Families / Craft

Literary Translator

Carries meaning and voice between languages at book length. Deep, slow work with an unforgiving rate card.

Pay band (est.)
$32k–$75k
Time to competence
8 years
Licence
None
Setting
desk
Leverage
medium
Place constraint
low
Physical demand
8/100
Hours burden
48/100

Factor percentiles

Percentile against the whole curated set. Higher is better on that factor only.

  • Play79th

    Absorbing rather than merely paid.

  • Specific knowledge89th

    A combination of skills that is hard to copy.

  • Leverage49th

    Output that scales through code, media, capital or crew.

  • Demand4th

    Durability and shortage, scored conservatively.

  • Pay6th

    Mid-career floor and the range above it.

  • Body99th

    Inverse of physical demand and hours.

  • Autonomy87th

    Control of methods and time.

  • People fit24th

    Distance from your preferred people level.

  • Place flexibility99th

    Remote fit and freedom from specific metros.

  • Time to skill16th

    Inverse of years to competence.

  • Meaning load61th

    Care, craft and stewardship weight. Not a moral score.

  • Downside tolerance67th

    Inverse of named risk to body, market or platform.

Downside

Machine translation has gutted rates outside literary work.

Examine this against your weights

The percentiles above use the default weights. Set your own on the ranking and this vocation moves with them.

Source note: Industry survey patterns; editorial estimate. All figures are estimates for comparison.