As a freelance language service provider, I collaborate with a mixture of agencies and direct clients. For the past few months I have been working on a very large project for one such direct client: correcting the English in a 100K-word doorstop of a manuscript. Eventually the book will be published in the US. It has probably been the largest project I have done to date, both in terms of its size and the amount of time it has taken to do. I was first approached by the client in July 2011, and we’re still going!
I have always tried to prepare myself and my business processes as fully as possible for the different requirements/questions/challenges that projects may involve. I’ve got rates sheets, quotation and estimate templates, checklists of questions to ask clients, etc. Nevertheless, each project is different. Perhaps because of its size and scope, this particular job has involved a lot of eye-opening moments. I certainly learned a great deal from it, and in this post I would like to share some of the most important points.

• Face-to-face meetings are invaluable
  

Although our profession is conducted mostly through the Internet these days, and quite effectively at that, whenever circumstances allow it is still worth making the effort see the client in person. When someone hands you a large project, such as a manuscript of their book, you can bet that it is important to them. I think one needs to be sensitive to that. By talking through everything involved in the project in a face-to-face meeting, it’s much easier to give the client the feeling that you are on top of things in terms of organisation, that you are well-informed, that you are on their side. In essence, you want to let them know that the project involves teamwork and you’re both part of that team.
Face-to-face meetings are also useful for getting all the details of the project straight. Making clear, extensive notes is helpful, as is sending a summary of the points discussed in the meeting to the client afterwards. The aim is to be unambiguous about every aspect of the job (see next point).

• Certain aspects of your job will be a mystery to the client

Some clients know exactly what is involved in a translation/editing/proofreading project, but many don’t. Unfortunately, they are unlikely to realise that they don’t understand something, and even if they do they may not tell you.
When I worked in a research laboratory, I attended many meetings where researchers proposed new inventions for patenting. 95% of attendees were also research scientists, but they often worked in different fields. On several occasions I overheard people commenting they had not understood this or that aspect of the invention, but always after the meeting and rarely in front of the presenter. People generally don’t like to admit that they don’t understand something. As a result, the presenters who took it down a few levels and did not make too many assumptions about what their audience already knew were usually more successful.
I think the same holds true in this industry, especially if the client is not an agency. Misunderstandings can easily occur if you don’t spell out exactly what your service does or does not involve, how long each task will take you to complete, which aspects incur extra charges, etc.

• You don’t control how your client manages their project

Ideally, the schedule would be clearly defined, deadlines would not change, the draft that lands in your inbox would be the final one, etc. However, how you would prefer to manage a project has absolutely no bearing on what your client does. If they keep amending the project schedule because of other commitments, the best you can do is keep insisting on certain minima (say, at least a week to translate x number of words) and hope the message gets through.
It’s worth bearing in mind that your client (i.e. the person you’re dealing with) might not even control how they manage their project themselves. They could be bound by what their publisher/supervisor/co-workers require. Other people may be revising the text, for example, but you might never deal with them. It certainly makes organising your own schedule interesting...

• You had better love the project, or at least know how to motivate yourself

100K words on one topic is a lot. Really a lot. No matter how interesting the topic, such a long project can make you feel weary at times. Deadlines are deadlines though, so it’s clearly important to find a way to self-motivate and to keep standards consistently high. Personally I prefer to spend a set number of hours on a large project every day, and intersperse those with different, shorter jobs for a bit of variety. Every 4-5 days I take a break from the large project completely to avoid getting stuck in a rut (see below). Obviously, every freelancer has their own way of making sure they stay sharp and on top of their work.

• Extra Quality Assurance steps to ensure consistency are important

When a project takes weeks or months to complete, it is inevitable that you will not approach it with the same mindset every time you take a seat at your desk. What might seem like a monstrously awkward phrase one day might appear perfectly reasonable a week later. Or you might find two different solutions for the same problem. For this project, therefore, I found it helpful to keep a list of recurring issues, and how I solved them. Regularly consulting an appropriate style guide (ask your client, or suggest one if they don’t provide it) is also crucial.
Another potential issue is getting stuck in “language rut”. I’m the first to admit that I have favourite words, expressions and turns of phrase. However, over a long text and with a repetition-averse language such as English, it’s a sure-fire way to send your reader (and possibly yourself) to sleep. The solution for me has always been to read extensively, especially material that is related to the subject I’m working on. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as finding a juicy new word or expression to use!

