Service by Price/Unit

Service	Fee Per Unit	Fee Per Unit	Fee Per Unit
Interview Transcriptions	One-on-one - $1.25/recorded min.	Good Quality Focus Group - $1.50/recorded min. Poor Quality - $1.75	Good Quality Group Meeting - $1.65/recorded min. Poor Quality $2.00
Proofreading with light Editing	$3.00/page up to 20 pages	$2.75/page up to 50 pages	$2.50/page 100 pages & beyond
Editing with heavy Edits	$5.00/page up to 20 pages	$4.75/page up to 50 pages	$4.50/page 100 pages & beyond
Non-English Speaking Writers	Add $1.50 to each Proofreading or	Editing fee per unit.
APA or MLA Formatting of Citations in Text & Reference List	$1.00/reference will include check	to make sure text citations and references	listed match.
Map & Organize Information for Literature Review	$25.00/hour
Write Up Literature Review	$30.00/hour
Content Analysis or Thematice Coding With Definitions or Descriptions	$35.00/hour - 5 to 10 pages/hour depending on the coding scheme

Students, businesses, and organizations conduct interviews, record meetings and focus groups, or attend and record conference speeches, all of which have more value if a transcript is produced for future analysis or review.

The chart below lists fees for transcription of audio recordings by the type of recording and by the quality of the recording. The reason most people hire someone else to transcribe their recordings is because of the difficulty involved in hearing precisely what the speakers are saying, which can be made even more difficult by many factors.

Some of those factors include: heavy accents, rapid speech, hesitant speech with many meaningless filler words, sensitive recorders that pick up background noises that obscure the speakers' words, such as outside traffic, rustling paper, or coughing. Phone interviews are especially prone to static, very low audio, or speakers multi-tasking during the interview — all of which will require your transcriptionist to listen to sections multiple times in an effort to capture as much speech as possible — otherwise you will receive line after line of "Inaudible" because speakers' words were lost.

When determining the quality of your audio recordings consider this — if you have difficulty hearing or understanding what was said — so will your transcriptionist. If you find someone who will only charge you $.75 cents or $1 per minute, please make sure your recordings are not being outsourced to a typist in a foreign country or transcribed using word recognition software because you may end up paying for repeated lines of "Inaudible" or meaningless text.

Many high volume companies and services will offer rush delivery, such as a 24 hour turnaround. I do not. In my experience, many perceived "rush jobs" are rarely needed immediately and not worth the added expense for the client or added stress for the transcriber. I believe it is unfair to my current clients to interrupt my work on their project in order to accommodate someone who is late or did not plan ahead. I encourage clients to plan several weeks ahead and book fairly firm dates for their recordings to be processed. So, avoid disappointment and contact me about your project, how large it is, and when you will need it completed. I will let you know if that time period is available.

Transcription Fees Per Unit Type

Type of Audio Recording	Fees For Good Quality Recordings	Fees For Poor Quality Recordings
One-on-One Interviews	$1.25 Per Audio Minute	$1.50 Per Audio Minute
3 to 4 Person Focus Groups or Meetings	$1.50 Per Audio Minute	$1.75 Per Audio Minute
5 to 10 Person Focus Groups or Meetings	$1.75 Per Audio Minute	$2.00 Per Audio Minute
Lectures or Speeches	$1.50 Per Audio Minute	$1.75 Per Audio Minute
Depositions or Court Proceedings	$1.65 Per Audio Minute	$2.00 Per Audio Minute
Other Audio Processing	To Improve Audio Quality or Alter Content
Digital Cleaning of Background Noises Without Transcription	$15 Per Full Recording	Same $15
Cleaning, Rearranging, or Editing Out Audio Segments Without Transcription	$20 Per Single Recording With Instructions	Same $20

Challenges of Audio Transcription Work

It is always possible to transcribe the recording yourself by simply listening to it and typing the words spoken into a word processing program. However, many people do not realize that it can take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours to transcribe a single hour of recorded speech - meaning 1 minute of a recorded audio can take up to 6 minutes to transcribe.

While this may sound unbelievably long, many factors can affect transcription speed, such as those mentioned above. If you decided to record an interview outside – expect loud or persistent traffic or train noises. In a cafeteria or busy office, other people speaking at surrounding tables or in a hallway may dominate your recording. Focus group interviews can be a nightmare if people talk over each other or there are not enough extra microphones to pick up speakers distant from the recorder. Your own typing speed can be a factor, as well as the recorder's playback quality and it's ability to start, pause, and reverse without missing important words. If you have never done transcription work, you will probably have a frustrating experience and feel the urge to just give up.

Another decision you must make about your transcription, whether you do it yourself or you contract someone else to do it, is how much verbatim speech you want transcribed. Few people speak without some personal hesitations or space fillers. A person answering a question may pause to think through their answer in silence, but typically people tend to fill in that dead air space with fillers, such as: um, ah, well, you know, etc. as sort of placeholders for what they will say next. Other people incorporate these fillers into everything they say, in every partial or complete sentence they utter creating long and at times complicated recordings. Some people do not even use complete sentences, but simply stick in a filler or two where they completely change directions or thoughts.

Your challenge is to decide how much of this type of speech to include in a transcript or to instruct your hired transcriptionist to include. These excess utterances, coupled with excessive speaking speed, heavy foreign or regional accents and speech patterns, will cause you to be charged extra for the effort it takes to capture and type up each and every utterance. If you will be analyzing your transcriptions by hand or with coding software, you will ultimately eliminate these excessive utterances, therefore you may want to have a verbatim transcription of just a few minutes of an interview to capture characteristics of interviewees' speech and then have just meaningful speech transcribed.

