how much should a writer cost me to make articles from a transcript?

[BizBooks]

I'm trying to get articles written from a transcript of a seminar I gave, and went to elance.com to find someone.

looks like people don't read the description before they bid... $500 for 20 articles was one of teh bid i got.

How much should it cost to have someone edit transcripts just so they make sense with no errs and umms so they pass EZA editors inspections?

with the elance quotes i've been getting... it looks to me like it might be cheaper (or the same price) to just have people write articles from scratch?

[BizBooks]

hmmmmm????

[jhongren]

A transcript writer typed out exactly what I say...got it for about $2 per minute.

John

[Kay King]

What did you advertise for? You mention articles to be written - but then mention editing the transcript.

The job may be more difficult than you think or you may have advertised for experience and skills you aren't prepared to pay for. Writing articles from a transcript can be a pain as you often need to go back and forth through the transcript to find facts to use.

"Editing" requires grammar and writing skills that often command higher prices on outsource sites.

If you list the approximate price you are willing to pay in the job description you are more likely to have people who work in that price range. Try amending your job description and see if that helps.

kay

[Xammy]

Originally Posted by Kay King

What did you advertise for? You mention articles to be written - but then mention editing the transcript.

The job may be more difficult than you think or you may have advertised for experience and skills you aren't prepared to pay for. Writing articles from a transcript can be a pain as you often need to go back and forth through the transcript to find facts to use.

"Editing" requires grammar and writing skills that often command higher prices on outsource sites.

If you list the approximate price you are willing to pay in the job description you are more likely to have people who work in that price range. Try amending your job description and see if that helps.

kay

Yeah . . . I agree kay

[Robin E. Anderson]

Five hundred dollars seems very steep. If it's as straightforward as it sounds, I'd think a fraction of that. I agree that a job description is very necessary for clarification.

[Justin Jordan]

Originally Posted by Robin E. Anderson

Five hundred dollars seems very steep. If it's as straightforward as it sounds, I'd think a fraction of that. I agree that a job description is very necessary for clarification.

Maaaaybe.

Straight transcription shouldn't cost that much, but I find it pretty unlikely that seminar trascripts will convert directly into articles. Unless the OP's stuff is really tight (and if it is, how did they do it with out a script) this is not just a transcription job - it's listening to a seminar and creating a nuch of seperate articles.

I'd charge a lot more than $500.00 for that particular job,

[Kay King]

A fraction? I'd have to disagree but the job description is the key.

I've done one transcript job and it wasn't cheap - and I'd charge even more if I did another one. It was time consuming to read through again and again picking out the facts for one topic and then for another.

The "straightforward" part may be true or not - depends on the quality and organization of the transcript and you don't know until you see it.

If you state a price point in your ad you will avoid having high priced writers bid on your project (they won't waste the time) and it opens the door to less experienced or new writers on elance. Those same new writers may be intimidated by too many restrictions in the job ad.

kay

[Bev Clement]

Also if you were the speaker, then it would seem straight forward as you know the topic, but anyone else would have to spend time reading and then writing.

Not to put the cat among the pigeons but you are not looking for simple articles to be written.

You want the transcript to be read, and most professional companies would charge you $400 - $800 a day for a reading fee. They would then have a standard charge of $50 per article. I can give you a list of 100 companies which will do it for this price for you, as they do it every day for corporations worldwide.

If you have the transcripts and it is that easy to do, why not do it yourself. You should have the word document from the transcription company and a quick "find and replace" will solve part of the problem. Writing the article might be something else.

[BizBooks]

thank you for all the valuable help!