How to make money by transcribing text: what is needed for this, where to look for orders, is it worth doing?

What is transcription

Transcription is the ability to convert voice information into text.

For example. You were given an audio or video recording of a person telling something. Your task is to translate the voice into text.

Transcription is the translation of audio or video into text

At first glance, it seems that there is nothing complicated about this. I turned on the sound, memorized a couple of sentences and wrote it down in a text editor.

At best, you will be lucky if the speaker speaks without different words: “be”, “me” and other filler words. As practice shows, there are few such people. The transcriber must cut out such stop words without loss of meaning.

But sometimes two or more people participate in the dialogue. Then the task becomes more complicated. You need to understand and not get confused who is talking about what.

It also happens that you may be given work material with poor sound quality. Then you will have to listen to the same sentence several times to understand what is being said.

Translating audio into text: making money from transcription

Author: Olga Markova Topic rating: +5

Author Freelance.Today

Freelancers are often hired to solve problems that clients themselves do not have time for (or do not want to do). The task may not be at all difficult, but, for example, it is time-consuming, requires perseverance, or is simply boring.

Transcription often includes such tasks: translating video/audio into text. Let's talk today about how to make money on this, and who is suitable for this type of income.

What do we have to do

As already mentioned, transcription is the translation of audio recordings or video into text format. Simply put, you listen to a recording or watch a video and record the content. Then you comb it (if necessary) and hand it over to the client as a text.

It should be noted that the requirements for the final text may be different. The customer may need:

- verbatim recording, shorthand. In my experience, the most time-consuming option, but it does not require any mental activity from you at all: just listen carefully and write down.

— a summary or recording of the main points. Here you need to discuss in advance what the client considers important, what points to pay attention to most, whether it is necessary to record the contents of the slides with the video, etc.

- coherent text “based on” Here you will need to first write down the main points, or write down the entire contents of the file, and then make an article from it. In the process of working on the finished text material, it will be possible to remove something, add something, change places, etc. This is a more creative work that requires some experience in writing and designing texts.

Be sure to clarify with the client from the very beginning what he wants to get as a result! So that later it doesn’t happen that you spent the night writing it down word-for-word, and he only needed a summary.

What you need for successful work:

- good headphones;

— fast typing skill;

- perseverance.

And, of course, the desire to earn money in this way. Because many people don’t like this kind of work: it’s difficult to understand the text by ear, it’s boring, it takes a lot of time, the recording is bad, the topic is stupid, etc. Everyone has their own excuses. Personally, I like doing this kind of work. This is both a break from ordinary tasks and an opportunity to learn something interesting or useful for yourself (usually I am given the opportunity to transcribe webinars or lessons).

Who can earn this way:

— students and schoolchildren;

- mothers on maternity leave;

- beginner copywriters.

And everyone who can type quickly, is not afraid of routine and loves to work with text.

Who usually needs

Your clients, as I already said, will be those who are short on time and need to quickly create a finished text from audio or video.

As a beginner, you may be attracted to such work by an experienced copywriter who needs to write an article, but does not want to spend time transcribing audio. Then he will ask you to write down word for word what he is talking about. Then he will make an article from your transcript.

Information businessmen often resort to the services of a transcriber. They need lesson notes - their own or their competitors'. Based on someone else’s material, you can create your own... And sometimes students ask for your own material in the form of text, or it is needed as a basis for new courses.

Many online publications, meeting the needs of users, do cool things. If there is video content, they also offer a transcript in text form. Very convenient, for example, for the hearing impaired. The editor of such a site can also look for a transcriber. And on an ongoing basis.

These are just a few examples of who could become your client. In fact, anyone can need the service.

Where to look for tasks

The most burning question: where to look for orders for a novice transcriber? The answer is obvious: on the stock exchanges.

Here such simple tasks are published most often. This is a “beginner” level, and novice freelancers willingly take on it. However, they pay little too.

Here is an example of tasks from the Freelance.Ru exchange:

You can also find such small tasks on Workzilla. You can create an offer on the Kwork exchange - there is a fixed price for the work, 500 rubles.

Be sure to write on your wall on a social network what you do and what you offer your services. You can also contact groups of entrepreneurs and offer your services.

But most likely you will find a text decoding task on the stock exchange.

How much can you earn

First, let’s figure out how to calculate the cost of work and how much you can charge for it?

There are two main ways to calculate payment:

1. Payment for the number of characters of the final text. In general, you listened to the recording and wrote the text. You got 10,000 characters. It is for these signs that the customer pays you. How many? How much do you find acceptable? Prices for kilosigns now range from 20 rubles per thousand to infinity. I charge a little less for such work than for copywriting (and that depends on the topic, quality of the recording and requirements).

