of replies you receive, is one of the easiest and most informative ways to evaluate how well your campaigns are doing.
Before I break down some stats showing what the averages are, first I want to cover what your cold email response rate actually is. After all, the more you know about what you’re tracking, the easier it is to make sense of it!
Your email response rate is the number of replies you’ve received against the total number of emails you’ve sent, expressed as a percentage.
For example, if you sent 100 emails and received 5 replies, your response rate would be: 5/100 = .05, also expressed as 5%.
What is your cold email open rate?
If you were interested in learning about email response rates, chances are, you’ve come across the term email open rate, too.
And for good reason.
Both your response and open rates are key campaign metrics that you should track.
Your open rate is simply the number of unique people who opened your emails. For example, if you sent the same email to 100 different recipients and 50 of them opened it, your open rate would be 50%.
The key word here is “unique” because it counts the number of individuals who opened your email, not the number of times your email was opened — as including the number of times the same recipient re-opened your emails would skew your results.
Note: Some email marketing tools track total email opens (including re-opens) instead of unique opens. That’s why it’s always important to verify what your email tool is tracking before analyzing the data.
How to connect your open and reply rates
Ideally, you don’t want too big a discrepancy between your open and reply rates when cold emailing.
Why? While your average open rate will always be higher than your reply rate, there shouldn’t be too big a discrepancy. If you’re barely getting any replies, despite a large number of opens, it’s usually a sign that your outreach isn’t engaging enough.
Think of it this way: If you owned a store, your open rate would signify how well you were able to attract a potential customer to visit the store. Your reply rate would reflect how well you engaged them while they were inside your store.
If you have tons of customers simply visiting but not engaging or buying anything, something’s wrong — right?
What Is the Average Cold Email Response Rate?
The widely accepted average across all cold emails is approximately 1% to 5%.
The long (and more accurate) answer?
The average response rate varies. Considerably.
I analyzed thousands of email campaigns sent via GMass to determine the average cold email response rate.
From the cold outreach data that I analyzed from email campaigns sent via GMass, I saw campaigns with response rates under 1% and campaigns that had reply rates over 25%!
So, where did I get the 1-5% average response rate figure?
While that’s a generally accepted figure online, I’d take it with a grain of salt because your response rate is influenced by a ton of different factors.
Let me walk you through each one:
What Influences Your Cold Email Response Rate?
Here are the different factors that play a significant role in what your response rate could be:
1. Personalization
Here’s something on which every sales and marketing professional can agree: More personalization = more engagement.
It’s simple, really.
If your cold emails are personalized and look like they’ve been tailor-made for your recipient (instead of looking mass-produced), you’ll increase your chances of getting a reply.
Over time, I’ve found personalized emails receive more than twice as many replies as non-personalized ones! (It’s why we’ve put so much focus into the personalization tools with GMass.)
What do I mean by personalized? Personalizing your outreach refers to creating a personalized subject line that includes their name and an email body that references something they do or where they work. Essentially, it is about adding anything to show your recipient that the email you’ve sent was made for them and nobody else.
In fact, it’d be great if your cold email was so personalized the recipient believed it was a one-on-one email you sent to them directly.
Why does this cold emailing technique work? With personalized emails, you’re showing your recipients that you actually took the time and effort to tailor this outreach email to their needs and wants. And as a result, you’ll be able to better connect with them, increasing your chances of getting a reply.
2. Your industry and offering
One of the mistakes most digital marketing professionals make when looking at cold outreach data is ignoring the context of that data, as certain industries have higher response rates than others.
What causes this? A variety of unique factors influence the reasons that certain industries have higher averages than others. For example, factors like the nature of the industry, the level of competition, and the nature of your product/service, etc., can play a massive role.
What’s important to understand is that using a standard reply rate benchmark for all industries can be very misleading. That’s why you should always tailor your cold emailing expectations and goals to align with the field in which you’re marketing.
3. The intended call-to-action
This is one of the most impactful factors in determining your response rates.
Before analyzing your reply rates, ask yourself this question: “What did I want my cold emails to achieve?”
Generating a sign-up?
Scheduling a meeting?
Alerting them to a social media campaign they should check out?
Answering this is very important, as sometimes, getting a response isn’t a part of your cold email’s goal in the first place.
For example, if your lead generation emails included a sign-up link or a link to schedule a meeting on Calendly, you weren’t looking for a reply. You just wanted them to click on the link and be redirected.
However, if you were sending out outreach emails and wanted to carry on a discussion about how you could build on this relationship, you’re definitely expecting a reply.
As a result, these two types of emails are going to have very different average reply rates.
4. The “warmth” of your leads
There’s a difference between emailing cold leads and emailing warm or hot leads. The process with cold leads will have lower response rates and often a longer sales cycle. A warm lead might move faster — and a hot lead might move immediately.
Set your open rate and reply rate expectations accordingly. And if you are working with warm leads — make sure you remind they why they’re warm to boost your chances of getting a reply.
5 Simple Tips to Boost your Average Cold Email Response Rates
You now know what response rates are and what influences them. But how do you go about ensuring that your reply rate remains high?
Always try to include your recipient’s name in your email’s subject line and greeting. You could also reference their company, their job title, or something they’ve accomplished recently to show them that this email was really made for them.
Just make sure your personalization rings true. If you include a link to one of their articles and say how much you liked it — make sure you’re linking to an actual article, not a category page or other database-driven page. Disingenuous personalization is rarely going to impress anyone.
Research has shown simply including a recipient’s name or the name of their company in the email can boost the average response rate to over 9%.
Interestingly, research has found that while it doesn’t have a large effect on open rates, personalized cold email subject lines result in twice as many replies as unpersonalized ones.
However, most of all, always ensure that your promotional email is tailored to their specific needs and wants. Remember, as you compare a cold email vs. cold call, in both cases your recipients never asked to be contacted, so you need to show them why your marketing and sales emails are something they should bother with (and answer).
Concerned that creating personalized emails will take forever? That’s why we made an email marketing tool like GMass, so you don’t have to worry.
As there are so many variables that affect your reply rate, what works for someone else’s target audience may not work for yours — even if you’re both part of the same industry.
That’s why it’s always important to A/B test your emails to determine what works best for you and your contacts.
What is A/B testing? A/B testing involves sending variations of the same email to different segments of your email list.
For example, if you were sending prospecting emails, you could send an email with Subject Line A to one segment while you send the same email with Subject Line B to another segment.
Then you can compare how each variation performed to determine which one (Version A or Version B) resulted in more replies. Use that one for the rest of your cold outreach campaigns.
A/B testing has been shown to increase open rates by 49%, which is why it also bodes well for your reply rates.
GMass has an A/B testing feature that fits into your workflow. You can create your variants using special tags inside an email, run the test on each variant to a portion of your list — then either manually pick the winner or even have GMass automatically send the better variant to the remainder of your list.
Whether or not you do A/B testing, you should, at the very least, monitor how your cold emails perform using GMass’ Campaign Reporting.
Reports are automatically generated after every email campaign, and you can access them in three spots: Right inside your inbox, in the GMass dashboard, or via a sharable web-based report. The reports highlight crucial metrics like your open rate, reply rate, click-through rate, unsubscribes, and more.
3. Filter your email lists
Is it possible to get a reply from someone who doesn’t exist?
Unfortunately, many email marketers put themselves in that predicament — marketing to people who aren’t there.
If you don’t regularly update your mailing lists, you may be sending emails to addresses that either no longer exist or have already blocked you.
Not only is sending emails to these addresses a waste of time and effort, but it can also:
Lower your sender reputation — leading to your emails heading straight to the spam folder
Disrupt your reply rates by skewing the data to reflect lower engagement levels
After all, there’s a big difference between cold email vs. spam — and it’s important you don’t accidentally wind up flagged as spam when you’re sending legitimate cold emails. Sending emails to dead addresses that hard bounce is a very quick way to add spam suspicion to your account.
(Want to read more on this topic? Here’s a deep dive into the question is cold email illegal? to keep you up to date on the line between your emails and spam ones.)
For example, you’re not going to get a reply from someone who has zero interest in what you’re offering — so why send them tons of follow-up emails?
Similarly, if an email address is no longer valid, you’re not going to get a reply — all that’s going to do is increase your bounce rate.
That’s why it’s important to maintain and segment your email lists to ensure that:
You’re sending emails to people who are actually interested in what you’re offering and might reply.
You’re sending emails to valid email addresses.
In fact, research has shown that targeted cold emails can receive average response rates of 15-25%.
GMass has bounce management and unsubscribe management features to automatically suppress future emails to bounced or unsubscribed addresses — no manual work required on your end.
And with GMass’s segmented campaigns, you can send new campaigns to a segment of your list based on their behavior. For example, you could send an email to everyone who opened your emails but didn’t reply — and use new messaging to try to get them to respond.
4. Always include a strong CTA
Including a CTA (call-to-action) at the end of your email is always a good idea.
