So You Think You Will Get Rich in General Transcription
Learn what is involved in general transcription and why becoming a transcriptionist in this field will not make you rich overnight.
So you want to be a transcriber. Your friend told you that a good place to bid for general transcription jobs is freelance sites, and you can charge $25.00 per audio hour. (Legal and medical transcription are also options; however, you need schooling to be able to go into these fields.) Your initial thought may be Wow! I can make $25 an hour. Super!
Hold on, Charlie. Let me reiterate; that was per audio hour. So, what is an audio hour? Transcription jobs do not normally follow the same pay scales as other freelance jobs. That’s right. General transcription is an odd ball.
An audio hour is the length of time that a speaker or speakers talk. Okay, so what’s the big deal? You said that they might talk for an hour. So I can type it in an hour. No, no, no, no, no. It could take you 4-6 hours to actually type that audio hour. If you have no experience at it, it can be even longer. Starting to get the picture?
You are normally not going to get rich in transcription. Audio recordings are not always clear and easy to understand. Maybe the recording is poor quality, or maybe you need to do extra research in order to get spelling of cities, countries, or industry-specific language, etc., correct. If your client instructs you to transcribe verbatim and to put time stamps every paragraph, every speaker, or whatever, it can cause you to tear out your hair.
My advice before you quit your job and go into the field of general transcription in a virtual environment is to bid for short audio recordings (if you’re a freelancer) like 15-30 minutes long and try it. Or if your friend is still in the transcription business, spend some time with that individual. Learn what type of equipment your friend uses and what exactly does your friend do. It is essential that you do not put out poor quality work, or you will be blackballed in the transcription field; and your business will fail. That brings up another point.
In order to be a good general transcriptionist, you must have excellent language skills. Know frontwards and backwards your punctuation, grammar, and spelling. Pardon me if I’m blunt here; your client does not want a piece of crap that he or she has to go back over and correct. You must have good listening skills. You will be listening to an audio that will sometimes have traffic in the background, airplanes, banging noises, and all sorts of extraneous sounds; and you will need to listen carefully to hear what the speaker(s) are saying. This will all add to how long it takes to transcribe the material.
So in summary, it is not a piece of cake to transcribe. The pay is low, and there is a lot of time involved. You can charge by audio hour or even by audio minute, but be reasonable. If you like to type and enjoy providing good quality work to a client, general transcription can be a good way to supplement your income. When my partner and I first started transcribing, it would take the two of us a week or more to transcribe thirty minutes of audio. Now, we generally say that it takes us 24-48 hours to provide a completed audio hour of transcription. Transcribing is not always easy, and you definitely won’t get rich overnight.
4 Comments
You are so right! I took a year long course in Medical Transcriptions and decided to put that education to use and when I was given proofreading and editing assignments TO fix up sloppy transcriptions it seemed a natural progression to just do them.
What an eye-opener this has been! As you say, one HOUR of talk can generally take 3 or more hours to type up AND, I am sure due to my inability to just type away and proofread and edit myself later, I spend half of my time stopping, editing myself, playing it over and over to get that one word I missed, etc. and it is the hardest job, in all honesty, that I do!
I have transcribed legal, medical, speeches, sermons, interviews, corporate meetings, and other documents over the years. Yes, it definitely does take time to listen and type the contents of the tape or tapes. You need to be aware of dialects or accents and foreign languages, speech patterns, and ah’s/eh’s/like’s/and’s and other vocal tics.
While the transcription content is often interesting it is time consuming.
JJ Hall
Thank you both for your comments. While I find that transcription can be time-consuming, I also find it to be very rewarding and, at times, even a life-saver when other things slow down. You can always do transcription to bring in a little extra — it sure helps put food on the table.
And, look at the knowledge you can absorb!
Since I am a stay-at-home mom, a medical transcription job was perfect for me. I can work while the children are napping (or in school), I can be interrupted for quickie things (can I get a drink?), and although it’s not great money, I don’t have to shell out any money for work clothes, transportation, daycare, after school programs…..the benefits to this job are definitely worth more than just the money.
Additionally, I am a “closet doctor” who worked as a medical secretary for several years, I had the experience and I love love love! the knowledge I gain!!