As you understand, I work according to this scheme. Why? Because I produce not just a recording, but a ready-made output text, coherent, that can be uploaded to a blog or somewhere else. I often select illustrations. And paying by the minute will not always be correct: for example, I have had occasion to transcribe recordings lasting an hour and a half, where there was just background noise for an hour: for example, students were working on a lecturer’s assignment. That is, by paying for minutes, my client would simply be paying for air.

2. Payment for recording minutes. Here prices start from 5 rubles per minute, everyone also evaluates themselves, who knows what. If the recording is normal, without “gaps”, and you need to write everything down word for word, this is a completely adequate option for calculating the cost.

You can go another way: evaluate your work as a whole. Here I will decipher your recording lasting half an hour for 1000 rubles. When you have already worked a little and know how much time this work takes you, you can adequately assess yourself, your strengths and the expenditure of your time. Therefore, you can already name a fixed price (the main thing is not to miscalculate).

How much can you earn from this? It all depends on your price and how much time you can devote to the work.

Simple math. If you charge 10 rubles per minute, then for a half-hour video you can earn 300 rubles. Half an hour, if you take notes and not write word for word, can be translated into text in an hour and a half to two hours (it all depends on the typing speed, how the announcer speaks, how much “meat” is, etc.). Well, three hours maximum. You can easily make two or three such entries in a day. 600-900 rubles in your pocket.

Several life hacks

I often see questions from newcomers in specialized communities: is there a program so that it can somehow do everything itself... or maybe some other services to make the work easier...

I myself once asked similar questions. And I’ll tell you honestly: the only service that will help you is yourself. It is not for nothing that this work is entrusted to others. If there was an automated service, clients would already be using it.

At first, I tried to “redict” audio into Google Docs via a smartphone. I listened to several proposals, dictated them in my own words, and wrote them down in Google Docs. But then it takes a very long time to edit that gobbledygook; it’s easier to just write it down right away.

There are online services where you can upload videos, and at the bottom of their page there is a text editor. They make life easier by not having to switch between tabs - from YouTube, for example, to Word and back. But I tried to work in them - it seemed uncomfortable to me. An example of such a program is Speechpad.ru, you can see for yourself. Maybe it will suit you.

For myself, I found the best way: turn on the recording on your phone. Using the headset I can pause and unpause. A program for working with text is enabled on the computer. No need to switch tabs. I unpaused - listened - paused - recorded, and so on.

On my phone I can include files from YouTube, Google Drive, sent via instant messengers. And it’s so convenient for me. Try it - maybe it will suit you too.

In general, deciphering texts is a simple job for those who are ok with perseverance and attentiveness. And if you’re just starting out, you don’t have any special skills (except for basic literacy), and you were good at writing dictations at school – you can try it. And learn to type quickly (because this is your income), and you will learn something new for yourself.

And if you already earn money this way, tell us about your experience in the comments.

Who needs it

Transcription is needed by entrepreneurs in various industries.

Business trainers conduct seminars and webinars, then give the recorded videos to a transcriber, who translates everything into text, then he passes the material to the editor, who will subsequently turn it into a book and send it to print.

Internet entrepreneurs use this technique to write unique articles. They find an interesting video, submit it for transcription, and then post it on their website.

YouTube bloggers who use transcription services to add subtitles to their videos have become increasingly common.

Entrepreneurs constantly record telephone conversations with clients, then translate them into text and compose scripts and training materials for new employees from them.

As you can see, the scope of application is wide. There is a whole field of work here, and it is only increasing.

Who is this job suitable for?

If you want to make money from remote work, but don’t know where to start, then transcription is something you can try from the very first days without experience.

To get started you will need:

• free time (from 6 hours)
• high-speed Internet (so that the videos don’t slow down)
• knowledge of Russian language
• patience and perseverance
• Availability of a computer or laptop (tablet and phone will not work)

The skill of fast typing will develop over time. This will speed up the work and increase earnings due to the speed of completing the task.

How much can you earn from this?

Perhaps, for most, this will be the most interesting part of the article on the topic of transcription.

An hour for a professional costs 1,000 rubles. The minimum amount of work is from 20 to 45 minutes. Someone takes 500 rubles. in 20 minutes, and someone in 45 minutes.

It all depends on your reputation and positive reviews on the site where you will look for clients.

Prices on the Kwork exchange: 500 rubles for 50 minutes of transfer

When you have neither reputation nor reviews, you will have to set the price lower in order to somehow get the first orders. For example: for an hour of work, take only 300 or 400 rubles.