Why? It draws your prospect’s attention to the fact that you want them to do something — like reply — after reading the email. After all, if you don’t make it clear you’re looking for a reply, there’s a chance your contacts won’t realize they should reply.
Why take that risk when all it takes is a few lines to drive the point home?
Adding a simple line such as “looking forward to your reply” or “please let me know if you’re interested in moving this forward,” can make all the difference when it comes to increasing the efficiency of your sales process.
Keeping It Short and Simple is a fundamental cold email principle.
Why is it so helpful? It ensures that the information you want to convey is easily accessible — making your outreach campaign as reader-friendly as possible.
Remember, cold emails are like cold calls — they aren’t something your recipient has asked for — so if they decide to open it, your sales rep needs to get their foot in the door and get their point across quickly.
If your email is too long and its purpose is unclear, they’re not going to bother reading through it or replying. Research shows that cold emails that are 50-125 words long receive reply rates of around 50%.
But don’t worry, your email doesn’t have to be lengthy or uninteresting. Check out my guide on how to start an email properly to avoid that from ever happening!
Note: These are just five of the hundreds of helpful things that can help you improve your cold email campaigns.
Cold Email Response Rates: Conclusion and Summary
While it’s hard to find a universal average cold email response rate — because it varies so much by industry, ask, and business — the broad average is about 1% to 5%.
However, it’s clear that it depends on a variety of factors. And when you manage those factors effectively enough, you’re sure to boost your reply rates in no time!
Remember that if you truly want to boost your email campaigns and maximize their engagement, you can’t do it alone.
is the process in which writers complete a manuscript and submit that to a magazine or book publisher before receiving an assignment and signing a contract. Markets that request writers submit a complete manuscript in their initial submission are requesting “on spec” submissions.
Une correction professionnelle, telle qu’elle est réalisée dans les maisons d’édition, s’effectue traditionnellement en deux étapes : la préparation de copie et la relecture des épreuves. Le code typographique permet d’arrêter la plupart des choix de correction, mais lorsqu’une graphie fait débat, le maître mot reste l’harmonisation.
Réalisée sur écran, la « préparation de copie » consiste à mettre au point le manuscrit avant l’application de la maquette graphique. Elle inclut la lecture critique du ou des documents, la mise aux normes typographiques et la correction proprement dite du manuscrit.
Audit et calibrage
Cette phase vise à évaluer la longueur (calibrage), la cohérence et l’exhaustivité du manuscrit. Le calibrage ne concerne que les ouvrages s’insérant dans une collection existante. L’audit inclut les étapes suivantes :
lecture critique du manuscrit ;
analyse de la structure de l’ouvrage ;
contrôle de l’exhaustivité de l’appareil critique ;
application des feuilles de style ;
établissement des compléments de rédaction ;
création des tables et index.
Mise aux normes typographiques
La mise aux normes typographiques consiste à structurer le manuscrit en harmonisant l’espacement des mots et en mettant en relief certains éléments ayant une fonction particulière. Elle porte sur l’ensemble des points suivants :
Toute correction implique un travail minimal de réécriture, plus ou moins important selon la qualité et la cohérence stylistiques du manuscrit. Deux niveaux de correction peuvent être envisagés :
correction simple (orthographe, grammaire, syntaxe, conjugaison, accords, barbarismes, solécismes…) : la réécriture n’est motivée que par la correction, la clarté de l’expression ou la compréhension fidèle du texte ;
correction approfondie (niveau de langue, lourdeurs ou maladresses stylistiques) : la réécriture consiste à débarrasser le manuscrit des maladresses, lourdeurs ou incohérences stylistiques susceptibles d’altérer son efficacité.
Harmonisation des choix d’écriture
Lorsque la correction implique une décision rédactionnelle ou typographique, ce choix fait systématiquement l’objet d’une d’harmonisation à l’échelle du manuscrit. Celle-ci inclut les éléments suivants :
relecture systématique de l’ouvrage ;
harmonisation orthotypographique selon votre marche éditoriale ;
lissage de l’appareil critique (bibliographies, notes, index, tables.
Relecture sur épreuves
Obtenues après mise en pages, les épreuves correspondent à la version provisoire de l’ouvrage permettant à l’auteur « de juger du degré d’achèvement de son travail ». Réalisée sur papier, la « relecture sur épreuves » consiste en l’ultime correction à apporter au manuscrit avant signature du bon à tirer. Elle comporte trois étapes.
Relecture complète de l’ouvrage
Cette phase comporte les vérifications suivantes :
respect des normes orthographiques, typographiques et grammaticales ;
correction de la syntaxe ;
cohérence stylistique.
Contrôle de la mise en pages
Cette étape consiste à vérifier les points suivants :
conformité de la couverture ;
exhaustivité du contenu ;
harmonie du gris typographique (veuves, orphelines, coupures de mot).
Contrôle de la structure de l’ouvrage
Ce dernier élément de la relecture porte plus spécifiquement sur les aspects suivants :
homogénéité des styles typographiques ;
respect des niveaux de titres (cohérence et numérotation) ;
fidélité du foliotage ;
commencement des chapitres et parties en belle page ;
conformité de la table des matières et des renvois internes.
To the uninitiated, the process of getting a book published can feel like an unfathomable mystery. It’s entirely forgivable to feel daunted by how to get your book published as a writer and how to get a book deal.
Finally holding your book in your hands can feel like a very distant dream for any new writer – let alone getting that all-important book contract!
So what do you do when you’ve finished your story? Should you even finish a full manuscript before you send it to literary agent, or is it better to send a partial manuscript with your query letter? Who do you send it to? Who will best be able to look after your work? How do you find a publisher? What are most agents looking for? Do you even need a literary agent? What about publishing it yourself?
And these questions are just the tip of the iceberg.
But don’t panic, because in this article I will be outlining everything an emerging writer needs to know before they get anywhere close to a publishing deal.
How To Get Published- The Three Main Paths
Even to the initiated, the publishing process can feel mysterious and confusing. I’ve been in the industry for over twenty years but that doesn’t mean I find it in any way straightforward. Although that’s also what makes it interesting and exciting.
There are many possible routes from manuscript to published book. The following guide will provide you both with the map you need to start finding your way through those woods – and some good reasons to start putting one foot in front of another.
The first thing to know about getting a book published is that there are three main paths: traditional publishing, self-publishing and hybrid publishing. I’ll describe each of these in detail as this article goes on, but briefly, for now:
Traditional publishing is the route where you sign a contract with a commercial publisher who will be responsible for getting your book made and then out in the world, in the shops and into readers’ hands. This should also include editing, marketing and distribution. More on that later.
Self-publishing is, as the name suggests, the route where you take on the responsibility of producing, marketing and selling your own work.
Hybrid publishing is, as the name also suggests, a kind of blend of the two, where an author might pay for some of the services that traditional publishers supply and do the rest themselves.
There are also numerous other options including crowdsourcing, putting work on fan forums, online platforms like Wattpad, and approaching various specialist forms of micropress. But I’ll get to all that as we get deeper into things.
For now, let’s focus on traditional publishing because I know it’s the aspect of getting published most authors at the early stage of writing are curious to hear about, and what most have in mind as their desired end point.
Traditional Publishing
Traditional publishing is what a lot of people think of when they consider writing a book and getting it published. It’s so traditional that you can trace its lineage at least back to Guttenberg.
The business of printing and selling books is still recognisable from the 15th century. ‘Traditional’ is a useful label to use to conceptually separate this kind of publishing from self-publishing and hybrid publishing. Not that any readers consider it when browning through books in a store.
Traditional publishing is what the majority of people think of when they think about publishing at all. It’s the business of seeing an author’s manuscript through from completion to the moment it is sold in the shops – and of trying to make a profit from it.
The UK and US publishing market is dominated by the ‘Big Four’ (Penguin Random House, Hachette Livre, Harper Collins and Pan Macmillan) who are responsible for numerous imprints publishing all manner of literary fiction, genre fiction, and non-fiction and have multi-million pound annual turnovers. There are also dozens more medium sized publishers like Bloomsbury, Oxford University Press, WW Norton, Faber & Faber and Canongate who also have annual turnovers in the millions. And then there are hundreds of smaller independent presses and micro-presses catering to all kinds of tastes and interests.
How To Get Your Book Published Traditionally
Finding the right publisher for you can be tricky, so here are some key things to consider.
Importantly, this form of publishing does not cost the writer anything. Instead, the publishing house pays the author. Generally a traditional publisher will give writers an advance against royalties (anything from £100 to £100,000 and more) and then a percentage of the sales (generally something in the region of 10-25%) once that advance has earned out (ie the book has sold enough copies to make back that publisher’s initial investment).
It’s important to note that the advance is rarely a reflection of the quality of the book that has been acquired, but can be determined by how much interest it has had (ie if more than one publisher wants it then it may go to auction), or it may reflect the writer’s past successes or ability to sell books (ie a celebrity). This is why a literary agent is important, as they will do their best to negotiate the very best deal for you.