These are some of the lessons I've learned first-hand from working on a very large project. As part of your own work (or when you've commissioned someone to do a large job for you), have you noticed any other important points?

Essentially, our job in the language services industry is to facilitate international communication. We cross linguistic and cultural boundaries to help our clients get their own ideas across, or understand those of others. This holds true, for example, whether you’re an independent translator or whether you run an agency. However, when it comes to the relationship between the parties involved in the translation process, why is it that the word ‘alienation’ rather than ‘communication’ so often springs to mind?
Negativity seems to abound in this industry, with translators moaning about poor pay and ill treatment, agencies complaining about perpetually late freelancers, and clients despairing they don’t even know where to begin looking for someone who’ll simply get the job done, end of. Clearly something is going wrong and as is so often the case with a soured relationship, I believe a lack of effective communication to be at the root of this.
I’ve already written about why the relationship between independent translators and agencies can be a positive one. In this post I want to keep spreading that positivity and list some suggestions on how freelancers, agencies and direct clients can keep those communicative cogs well-oiled.

Freelancers ♥ Clients

• Provide feedback. Let your freelance suppliers know what you think of their work and services. Good freelancers are highly motivated, so they will use your feedback to help them improve further. Also, do share positive feedback with your colleagues - word of mouth advertising is very valuable to freelancers, who often don’t have a large budget for marketing activities.
  
• Respect the fact that freelancers have multiple clients and commitments. A good freelancer will always do their best to meet your needs, but they also have to stick to previously agreed deadlines. Also bear in mind that freelancers can’t be expected to stay ‘potentially available’ for too long, as the risk they run of losing money is high.

Freelancers ♥ Agencies

• Demonstrate that freelancers are more than a nameless cog in a vast system. They are all pretty strong-minded individuals, but they’re also easily pleased; a personally addressed email rather than a generic round-robin, an indication that you have noted what they specialise in, a thank you upon completion of a job will go a long way.
• Provide detailed instructions, and preferably all in one go rather than in an endless string of emails. Freelancers know that every client is different, so remember to specify what timezone your deadline refers to, what you want the formatting to look like, whether you want comments to be added into the text or written up separately, etc. It’s all in the detail.

Clients ♥ Freelancers

• Be clear. Just because someone asks you for a translation, doesn’t mean they know what it’s involved. Don’t get mad at your client’s ignorance, and don’t bamboozle them with industry-speak. Who cares whether you’ve got this or that CAT tool or you don’t like PDFs? Ask pertinent, practical questions and get the job done.
• Be impeccably, infallibly professional. Even a (very) small business is still expected to meet certain standards in the eyes of a client. Having a good website, a clear pricing structure and robust procedures to deal with every eventuality all make a freelancer appear professional. On the other hand, it only takes one customer service malfunction to appear amateurish and put the client off for good.  

Clients ♥ Agencies

• Remember the personal touch, especially in email communication. Part of providing a good service involves assuring the client there will always be someone available to help them. Make sure your quotes are accompanied by an email addressed to a specific person, and let them know you have considered all aspects of their specific request.
• Take the slack, even if it’s technically not your fault. The client entrusted the job to your agency and your agency only, so if something goes wrong it is your responsibility to fix it. Yes, it may have been the freelancer that submitted the project late, but that’s not the client’s concern. They rely on the your ability to select good suppliers, so pointing the finger of blame elsewhere will appear as though your making excuses.

Agencies ♥ Freelancers

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Freelancers are often worried about appearing unprofessional or even incompetent if they admit they’re stuck, but by suffering in silence and turning in something below standard you will truly shoot yourself in foot. Accept that even the best can be stumped sometimes, and be open to discuss problems in a professional, cooperative manner.
• Keep all the agencies you work with updated. Let them know if you are going to be unavailable for a while, what new PC skills or bits of software you acquired, etc. Although I haven’t tried it (yet) myself, you could send them a regular newsletter.

Agencies ♥ Clients
As I have personally never dealt with clients in this capacity, I’m unsure of what to put in this section! If you run an agency, do share your thoughts on what makes you love your clients.

Equally, I’m sure there are lots of points that can be added to the previous sections, so feel free to pitch in!