If you decide to hire me to transcribe your recordings, you will upload and send me your audio recording via a Dropbox folder that you will send me a link to share. I do all transcriptions myself & your recordings never leave my office computer once I download them from Dropbox, and I never outsource my work. I comply with all IRB requirements and keep your recordings confidential. You will never need to worry where your recordings may end up or who is listening to them. I will alert you to any serious problems I find with your recordings, such as large gaps or malfunctioning equipment.

After my work is completed, I upload the completed transcript to our shared Dropbox folder and alert you by email that it is complete. I will send an invoice listing the completed work items and fees to your email address, as well as upload it to our shared Dropbox folder. If you have never used Dropbox, I can send you instructions on how to sign up for a free account and exchange files through a shared folder.

Payment Method: Payment(s) are made via my PayPal account to a private email address I will send you in my invoice. For single audio transcriptions, payment is due 7 days after you receive my invoice. For large contracts, in recorded length or amount of recordings, a payment schedule at the 1/3 or 1/2 completion point may be required. If you need to complete the payment process through a fellowship, grant manager, or Comptroller's office, please let me know any necessary information I need to forward to the appropriate personnel and their contact information by phone and email, as well as when they issue payments.

Why Hire Someone To Do Your Thesis or Dissertation Formatting?

The reasons are simple and obvious:

• You are exhausted after writing, defending, & correcting your document.
• You have limited time between re-writes, corrections, and submission.
• You need to learn intricate formatting guidelines you will never use again.
• You may lack the right word processing program to produce the required format.
• You need a 2nd pair of eyes to check that everything in your document is correct and complete.

What You Get With Standard Service

Standard Services include:

• Format all required margins, fonts, page numbering, and paragraphs set forth by your College/University.
• Format all front and end pages (Title, Copyright, Dedications, Abstract, etc., Bibliography, Appendix or Appendices), Table of Contents, Lists of Figures, Tables, etc. with page numbers.
• Format all major headings and subheadings, footnotes or endnotes as indicated by the author.
• Format all in-text Citations and sources in the Reference List/Bibliography according to the Style Manual used in your program — APA or MLA.
• Resize any Tables, Charts, Diagrams, Figures, or Graphics that will not fit within required margins, unless the author chooses to do this.
• Conversion of MS Word document to required submission format, such as PDF.

What You Get With a Few Extra Services:

Extra or Stand Alone Services include:

• Citation-Reference List Double Check — In addition to the Standard Services, I will make sure all your Citations can be found in your Reference List, and all sources in your Reference List have a corresponding Citation somewhere in your document's text.
• Light Proofreading — In addition to the Standard Services, I will read through your document, find and correct minor errors, such as misspelled words, missing punctuation, or improperly written items in a series. This is best done during the first submission for initial formatting using Track Changes so you can accept or reject the changes.
• Citation-Reference List Formatting Only — This is a Stand Alone service and ONLY includes the APA or MLA Formatting of Citations in the text and sources in the Reference List. This DOES NOT include any other Standard formatting for the whole document, or double checking citations, or light proofreading. See the last item in the Table of Fees below.

Table of Fees

Level of Service	Cost Per Page	Cost Per Page	Cost Per Page
Standard Formatting Service	$2.50 up to 200 pgs.	$2.25 up to 400 pgs.	$2.00 over 400 pgs.
Extra or Stand Alone Formatting Services
Citation-Referece Double Check with Standard Service	Add $0.75 per pg.	Add $0.65 per pg.	Add $0.50 per pg.
Light Proofreading with Standard Service	Add $0.50 per pg.	Add $0.40 per pg.	Add $0.30 per pg.
Citation-Reference Formatting Only	$1.00 per Citation/Reference Pair	Same	Same

How I Work:

The following are my work requirements for successful services:

• You need to Reserve specific calendar days for Formatting Services that are at least 2 weeks before the 1st review check at your Graduate School prior to final submission.
• You will need to set up a Shared Folder in Dropbox for secure file transfers and send me the link to the documents you upload to it.
• You will need to obtain and send me the Formatting Guidelines specific to your College/University Graduate School or a link to their online resource regarding that information.
• I will send you a list of important information I will need to process or include in your document.
• You will need to obtain and send me all deadlines posted by your Graduate School for submission of your Thesis or Dissertation.
• You need to tell me which Format Style Guide is required by the program you are enrolled in — APA or MLA.
• As you near the end of making your document corrections, you can send me a working draft so I can begin formatting citations and references, and resizing any charts, illustrations, diagrams, or graphics that will not fit within required guidelines.
• I will return your working draft with Track Changes and any notes on issues you need to resolve prior to final formatting.
• When you have completed all necessary correction, additions, or adjustments to your text and Reference List, you will send me your Final document that is ready to be formally formatted on your reserved calendar days.
• I will process and finalize all document formatting, create the Table of Contents, necessary lists, etc., and save to a new formal document name (so it does not conflict with earlier versions) and if required, convert to the required format, such as PDF. I will return all materials to you via our shared Dropbox Folder and send you an email to inform you of completion. Please be available via email or text in case I have a pressing question I need answered in order to complete my work.
• I will create your Invoice based on your document's page count and any additional services you requested. I will upload your Invoice to Dropbox and attach it to your email notification of the completion. Payment is expected in 7 days from receiving your completed documents, and made to my PayPal account via a personal email address I will include in my Invoice.

While there are a number of steps you need to take to initiate and move the document formatting process along, the steps listed above are necessary for accuracy and a smooth transition from draft to a fully formatted document. If you remain on schedule, then I can maintain my scheduled work and deliver your document on the date promised. If you run into any unforeseen delays, please notify me immediately so we can make any necessary adjustments, but this should be used for emergencies only. Please be considerate of other students who have formatting dates reserved for their own documents.