The publishing house also foots the bill for all the other vital parts of the book production process such as cover design, editing, print, distribution, marketing, and promotion.
Already you can see the benefits of having a literary agent and not having to pay for all the important and expensive parts required to get your book published – but there are also more advantages for writers:
Having A Literary Agent
Agents are like brokers for the publishing industry. You’re a lot more likely to get a great book deal (and have your announcement appear in trade press, such as the much-coveted Publishers Weekly) if you have an experienced and supportive agent. More on how to get one further down the article…
Agents are experts at getting books in front of publishers, at knowing what publishers will want to see, and they often already have a great relationship with editors – knowing which publisher and editor is most likely to sign your novel.
Most agents will also work with you on your manuscript to help get it into shape before submission, looking at sample chapters and suggesting edits. There are many different agencies with a vast range of specialities, so not only is it vital you approach the right ones but that you form a strong working relationship with them.
Successful authors can work alongside these agents for years and years, and together they build great careers for one another. But remember you only need an agent for a traditional publication, not when you go out and do it yourself!
Editing
Good publishing houses have skilled and experienced editors who are experts at helping writers make their books as clear and complete as they can be, this applies to both fiction and nonfiction books. Editors should help with line edits, structural edits and everything in between.
For instance, a great editor will help fiction writers bring their characters to life, avoid plot holes, keep a grip on pacing, and keep to the ideal word count. They will also help non-fiction writers martial and order their arguments, check their facts, and avoid mistakes.
Editors will have a good understanding of the readers you want to reach out to, as well as the nuts and bolts of the writing process. They will often be the best in the world at what they do and their help can be invaluable. Very few great books have become a success without the help of an equally great editor!
Professional Production And Printing
As well as working on editorial, publishers are responsible for copy-editing and proofreading manuscripts and also for getting them properly typeset. (Typesetting is the art of getting arranging words on the page so they look good, without strange gaps and more. It is a crucial, if generally invisible part of the process. Read more about it here.)
Traditional publishers design covers and write blurbs, as well as help find great quotes from top authors to help promote your work. They also oversee the printing of the books (normally via an offset printer, not digital print on demand) and the preparation of ebooks.
All these things are complicated technical processes involving considerable skill and knowledge. Without a traditional publisher, doing these jobs properly can cost a lot of money (and those who self publish soon learn the hard way that doing these things yourself can damage sales and careers).
Publishers also have the capacity to print very large numbers of books, if need be, leading us on to storage and distribution.
Effective Distribution
Once books are made, the next challenge is to store them and get them out into the shops when they are needed. Publishers have established networks to get this done and a dedicated sales team – not to mention the budget to promote them in the trade press.
They also have the necessary relationships with bookshops and other retail outlets to persuade them to stock the books. Remember, not all books that are published by a traditional publisher is guaranteed to end up in a bookshop – many factors are at play to ensure a book becomes a bestseller (even a book published by big names).
Publicity And Marketing
Talking of networks, the traditional publishing route also offers the best chance of getting your book seen by reviewers and journalists. They have the media contacts and the ability to achieve the necessary column inches.
If your book starts doing well they should also have the marketing muscle to make sure even more people hear about it via social media, digital advertising, PR, and trade press.
Kudos
Thankfully, some of the stigma has gone out of self publishing, especially as we are seeing more and more established and traditionally published authors become hybrid authors and releasing books both ways.
But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t still some prestige to getting a book published with established and well-regarded publishing houses.
If you spend a lot of time on places like Twitter, you may see a lot of criticism of publishers being gatekeepers and arbiters of taste. But take that with a pinch of salt. Partly because some of that social media bile comes from resentment, but also because being a gatekeeper is a publisher’s job and part of their strength.
For better or worse, publishers can bestow a seal of quality and approval (let’s be honest here, we all know a book published by Penguin and stocked in Waterstones is going to probably be better edited than a self-published book, with few reviews or press coverage, that you can only buy on Amazon).
The simple fact that a traditional publisher is prepared to put their time and money into a book is a demonstration to the world that someone other than the author believes in it – and not just in the ability of the writer, but the fact that book is more likely to appeal to a wider audience. After all, publishers aren’t signing books to be nice. It’s a business!
The fact that these big publishers are reputable professionals who know the industry and the market (or, at least, they ought to be!) and that they believe in your work should be a demonstration that the book has potential.
So it stands to reason that most authors start out wanting their book to be signed by one of the top four big publishing houses. But that doesn’t mean that route will find you money and fame.
In fact, a lot more money can be made (and a lot quicker) publishing your book yourself! It just involves a lot more skill, time, money and know how…
With this option of the publishing industry, authors take responsibility for the production and marketing of their books and all other parts of the process. Generally, this means they will publish ebooks of their works on platforms like Amazon and Smashwords. But they can also produce audiobooks of their work, print on demand paper copies, and even pay for their own print runs and book storage.
All this means that authors take responsibility not only for the words on the page, but how they are presented. It might be that they do all the work themselves, or they employ professional editors, copy-editors and proof-readers, cover designers and typesetters to help them present their intellectual property in the best possible condition.
Once you’ve produced the necessary computer files, there aren’t normally too many more upfront costs when it comes to how to producing your own ebook. The platform you choose is generally supportive and easy to use, and they will help you get it out to readers while taking a percentage of each sale.
Print on demand suppliers like Lulu.com provide a similar system. They will offer you a cost per book based on your production specifications. The print on demand supplier will then take a percentage from the sale of each copy sold on their store, and pay some royalties to the author.
If you choose other print methods and print in bulk, you will generally be expected to pay those production costs yourself and will need to find a place to store all these books and sell them at either events or through distributors.
People choose to publish their books themselves for three main reasons:
They’ve tried the traditional method, had no luck securing a literary agent or publisher, so decide to go out there on their own.
They understand that their choice of genre or fiction is niche, and better suited to readers who look online for these kinds of books (because they aren’t commercial enough for book stores and big publishers to stock).
The author is already established in their own right (ie big social media presence, or an expert in their field) so they know they will be able to make more money using their already-established captive audience and communication channels, and can sell books that way.This normally works best for a nonfiction book (ie you’re a famous gardener with a number of garden centres around the world where you can sell your book) or you’re a huge TikTok star and can promote your novel that way.
However you choose to produce your own book, or why, here is a list of reasons why it may be the right choice for you:
Ease Of Access
Perhaps the clearest advantage of self-publishing is that just about anyone can do it, and there are very few barriers to entry. If you want to write about cowboy mermaids in space, you can, there is absolutely no one stopping you!
Speed
You can also get your book out quickly.
When considering how to get your book published, ask yourself how important the timing is. A traditional publication may take three years from final draft to bookstore shelves (you need to find an agent, go on submission, secure a deal, then wait 12-18 months for your book to be released).
Most platforms offer a step by step process that helps you through production. This means that with just a small amount of know-how you can convert your manuscript into an ebook within hours. And it doesn’t take much longer for that book to pass the quality control checks on whichever platform you choose. After that you can start selling.
You Generally Get A Higher Percentage Of The Profits
Because there are far fewer people involved in the publication process and because there are fewer costs involved in getting your book out as an ebook, you can also generally expect to receive a higher percentage of the profits from each sale of your book than you would in the traditional publishing industry. (There are caveats to bear in mind here though. Self-published ebooks generally also have to have a lower cover price to attract buyers – so you’re only going to get a larger percentage of far less money. The books also tend to sell fewer copies.)
Control
Since you are in charge of the publishing process you also get to make all the decisions about when the book comes out, cover design and pricing. Plus you have full access to sales stats and get paid royalties monthly, not quarterly or yearly.
You Get To Unleash Your Creativity
Okay, this isn’t for everyone. Often book covers and their related artwork are best left to the professionals. But if you do have design skills, creating a self published novel gives you a great opportunity to make the most of your design, illustration and photography skills.
Hybrid Publishing
Also sometimes known as co-publishing, author-assisted publishing, or partnership publishing (and, more misleadingly, indie publishing) hybrid publishing is an umbrella term for a mix of traditional publishing and doing it yourself.
Generally, the publishing company offers professional publishing services when it comes to things like cover design and typesetting – and sometimes they will even take on distribution. But the author pays some of the upfront costs of getting the book made and into the world. Although don’t get these mixed up with vanity publishers, who we strongly recommend you stay clear of!
Many people opt for Hybrid as a ‘self-publishing but with help’ alternative. Here are a few advantages:
Ease Of Access
Because they are not taking a risk on your writing, hybrid publishers are often more likely to take your work on. The flip-side of this is that they will not always care about it as much – but if you have realistic goals and enter into the partnership with open eyes it can be a good way to get a decent quality version of your book out into the world.
More Control
Since you will be footing the bill that should also mean you get more say over the look and feel of the book, book cover design, when it’s released and how many copies are produced.
