Transcription Rates
Setting your transcription rates or the amount you're going to charge your client can sometimes be a difficult thing to do. You can check out other transcribers in your area and their websites, etc for comparative rates. Remember that rates can vary dramatically around the world, so you need to take that into consideration. There are also a number of ways you can set your transcription rates. Generally this type of work can be charged: . by the hour Charging by the hour I do have a client that I do transcription for and I charge this client by the hour. My reasons are because it's not just transcription typed into a template and then whizzed back to the client. His work involves me formatting and changing complex headers and footers in his reports and his copy is set out in one way and then there's a client copy which is also different, all adding to my time. Also the transcription is provided to me in old micro cassettes, so sometimes it's hard to tell how long the audio is and hard to charge per audio minute for example. So as this transcription work is very secretarial in its nature I charge this client by the hour. I also used to transcribe for some doctors and their letters were very secretarial in nature where I had to add in people's names and subject lines, etc that were not in the audio, so my transcription rates are charged per hour here too. Now a lot of people still do charge by the hour for 'straight' transcription, where you are merely typing into a template and submitting that to the client. That's great if you're a fast typist and the client knows they're getting value for money in their submitted work. A lot of transcription houses don't use this method because think about it, a slower typist takes longer to complete the work and therefore costs the client more. So you are penalised for being fast. So that's why the per line or per audio minute comes into play. Fast or slow, you are all paid the same and it's up to you to produce back quality and fast work, thus making your effective hourly rate higher. Charging by the line This is commondly used, although I haven't charged by the line in a few years. I used to subcontract to a transcription company and they paid me per line. So this is such and such cents per line of typing, which as an industry standard is 65 characters. The cents per line you would be paid (by a transcription company) or that you would charge depends on volume of work, difficulty of work, where you are in the world and can even vary from area to area in your own country. Charging by the audio minute This is a very common way to charge for transcription these days. Most clients prefer this method and this method has its benefits as I mentioned above; no matter if you're a fast or slow typist you all get paid the same. It's up to you to be fast and timely and therefore this translates to a higher hourly rate for you. Check out what other transcribers are charging in your area to benchmark yourself against. More difficult work or more urgent work will attract a higher rate of course. Charging by the folio Charging in this way is common in the legal area. I note worldwide that a folio can be 80 words or 100 words or even something different in parts of the world. I have one legal client who pays me in this way and this still equates to an excellent hourly rate for me.
So as you can see there are various ways to set your transcription rates. Then there are considerations like your experience, quality and difficulty of audio, content and special terminology, difficult accents. All these factors affect the rate you charge up or down. Some types of transcription work is easier like one on one interviews or presentations and the worst type of file is a focus group, which a lot of transcribers simply refuse to do. This can involve many speakers, lots of inaudible speakers too far from microphone and lots of over talking. I don't mind focus groups, I like that most have a lot of down time in them where participants are filling out questionnaires, etc and I still get paid for this down time. Hope I've provided some clarity on the confusing area of transcription rates and please do visit out the transcription section on this site for lots more information on this area.
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