High Royalty Rates
Many hybrid publishers offer attractive royalty rates. But a word of caution here – because you are paying them upfront, they have less of an incentive to help promote your book as they have already earned from it.
Other Publishing Models
You can publish a book with a publisher in more than just three ways, as there are a huge variety of publishing companies out there. Other options include:
Micropresses
There are dozens of high quality small independent publishers in the UK and USA who represent books by all sorts of writers, releasing both top quality fiction and non-fiction. There are different definitions for what constitutes a small independent publisher or micropress, so let’s take a closer look.
Some say it’s a company that makes less than $50million a year (which is still pretty big!). One useful guide in the UK is the entry criteria for the excellent Republic Of Consciousness Prize for small presses which is an annual competition for publishers with fewer than 5 full-time employees.
In the USA (where everything tends to be bigger) the equivalent prize instead defines small presses as those which publish an average of 18 or fewer published titles per year. They generally operate more like a bigger publishing house and are likely to offer you a traditional publishing deal.
But all small presses accepting submissions are different. They all have their own personality and impact on the market, with different passions and beliefs. They cover everything from:
Science fiction
Children’s books
Young adult books
Hardcore literary fiction
Short stories
Non-fiction books
Specialist books
LGBTQ+ books
Travel books
And much much more!
Smaller presses (including university presses) are often specialists, with distribution options to reflect that, and in most cases you don’t need to submit your work via an agent. But, the flip-side of that, is that your book may not reach as many people.
Crowdsourcing
This is an interesting alternative way to get your book published. As in hybrid publishing, the crowdsourcing publisher offsets some of the risk of publication by asking the creator to raise the funds necessary to produce and print a book.
But in this case, they are asking their target readers to help out!
In the UK the publishing company Unbound has published several successful and well-regarded books using its crowdfunding platform. And Kickstarter.com is now one of the biggest publishers of comics and graphic novels in the world because creators have had so much success on their platform.
Crowdfunding can work for creators because it connects them directly with their audience, the process of raising money for a work can also help to raise its profile and generate excitement. Plus, because many platforms have reward tiers that allow creators to offer extra incentives to their funders, it means creators and their fans get to work on a project together.
Digital First Publishing
Some big companies like Harper Collins have digital first imprints, a division that only produces ebooks and distributes them on relevant platforms. Many even accept un-agented authors.
Some genres (ie crime and thrillers) do incredibly well as ebooks, and if a book become an instant bestseller the publisher may choose to then print the book too.
Most digital contracts do not offer an advance and the publisher has a much lower investment in each book than under their traditional models. But this can also mean they sign on a multi-book deal, they can get it out sooner, and often pay higher royalty rates.
Amazon Publishing
Amazon offer a digital and print service that helps you quickly build your book and get it to market on the Amazon website. It’s one of the quickest ways to get your book ideas published and out into the world, and as they also offer a publishing service they have a ginormous captive audience to publicise it to.
Fan Fiction Forums
This is niche but it can often be a great way to build a dedicated readership.
If you’re a fan of something and love writing about it, there may well be people who love reading about it. There are numerous forums for the Star Wars universe, Harry Potter, the Twilight saga – and much more. Famously, the multi-million selling 50 Shades Of Grey started life as Twilight fan fiction and there have been other self published authors who have found mainstream success in this way by being snapped up by a traditional publisher.
And even if such breakthrough stories are rare, publishing on these forums can be a really good way to reach readers and practicing your craft.
Wattpad
Wattpad calls itself “The world’s most-loved social storytelling platform” and is so big it deserves a heading of its own.
With a community of millions of readers, writers publish their work directly via the site across a huge range of categories from adventure, LGBTQ+, romance, nonfiction books, books for young adults, historical and fan fiction. There are also – inevitably! – a whole range of erotic categories.
A number of Wattpad stories (mainly YA and romance) have even become successful TV series and films (ie Through My Window, The Kissing Booth, the After trilogy).
How Do You Get A Book Published?- General Tips
We’ve seen the main publishing options that are available, but many writers at the early stages of penning their novel will still have questions about how to write and publish a book.
So here are a few of the things that will help you on your journey:
Get Editing
The first step (no matter what publishing route you decide to take) is to get your manuscript in the best shape it can be. Finish it. Read it. Re-read it. Carefully check for elementary spelling and grammar mistakes as well as all the important matters of structure, plot holes, characterisation, flow, argumentation (we have a blog post on everything a writer needs on our site).
It often helps to set your manuscript aside for a while after you have finished writing. And also to print it out so that you can read it away from the screen in a new context. If you have trusted beta readers, bring them in too.
Consider Getting Professional Help
If you are uncertain about the quality of your work and how to develop it further, it can help to get a professional assessment.
Yes, friends may offer to help, but you really need an expert who is objective and honest. Professional writing mentors can answer all kinds of questions that may be nagging you.
Is my query letter OK?
How do I choose a book title?
How long should my book be?
Will anyone want my non fiction?
Is my writing strong enough?
A mentor or professional editor will not only read your book proposal and manuscript, they will have had some of the same battles with finding the best publishing routes that you have and will guide and support you. Most writers find these services invaluable.
Take a look at the mentoring, editing and agent match services we offer at Jericho Writers.
Attend Writing Conferences
A good writers’ conference will give you the opportunity to meet industry professionals, to ask questions about what they are looking for and why, and listen to talks from established traditionally published writers, self-published writers, agents and publishers.
Being part of a writing community is important when it comes to meeting fellow writers who are also learning how to publish a book with a publisher. They are a great place to swap stories, give each other encouragement and to learn that you aren’t alone.
Why not take part in Jericho Writer’s York festival of writing, our Summer Writing Festival, or join our FREE writing community!
Scope Out The Market
Determine your genre, have a look at the kind of books that are being published in that genre and who is publishing them, and try and gauge what the public enjoy reading. This will help you decide the best route to market and how to get your book published the right way.
Approach Literary Agents
We’ve already discussed how it’s not possible to get a publishing deal with the big top four publishers without an agent. So how do you get one?
Most literary agents have what we call an MS Wish List – this is a clear outline of the kinds of books they are looking for and the kind of writing they enjoy reading. Do your research and draw up a list of those who are more likely to want to read your work.
It can be a bit of a mine field, but luckily you can find plenty of free resources on the Jericho Writers website:
If you wish to become a published author of fiction, a submission pack is what literary agents ask to see once you have a finished manuscript and are seeking representation. In most cases, a submission pack consists of a query letter, a brief synopsis (and maybe a chapter by chapter summary) and a sample of your work. If you are writing non fiction it may be simply be a concept and some examples of writing plus credentials along with your query letter.
The most important tip about the submission pack is that you should carefully check on the website of each agent and publisher to see what they are asking for. Follow their submission guidelines carefully (some even request a certain font type and size).
Some may want to see a full manuscript. Some may want sample chapters. Some may want a chapter-by-chapter summary. Or some will have different requirements for different kinds of books. Make sure you tailor your submission accordingly. It’s not only good manners, it demonstrates that you know who you are applying to and care about what they want.
If you can raise your author profile through writing a blog post, being in the press, attracting social media followers and winning writing competitions, it can help to stand out to literary agents and publishers. Most writers like to start with at least a Twitter or Instagram account to appeal to their target audience.
Although building up your author profile before sending out a query letter isn’t vital to your success and won’t automatically lead to a book proposal (most literary agents, acquiring editors and readers simply want to read a great story), it can help grow a bigger audience for your writing, regardless of the path you wish to take to publication.
Now You Know How To Get Your Book Published!
Phew. You made it to the end – well done! I hope the information shared has helped you understand the best route to publication.
I also imagine that most of you reading this will be at the early stage of your writing career, whether fiction or non fiction. And the vast majority of you debut authors will now be wondering what the heck you’ve gotten yourselves into.
Well don’t worry, the writing community is a fun and supportive one, so at this stage just take your time and focus on writing a great story. Maybe bookmark this article and refer back to it at each stage of your journey.
Time To Get Going
The key things to consider, when choosing how to publish your book, is what you want out of it. Do you want to set your sights high and aim for the top dream of traditional publishing, see you books in Barnes and Noble and Waterstones, and even make the New York Times bestseller list? Do you want to write a book every two months, be in full control, and make lots of money? Or do you simply want to hold your book in your hands and have it read by your nearest and dearest?
Whatever you choose, this article demonstrates that there are many routes to publication, all of which have the potential to make you happy and proud. And at the end of the day, all that matters is that you finish your wonderful story, and that you share it with others.
So go on, get out there, and make it happen. Because we are right there beside you, cheering you on every word of the way!
Sam Jordison is an author, journalist and publisher. He is the co-director of the award winning independent publisher, Galley Beggar Press and regularly writes for The Guardian. He has written several works of non-fiction including the best-selling Crap Towns series and Enemies Of The People, as well as co-writing Literary London with Eloise Millar. See more on Sam’s Twitter or Amazon author page.
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Find out everything you need to know to get your book published.
Jericho Writers helps writers with every part of their journey to publication. We offer editing, we run courses, we offer some great mentoring, and we host some awesome events. Best of all, we offer a great membership service to serious writers. Come and take a look.
Curious about what the average cold email response rate is?
Most cold emails have one simple objective: To get the recipient interested enough to engage with you.
And tracking your response rate, which is the number of replies you receive, is one of the easiest and most informative ways to evaluate how well your campaigns are doing.
Before I break down some stats showing what the averages are, first I want to cover what your cold email response rate actually is. After all, the more you know about what you’re tracking, the easier it is to make sense of it!
Your email response rate is the number of replies you’ve received against the total number of emails you’ve sent, expressed as a percentage.
For example, if you sent 100 emails and received 5 replies, your response rate would be: 5/100 = .05, also expressed as 5%.
What is your cold email open rate?
If you were interested in learning about email response rates, chances are, you’ve come across the term email open rate, too.
And for good reason.
Both your response and open rates are key campaign metrics that you should track.
Your open rate is simply the number of unique people who opened your emails. For example, if you sent the same email to 100 different recipients and 50 of them opened it, your open rate would be 50%.
The key word here is “unique” because it counts the number of individuals who opened your email, not the number of times your email was opened — as including the number of times the same recipient re-opened your emails would skew your results.
Note: Some email marketing tools track total email opens (including re-opens) instead of unique opens. That’s why it’s always important to verify what your email tool is tracking before analyzing the data.
How to connect your open and reply rates
Ideally, you don’t want too big a discrepancy between your open and reply rates when cold emailing.
Why? While your average open rate will always be higher than your reply rate, there shouldn’t be too big a discrepancy. If you’re barely getting any replies, despite a large number of opens, it’s usually a sign that your outreach isn’t engaging enough.
Think of it this way: If you owned a store, your open rate would signify how well you were able to attract a potential customer to visit the store. Your reply rate would reflect how well you engaged them while they were inside your store.
If you have tons of customers simply visiting but not engaging or buying anything, something’s wrong — right?
What Is the Average Cold Email Response Rate?
The widely accepted average across all cold emails is approximately 1% to 5%.
The long (and more accurate) answer?
The average response rate varies. Considerably.
I analyzed thousands of email campaigns sent via GMass to determine the average cold email response rate.
From the cold outreach data that I analyzed from email campaigns sent via GMass, I saw campaigns with response rates under 1% and campaigns that had reply rates over 25%!
So, where did I get the 1-5% average response rate figure?
While that’s a generally accepted figure online, I’d take it with a grain of salt because your response rate is influenced by a ton of different factors.
Let me walk you through each one:
What Influences Your Cold Email Response Rate?
Here are the different factors that play a significant role in what your response rate could be:
1. Personalization
Here’s something on which every sales and marketing professional can agree: More personalization = more engagement.
It’s simple, really.
If your cold emails are personalized and look like they’ve been tailor-made for your recipient (instead of looking mass-produced), you’ll increase your chances of getting a reply.
Over time, I’ve found personalized emails receive more than twice as many replies as non-personalized ones! (It’s why we’ve put so much focus into the personalization tools with GMass.)
What do I mean by personalized? Personalizing your outreach refers to creating a personalized subject line that includes their name and an email body that references something they do or where they work. Essentially, it is about adding anything to show your recipient that the email you’ve sent was made for them and nobody else.
In fact, it’d be great if your cold email was so personalized the recipient believed it was a one-on-one email you sent to them directly.
Why does this cold emailing technique work? With personalized emails, you’re showing your recipients that you actually took the time and effort to tailor this outreach email to their needs and wants. And as a result, you’ll be able to better connect with them, increasing your chances of getting a reply.
2. Your industry and offering
One of the mistakes most digital marketing professionals make when looking at cold outreach data is ignoring the context of that data, as certain industries have higher response rates than others.
What causes this? A variety of unique factors influence the reasons that certain industries have higher averages than others. For example, factors like the nature of the industry, the level of competition, and the nature of your product/service, etc., can play a massive role.
What’s important to understand is that using a standard reply rate benchmark for all industries can be very misleading. That’s why you should always tailor your cold emailing expectations and goals to align with the field in which you’re marketing.
3. The intended call-to-action
This is one of the most impactful factors in determining your response rates.
Before analyzing your reply rates, ask yourself this question: “What did I want my cold emails to achieve?”
Generating a sign-up?
Scheduling a meeting?
Alerting them to a social media campaign they should check out?
Answering this is very important, as sometimes, getting a response isn’t a part of your cold email’s goal in the first place.
For example, if your lead generation emails included a sign-up link or a link to schedule a meeting on Calendly, you weren’t looking for a reply. You just wanted them to click on the link and be redirected.
However, if you were sending out outreach emails and wanted to carry on a discussion about how you could build on this relationship, you’re definitely expecting a reply.
As a result, these two types of emails are going to have very different average reply rates.
4. The “warmth” of your leads
There’s a difference between emailing cold leads and emailing warm or hot leads. The process with cold leads will have lower response rates and often a longer sales cycle. A warm lead might move faster — and a hot lead might move immediately.
Set your open rate and reply rate expectations accordingly. And if you are working with warm leads — make sure you remind they why they’re warm to boost your chances of getting a reply.
5 Simple Tips to Boost your Average Cold Email Response Rates
You now know what response rates are and what influences them. But how do you go about ensuring that your reply rate remains high?
Always try to include your recipient’s name in your email’s subject line and greeting. You could also reference their company, their job title, or something they’ve accomplished recently to show them that this email was really made for them.
Just make sure your personalization rings true. If you include a link to one of their articles and say how much you liked it — make sure you’re linking to an actual article, not a category page or other database-driven page. Disingenuous personalization is rarely going to impress anyone.
Research has shown simply including a recipient’s name or the name of their company in the email can boost the average response rate to over 9%.
Interestingly, research has found that while it doesn’t have a large effect on open rates, personalized cold email subject lines result in twice as many replies as unpersonalized ones.
However, most of all, always ensure that your promotional email is tailored to their specific needs and wants. Remember, as you compare a cold email vs. cold call, in both cases your recipients never asked to be contacted, so you need to show them why your marketing and sales emails are something they should bother with (and answer).
Concerned that creating personalized emails will take forever? That’s why we made an email marketing tool like GMass, so you don’t have to worry.
As there are so many variables that affect your reply rate, what works for someone else’s target audience may not work for yours — even if you’re both part of the same industry.
That’s why it’s always important to A/B test your emails to determine what works best for you and your contacts.
What is A/B testing? A/B testing involves sending variations of the same email to different segments of your email list.
For example, if you were sending prospecting emails, you could send an email with Subject Line A to one segment while you send the same email with Subject Line B to another segment.
Then you can compare how each variation performed to determine which one (Version A or Version B) resulted in more replies. Use that one for the rest of your cold outreach campaigns.
A/B testing has been shown to increase open rates by 49%, which is why it also bodes well for your reply rates.
GMass has an A/B testing feature that fits into your workflow. You can create your variants using special tags inside an email, run the test on each variant to a portion of your list — then either manually pick the winner or even have GMass automatically send the better variant to the remainder of your list.
Whether or not you do A/B testing, you should, at the very least, monitor how your cold emails perform using GMass’ Campaign Reporting.
Reports are automatically generated after every email campaign, and you can access them in three spots: Right inside your inbox, in the GMass dashboard, or via a sharable web-based report. The reports highlight crucial metrics like your open rate, reply rate, click-through rate, unsubscribes, and more.
3. Filter your email lists
Is it possible to get a reply from someone who doesn’t exist?
Unfortunately, many email marketers put themselves in that predicament — marketing to people who aren’t there.
If you don’t regularly update your mailing lists, you may be sending emails to addresses that either no longer exist or have already blocked you.
Not only is sending emails to these addresses a waste of time and effort, but it can also:
Lower your sender reputation — leading to your emails heading straight to the spam folder
Disrupt your reply rates by skewing the data to reflect lower engagement levels
After all, there’s a big difference between cold email vs. spam — and it’s important you don’t accidentally wind up flagged as spam when you’re sending legitimate cold emails. Sending emails to dead addresses that hard bounce is a very quick way to add spam suspicion to your account.
(Want to read more on this topic? Here’s a deep dive into the question is cold email illegal? to keep you up to date on the line between your emails and spam ones.)
For example, you’re not going to get a reply from someone who has zero interest in what you’re offering — so why send them tons of follow-up emails?
Similarly, if an email address is no longer valid, you’re not going to get a reply — all that’s going to do is increase your bounce rate.
That’s why it’s important to maintain and segment your email lists to ensure that:
You’re sending emails to people who are actually interested in what you’re offering and might reply.
You’re sending emails to valid email addresses.
In fact, research has shown that targeted cold emails can receive average response rates of 15-25%.
GMass has bounce management and unsubscribe management features to automatically suppress future emails to bounced or unsubscribed addresses — no manual work required on your end.
And with GMass’s segmented campaigns, you can send new campaigns to a segment of your list based on their behavior. For example, you could send an email to everyone who opened your emails but didn’t reply — and use new messaging to try to get them to respond.
4. Always include a strong CTA
Including a CTA (call-to-action) at the end of your email is always a good idea.
Why? It draws your prospect’s attention to the fact that you want them to do something — like reply — after reading the email. After all, if you don’t make it clear you’re looking for a reply, there’s a chance your contacts won’t realize they should reply.
Why take that risk when all it takes is a few lines to drive the point home?
Adding a simple line such as “looking forward to your reply” or “please let me know if you’re interested in moving this forward,” can make all the difference when it comes to increasing the efficiency of your sales process.
Keeping It Short and Simple is a fundamental cold email principle.
Why is it so helpful? It ensures that the information you want to convey is easily accessible — making your outreach campaign as reader-friendly as possible.
Remember, cold emails are like cold calls — they aren’t something your recipient has asked for — so if they decide to open it, your sales rep needs to get their foot in the door and get their point across quickly.
If your email is too long and its purpose is unclear, they’re not going to bother reading through it or replying. Research shows that cold emails that are 50-125 words long receive reply rates of around 50%.
But don’t worry, your email doesn’t have to be lengthy or uninteresting. Check out my guide on how to start an email properly to avoid that from ever happening!
Note: These are just five of the hundreds of helpful things that can help you improve your cold email campaigns.
Cold Email Response Rates: Conclusion and Summary
While it’s hard to find a universal average cold email response rate — because it varies so much by industry, ask, and business — the broad average is about 1% to 5%.
However, it’s clear that it depends on a variety of factors. And when you manage those factors effectively enough, you’re sure to boost your reply rates in no time!
Remember that if you truly want to boost your email campaigns and maximize their engagement, you can’t do it alone.
Perhaps better known for her screenwriting (Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally, Heartburn), Ephron’s brand of smart theatrical humour is on best display in her essays. Confiding and self-deprecating, she has a way of always managing to sound like your best friend – even when writing about her apartment on New York’s Upper West Side. This wildly enjoyable collection includes her droll observations about ageing, vanity – and a scorching appraisal of Bill Clinton. Read the review
Nous enrichirons la liste de M. Alex et ajouterons … jusqu’à 100 livres
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La liste des 21 meilleurs livres meilleurs romans français depuis 2000
Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise
Auteur | Dai Sijie Genre | Fiction historique Pays | France Année de parution | 2000
Résumé | Durant la Révolution culturelle chinoise, deux garçons exilés dans un village de montagne rencontrent la fille d’un tailleur local et découvrent une cachette de classiques occidentaux traduits en chinois. Roman sur la magie de la lecture et l’éveil romantique. Traduit en plus de 25 langues. Porté à l’écran en 2002 dans une réalisation de l’auteur.
Auteur | Laurent Gaudé Genre | Fiction Pays | France Année de parution | 2004
Résumé | Le récit de la lignée des Scorta, qui habitent Montepuccio, en Italie de 1870 à nos jours. Récit d’une famille pauvre, mais fière, qui tente, génération après génération, de construire son bonheur. Un roman puissant, humain sur l’héritage et la filiation. Couronné de plusieurs prix lors de sa sortie.
Auteur | Irène Némirovsky Genre | Fiction historique Pays | France Année de parution | 2004
Résumé | Séquence romanesque qui devait dépeindre la vie en France durant l’occupation allemande. Irène Némirovsky, d’origine ukrainienne et juive, avait achevé les deux premiers romans de la série lorsqu’elle fut déportée à Auschwitz en 1942. Le cahier contenant les deux romans a été conservé par ses filles et publié en un volume (Suite française) en 2004. Un critique du New York Times affirmait que le roman se classe parmi « les fictions les plus grandes, les plus humaines et les plus incisives que le conflit ait produit ».
Auteur | Alain Damasio Genre | Science-fiction Pays | France Année de parution | 2004
Résumé | Sur une planète balayée par un vent violent qui souffle depuis toujours, une horde de 23 personnes ont pour mission de se rendre l’Extrême-Amont, pour découvrir la source du vent. Roman aux multiples narrateurs, originalement accompagné d’une bande sonore audio. Succès commercial et critique. Remporte le grand prix de l’Imaginaire en 2006.
Auteur | Michel Houellebecq Genre | Science-fiction Pays | France Année de parution | 2005
Résumé | Une organisation offre la possibilité à ses membres d’être clonés tous les 50 ans. Le récit se construit autour de plusieurs Daniel, inscrits dans une chaîne de clones. Chacun se confie sur sa réalité, ses relations et sa vision du monde. Réflexion sur la vie éternelle, satire sociale qui traite de la transformation de l’humanité. Considéré par plusieurs comme l’un des meilleurs romans de l’auteur qui ne laisse personne indifférent. Peut-être l’écrivain français vivant le plus connu à l’étranger.
Auteur | Éric Chevillard Genre | Récit Pays | France Année de parution | 2005
Résumé | Albert Moindre, un écrivain français part au Mali pour une résidence d’écrivain pour écrire un poème sur l’Afrique. Mais celui-ci aura du mal à pénétrer la culture africaine. Œuvre sur les effets de la globalisation, sur l’incommunicabilité culturelle. Un récit de voyage déconstruit rempli d’autodérision.
Auteur | Muriel Barbery Genre | Fiction Pays | France Année de parution | 2006
Résumé | Renée Michel, une femme douée d’une culture et d’un esprit étonnant cache sa réelle personnalité sous les traits d’une femme de ménage laide et inculte qui travaille dans un immeuble de luxe. Mais bientôt divers événements dont le pacte de suicide d’une jeune adolescente qui habite l’immeuble bousculera l’ordre des choses. Une déclaration d’amour à la langue française qui devient un succès uniquement grâce au bouche-à-oreille. Aujourd’hui traduit en 34 langues.
Auteur | Jonathan Littell Genre | Fiction historique Pays | France Année de parution | 2006
Résumé | Autobiographie fictive de la vie de Maximilien Aue, ancien officier de la SS qui, des décennies plus tard, raconte sa réalité alors qu’il était un membre actif des forces de sécurité du Troisième Reich. Roman-fleuve de 983 pages qui s’attarde à la période de 1941 à 1945. Reçoit deux des plus prestigieux prix littéraires français : le Grand Prix du roman de l’Académie française et le Prix Goncourt en 2006. Traduit en plusieurs langues.
Auteur | Philippe Claudel Genre | Fiction Pays | France Année de parution | 2007
Résumé | Brodeck est rédacteur de rapports pour un bureau gouvernemental de son village. Lorsqu’un étranger qui dessinait des dessins peu flatteurs du village et de ses habitants est assassiné, les autorités, témoins du meurtre, demandent à Brodeck de rédiger un rapport pour blanchir les responsables du meurtre. Oeuvre puissante qui mêle le mythe et l’histoire. Reçoit le prix Goncourt des lycéens en 2007 et le Prix des libraires du Québec dans la catégorie « Roman hors Québec » l’année suivante.
Auteur | Tatiana de Rosnay Genre | Fiction historique Pays | France Année de parution | 2007
Résumé | Roman qui présente deux récits principaux qui avancent en parallèle. Celui de Sarah, dix ans, une jeune fille juive née à Paris, qui est arrêtée avec ses parents lors de la rafle du Vélodrome d’Hiver. Celui de Julia, une journaliste à qui l’on demande d’écrire un article en l’honneur du 60e anniversaire de la rafle. Un portrait qui révèle les tabous et le déni qui entourent cet épisode douloureux de l’histoire française. Vendu à plus de 11 millions d’exemplaires, traduit en 38 langues.
Auteur | Annie Ernaux Genre | Roman autobiographique Pays | France Année de parution | 2008
Résumé | Description et commentaires au sujet de photos de l’autrice qui, mis ensemble, relatent 60 ans d’histoire. Chronique de l’après-guerre qui évoque l’évolution de la société française durant le 20e siècle. Écrit dans une forme nouvelle d’autobiographie, détaché et tourné vers la collectivité. Le roman est couvert de prix lors de sa parution. Annie Ernaux est une des grandes autrices de la littérature française contemporaine.
Auteur | Emmanuel Carrère Genre | Récit Pays | France Année de parution | 2009
Résumé | Le récit d’une famille rencontrée au Sri Lanka qui vient de perdre leur fille unique dans le tsunami de 2004, puis de la maladie de la belle-sœur de l’auteur, mère de trois enfants en bas âge. Une œuvre sur la vie et la mort, la maladie, la pauvreté, mais surtout sur l’amour. Adapté au grand écran en 2011.
Auteur | Laurent Binet Genre | Fiction historique Pays | France Année de parution | 2010
Résumé | L’histoire de l’opération Anthropoid, l’assassinat du leader nazi Reinhard Heydrich à Prague pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Le roman mêle un récit historique et des réflexions personnelles de l’auteur, parfois humoristique. Reçoit le Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman 2010. Traduit dans plus de vingt langues.
Auteur | Delphine de Vigan Genre | Récit Pays | France Année de parution | 2011
Résumé |La vie de Lucile, issue d’une famille bohème, qui sombre dans le désespoir et le délire à mesure que sa fille grandit. Récit sur la mère de l’autrice, récit familial fait d’ombres et de lumières qui nous fait découvrir la bipolarité et l’impact de la maladie mentale pour la famille. À sa parution, le livre reçoit le prix du roman Fnac et le grand prix roman des lectrices d’Elle.
Auteur | Patrick Deville Genre | Roman biographique Pays | France Année de parution | 2012
Résumé | Biographie romancée d’un bactériologue nommé Alexandre Yersin, à qui l’on doit la découverte du bacille de la peste. Portrait d’un génie solitaire, sur un fond de guerres mondiales, de pandémies, de colonialisme, de progrès et de décadence. Un roman captivant, best-seller, qui reçoit le prix du roman Fnac et le prix Femina à sa sortie.
Auteur | Pierre Lemaitre Genre | Fiction historique Pays | France Année de parution | 2013
Résumé | Deux survivants Français de la guerre 14-18 qui ont connu les tranchées et qui sont, à leur retour dans la vie civile, laissés pour compte par leur patrie, ils imaginent une escroquerie pour se venger et s’enrichir. Grande fresque de l’après-guerre, portrait d’une génération perdue. Roman picaresque unique, récipiendaire d’une foule de prix à sa parution, dont le prestigieux prix Goncourt.
Auteur | Édouard Louis Genre | Roman autobiographique Pays | France Année de parution | 2014
Résumé | Récit de l’enfance et de l’adolescence de l’auteur, dans un village du nord de la France. Garçon efféminé, il relate les humiliations qu’il a subies. Un roman qui aborde les thèmes de l’identité, des classes sociales et de la violence. L’année de la parution du roman, l’auteur reçoit le prix Pierre Guénin contre l’homophobie et pour l’égalité des droits.
Auteur | Virginie Despentes Genre | Fiction Pays | France Année de parution | 2015 à 2017
Résumé | Série romanesque à propos d’un ancien disquaire vedette devenu sans domicile fixe après la fermeture de son magasin. Il fera appel à de vieux amis pour l’héberger : passant de canapé en canapé. On découvre des personnages hauts en couleur sur fond de rock and roll. Un roman sur l’aspect cruel de la vie, le désenchantement et le désespoir. Nommé pour le Man Booker international Prize, adapté pour la télévision en 2019.
Auteur | Leïla Slimani Genre | Fiction psychologique Pays | France/Maroc Année de parution | 2016
Résumé | Myriam, avocate franco-marocaine, décide de reprendre le travail après avoir eu des enfants et engage Louise comme nourrice. Polie, dévouée, elle semble être la nounou parfaite. Mais peu à peu, la jalousie, le ressentiment et les soupçons s’accumulent et brisent l’image parfaite de la relation. L’histoire est inspirée par « l’affaire Ortega », cette nounou qui avait assassiné, en 2012, les enfants qu’elle gardait. Une œuvre anxiogène, une fable terrible, tragique. Prix Goncourt en 2016
Auteur | Alice Zeniter Genre | Fiction psychologique Pays | France Année de parution | 2017
Résumé | L’histoire de trois générations d’une famille algérienne et française. Ali, le grand-père, qui se bat pour l’indépendance de son pays, Hamid, le fils, arrivé en France à l’été 1962 et Naïma, la petite-fille, née en 1990. Une fresque romanesque sur les origines et la liberté. Roman couvert de prix à sa sortie, dont le prix Goncourt des lycéens 2017. Le livre restera dans le palmarès des livres francophones les plus vendus en France pendant deux années.
Auteur | Philippe Lançon Genre | Récit autobiographique Pays | France Année de parution | 2018
Résumé | L’auteur et journaliste français, l’un des rares survivants de l’attentat contre Charlie Hebdo, raconte les événements de cette terrible journée et sa longue convalescence après l’événement. Récit d’une reconstruction, le lambeau est une introspection complète d’un homme qui tente de surmonter un traumatisme inimaginable. Recoit le prix Fémina en 2018.
Okay, we know you want translation jobs, you know you want translation jobs, so let’s skip the banal lead-in and go straight to the meat of the matter.
Let’s start with the obvious: If you are to build a strong personal brand, nothing beats having a website of your own. There are plenty of free or reasonably priced WordPress themes to give it a professional look and feel. Keep in mind that your website won’t promote itself, so if that’s the way you want to go, be ready to work on your online presence in social media networks and groups. Also, note that this approach works mostly for attracting direct clients — agencies don’t really care how good you are at social media.
(Side note: When working with direct clients, you’re likely to run into difficulties when receiving payments from across the globe. Read or scroll down to the very end of #15 below to find out what you can do to get paid easily.)
Find clients, translate, and receive payments in one place
The next obvious way is to sign up with translation agencies, aka LSPs. The process is usually more or less the same: You send your CV, if the agency is interested they send you a test assignment, and, if they like it, add you to their pool of translators. You never really know if you’re going to get an actual assignment — but the more respectable the companies you focus on, the higher your chances. You might want to check out this list of the world’s top 100 LSPs.
Online agencies
These are online platforms that are basically agencies concealed behind a fancy UI. This helps them attract tech-savvier customers, who might not want to have to deal with too much human interaction when they need to translate something. Although the overall experience for you as a translator is similar to that with traditional agencies, it might be more automated. For example, you might do the tests and assignments right on the website instead of sending and receiving files manually.
Let’s look at and compare the five most popular online agencies.
3. Gengo
Currently the most popular among all online agencies, Gengo has set the tone for the look and feel of such platforms. The agency provides educational resources for translators, detailed style guides for some languages, and a practical online platform where you do the translations. Some languages, most notably Japanese, have a steady flow of orders, so if you translate from or to these, you’re unlikely to stay without work for long. On the downside, there are fewer orders for other languages, so there’s always a “click race” to snatch them up as the first person to apply gets the job. The rates are pretty modest, especially at the “Standard” level.
Gengo.com
Site visits/month: ~370,000 LinkedIn followers: ~9,000
Pros: Helpful onboarding material Many jobs for some languages Convenient interface
Cons: Few jobs and “click racing” for other languages Very low rates for “Standard” translations, marginally acceptable for “Pro”
Payouts:Timeline: Twice a month Methods: PayPal only Payout fee: 1.5%, but not less than $1.5 and not more than $20 per payout + PayPal’s fees for withdrawal Service fee*: 50–100%
4. OneHourTranslation.com
OHT is perhaps the oldest among the successful, and the most successful among the old online translation agencies. Unfortunately, its age shows: The agency’s website has a distinctive “2000s” feel to it, and that likely drives the “hipper” customers away. On the upside, OHT works closely with its freelancers, introducing a gamified progression system, which makes growth within it fun regardless of the financial reward. Speaking of which, alas, the money is not great — although it gets somewhat better in the higher “tiers”.
OneHourTranslation.com
Site visits/month: ~270,000 LinkedIn followers: ~9,000
Pros: Good support for translators Progression system
Cons: Outdated look & feel Rates, rates, rates…
Payouts:Timeline:Net 30 after earning a minimum of $20; early payout options available Methods: PayPal, wire, Payoneer mastercardPayout fee: None for regular payouts; varies for early payouts + PayPal/Payoneer withdrawal fees where applicable Service fee: 50–100%
5. Unbabel
If there’s a polarizing translation service, Unbabel is it. Built entirely on a machine translation post-editing flow, it makes customers rejoice in how cheap it is and linguists shudder at the resulting quality. From a translator’s point of view, working for Unbabel is an unusual experience, partly because the content is mostly simple and partly because it is the only popular service that pays by the hour, not by the word — which has its upsides and downsides. Rates vary from unbelievably low to pretty good, depending on the language pair and perhaps some other factors.
Unbabel.com
Site visits/month: ~320,000 LinkedIn followers: ~12,000
Pros: Simple content to translate Edit on top of machine translation Get paid by the hour
Cons: Simple content to translate Edit on top of machine translation Get paid by the hour (not a mis-copypaste)
Payouts:Timeline: On demand (after project approval) Methods: PayPal, Payoneer (only in countries where PayPal is not available) Payout fee: According to PayPal/Payoneer terms Service fee: 50–100%
6. TextMaster
Despite the boring name, TextMaster is perhaps the “littest” on the list. Its website features strong “millennial-friendly” features such as being people-centric and explaining complex things in simple words (my own guilty pleasure). Also, from a brief study of the web, it seems TextMaster freelancers really love working for it. The agency also claims to focus on the quality of translations, describing its selection process in detail and boasting that only 25% of freelance applicants get admitted. This might be good or bad, depending on where you are in your career and skills — especially if you couple that with the fact that jobs don’t seem to come in abundance.
TextMaster.com
Site visits/month: ~160,000 LinkedIn followers: ~4,000
Pros: Presumably good rates Clear messaging & guidelines Vibrant community
Cons: Rigorous selection process Irregular job flow
Payouts:Timeline: On demand (after project approval) Methods: PayPal, Payoneer Payout fee: According to PayPal/Payoneer terms Service fee: 25–50%
Other online translation agencies worth mentioning are Lokalise.co, Speakt.com, Stepes.com, TranslatorsBase.com, and Zingword.com (which technically makes this a Top 20 article!).
With that, let’s go on to the next kind of marketplaces—
Invite your partners to Smartcat and get $100 for every new business subscriber you bring
If by now you’re tired of looking at fancy websites, rejoice: We now explore some “old-style” marketplaces (with one exception). There’s not much automation, if any, and some look like they come straight out of the pre-dot-com-bubble era — but it may be just what you need. Note that if the websites in the previous section were mostly targeted at direct clients, this is a domain where agencies reign — so decide whether you want to work with them based on your preferences.
7. ProZ
Some would consider it a blasphemy that the almighty ProZ only takes the eighth spot here, and in some ways it is. If there is one place that could be considered a “home for all translators and translation agencies,” ProZ is it. The website has no automation — basically, translators just post their profiles, customers post their jobs, and somehow the two get connected. There are also added features on ProZ such as forums and contests that help translators build their presence among both colleagues and clients: “Star” translators — or, rather, translators with star profiles — can enjoy a steady inflow of orders. Others will see some, too — if for the sheer volume of traffic the website enjoys, — but be ready to decline (or accept) a lot of job offers for peanuts before you receive something worth considering.
ProZ.com
Site visits/month: ~4,000,000 (four effing million!) LinkedIn followers: ~50,000
Pros: Huge community Many jobs posted Helps build a profile in the industry
Cons: A lot of orders are just trash Not a hint of automation
Payouts: Not applicable
8. TranslatorsCafe
The Pepsi of the translation industry, TranslatorCafe is mostly all the same things as ProZ, but at a smaller scale. Downside: Smaller community, fewer jobs: Upside: More of a “family feeling” and fewer trashy jobs. The absence of a LinkedIn page (no, this is not it) speaks volumes about the level of automation and future-savviness, too.
TranslatorsCafe.com
Site visits/month: ~2,000,000 LinkedIn followers: —
Pros: Family-like community Many jobs (but fewer than on ProZ) Fewer trashy jobs than on ProZ
Cons: Stuck in the 2000s
Payouts: Not applicable
9. TranslationDirectory
If you thought TranslatorsCafe’s website was outdated, you have to check this one out. Amazingly, the website manages to garner 130,000 visits per month, so if you set up a profile, there is a chance someone will contact you for something. The website doesn’t work the other way around — i.e. you cannot look for jobs, — which might be a blessing in disguise.
Pros: People come here, somehow It doesn’t hurt to sign up
Cons: Hm… Everything else?
Payouts: Not applicable
10. TheOpenMic
A breath of fresh air in the “old-school” department, TheOpenMic is actually a relatively new endeavor by translation celebrity (if that’s a thing) and enthusiast Dmitry Kornyukhov. The website started as a talking spot — think Facebook for translators — but has since tried to re-focus on bringing actual customers to the platform. Time will show if that bears any fruit, but you’ll likely enjoy the community part of it anyway.
Pros: Vibrant community Family feeling Lets you build a strong profile among peers
Cons: You’re not likely to get any jobs here, honestly — at least not directly
Payouts: Not applicable
Okay, we’re almost 75% through. Before we get to the headliner, let’s take a look at some—
General-purpose marketplaces
Believe it or not, translation is not the only “freelanceable” job out there, so there are quite a few SaaS platforms aimed at everyone from designers and programmers to plumbers, wedding singers, and, well, translators. A word of warning is that since they don’t work exclusively with translators, they might not get how the translation industry works. Nor might their customers. So, if you decide to go for any of those options — why not, after all? — be ready to explain a lot to your customers, who will in many cases be individuals, not companies, with every consequence that follows.
11. Upwork
The ultimate veteran of all things freelancing, Upwork traces its roots back to 1998! Today it’s the default go-to for anyone starting to freelance in any profession, although Fiverr — see below — has made its life much harder. Given the website’s popularity and the number of translators already on the website, unsuccessful bidding for projects is the norm and might discourage even the most enthusiastic freelancer.
Upwork.com
Site visits/month: ~27,000,000 LinkedIn followers: ~280,000
Pros: Long track record Time-tested processes Variety of jobs available
Cons: Supply much higher than demand Hard to win a bid without waging price wars Customers largely unaware of translation trade specifics
Payouts:Timeline: On demand (after project approval) Methods: Direct to local bank Payout fee: $0 for ACH, $0.99 for other methods Service fee: 5–20%
12. Fiverr
Initially a place where anyone can get anything for just five dollars, Fiverr quickly turned into an all-purpose marketplace for all price ranges and a paragon of the “gigonomy”. Most customers are individuals, who, unfortunately, have an even larger tendency to underestimate the effort it takes to translate than businesses. If you go for it, be ready to undercharge. On the upside, you don’t need to bid for projects here — it works the other way around. So if you do manage to bag a few projects at low rates, your profile will likely climb up the search results, opening up opportunities for more lucrative orders.
Fiverr.com
Site visits/month: ~36,000,000 LinkedIn followers: ~150,000
Pros: Rigorous procedure to protect both sides No need to bid for projects Lets you build a profile relatively quickly
Cons: Overfocused on competing on price Supply higher than demand Customers unaware of translation trade specifics
Payouts:Timeline: On demand (after gig approval) Methods: PayPal, wire, U.S. direct deposit, Payoneer mastercardPayout fee: $1–$3 or more depending on the methodService fee: 5%
13. Freelancer.com
Another behemoth of all-purpose freelancing, Freelancer.com undertook a strategy of acquiring smaller marketplaces. This, and a top but bland brand name, correlates well with the overall soulless feeling of the platform. Also, there doesn’t seem to be many translation jobs, with just 70 posted in 24 hours at the time of writing. On top of that, most jobs have 20+ bids, so be ready to master the good old trade of price wars if you decide to try your luck here.
Freelancer.com
Site visits/month: ~9,000,000 LinkedIn followers: ~80,000
Pros: Hm… Domain name? No, it sucks too…
Cons: Everything (but do challenge me)
Payouts:Timeline: On demand (+15 days for the first payout) Methods: local wire (in ~30 countries), global wire, PayPal, Skrill, debit card Payout fee: $25 for global wire, none for rest + PayPal/Skrill withdrawal fees Service fee: 10%
14. Smartcat
Some might say I left Smartcat until last because I work here,̶ ̶̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶w̶r̶o̶n̶g̶. But the real reason is that it is so many things that it can’t be classified under any other title. It is not an agency, although it is the main business tool for thousands of agencies. It is not an all-purpose platform, and it is definitely not a computerized craigslist.
Of the many things that Smartcat provides, the two that matter most for translators are the (free!) CAT tool and the freelancer marketplace. The logic of the platform is that you use the CAT tool to work on your own daily jobs — wherever you got them from — and the more you do, the higher you rank on the Marketplace. (There are other factors determining your position, which are beyond the scope of this article.)
Once a customer — whether a direct client or an agency — has a job and needs linguists, they send out requests to profiles of their choice. Then, depending on the settings they chose, either the first translator to respond gets the job, or they collect several applications and decide whom they give it to. Sometimes they will also split the job between several translators — all of which happens in the same web interface, without having to send any files.
Although bid wars are not totally out of the question here, they are less common: The customers here know how the industry works and how costly a cheap translation can be. So no need to bring down your rates just for the sake of it!
Coming back to question asked in #1, Smartcat also allows you to invoice customers anywhere in the world. The customer will technically pay Smartcat, but you will be able to withdraw the amount from your balance as usual.
Site visits/month: ~1,100,000 LinkedIn followers: ~6,500
Pros: Easy-to-use UI Jobs from industry-savvy customers Quick & manageable bidding process
Cons: Customers don’t have to pay upfront, so can disappear. Smartcat does guarantee ultimate compensation, but the investigation takes up to three months
Payouts:Timeline: On demand + up to 5 days to process on Smartcat side (usually 1–2 days) Methods: global & local wire, local e-wallets, credit/debit cards, PayPal, Payoneer Payout fee: 0–4% depending on the payout method Service fee: 10%
Phew! That was a long read, but hopefully it did make things clearer for you and will help you make a choice. As with anything, sometimes it makes sense to pick several marketplaces, but you may also prefer to double down in one — it’s up to you ?
Language Coop/Coop de Langues 