The math here is simple. You can calculate everything yourself. But as I said earlier, don't get too excited.

Due to the fact that this profession does not require any unique skills from a person, the competition here is enormous. Having visited just one exchange, I counted more than 1,000 advertisements of people who want to make money from transcription.

It is very difficult for beginners to receive orders, since they do not have any advantages over others.

At training courses on remote work, would-be trainers like to tell you how to make good money and relax by the beach, drinking juice. Don't listen to them, they have one goal, to sell you a dream.

How much can a transcriber earn?

The market average is considered to be 10 rubles per minute, or 600 rubles. in an hour. But a beginner will most likely have to be content with more modest amounts.

There are two more nuances that have to be taken into account:

1. The prices listed are per hour of recording, not per hour of your work. According to the most optimistic estimates, it will take you at least twice as long to transcribe one hour of recording. But in practice, not every experienced transcriber is able to work at such speed. Usually you have to spend three hours on this, or even four or five.
2. You shouldn’t count on a flow of orders that can fill you with work for eight hours a day, especially at first. Only transcribers with extensive experience, an excellent reputation and a pool of regular customers can boast of such a download. It would be more reliable to combine transcription, if it satisfies you in terms of earning money, with other types of activities - especially at first.

How I earned 0 rubles from transcription

I happened to watch one of the courses on remote work and decided to try to get an order for transcription.

For 3 days in a row I sat at the computer and monitored advertisements. I sent my requests to complete the task, but they went to other people. My messages weren't working.

Most likely, customers looked primarily at the rating and the number of reviews. Whoever has the higher these indicators gets the orders.

I do the same when I'm looking for a freelancer. First I look at his profile and work, then I decide whether to give an order or not.

This does not mean that you will not be able to make money from transcription. Be creative and patient. I’m just warning you that there is no such thing as easy money and there cannot be! The more unique your skill, the less competition you will face.

It's like the profession of "loader". No skills are required, the work is hard and poorly paid due to the fact that there will always be enough people willing.

If you want to master a more profitable and creative Internet profession, then turn your attention to the profession of a copywriter.

• Copywriter - who is it and what does he do?

Types of transcription

Transcription of scanned documents . One of the most common tasks is translating scanned documents into text. As a rule, these are manuscripts and texts that are poorly recognized by automatic programs. There is nothing complicated in this type of task, unless of course the handwriting of the manuscript is “medical”. The volume of work in this category is most often large: sometimes there are entire books that need to be digitized. The fear of work goes away after the first task, when it turns out that, in fact, everything is simple. In an hour at an average typing speed you can make 3-4 thousand characters.

Tricks at work:

• If you have a laser printer, it will be more convenient to print the materials before you start processing them. You can hang a sheet of text near the monitor, then you can significantly increase your speed.
• If you have a second monitor (or an old laptop), it will be more convenient to open the source text on one screen and display what you are typing on the second.
• When someone dictates material to you, the writing speed can increase to 10-15 thousand characters per hour (especially if you type quickly). Learn the touch typing method. This will allow you to avoid looking from the text to the keyboard, which means you can type three to four times faster.

Audio transcription. Gradually, audio recognition is taking first place in the number of orders, since the voice recorder is now built into almost any digital equipment: tablets, laptops, players and phones. The amount of work is usually calculated not in thousands of characters, but in the audio recording time (per minute).

The most common type of work is recognizing audio recordings from lectures and seminars. There are also orders for transcription of call recordings and other audio materials. Before accepting an order, ask for a test fragment, by which you will evaluate the noise level and diction, and then adjust the price.

Difficulties arise when the announcer speaks indistinctly, swallowing words, or even missing entire sentences. In this case, you can offer the customer to format the text stylistically and supplement the missing fragments, but this will cost much more.

Tricks at work:

• Many audio listening programs have a function to increase or decrease the playback speed. Adjust the pace of your reading to your typing capabilities and then you won’t have to constantly pause and return to missed points.
• Some freelancers find it more convenient to use a player to listen to audio files. Try it - maybe you will appreciate this method.
• There are simple computer programs that allow you to remove noise from a recording. A few minutes of work can greatly facilitate the recognition process.
• Try to format the text immediately, without putting it off until later, as much can be forgotten.

Video transcription . Video materials are usually of two types.

The first is notes from lectures and seminars. Unlike the audio format, here we can follow gestures and, even in the presence of noise and low-quality recording, understand what they are saying. In addition, the video recording contains additional materials - presentation slides and drawings on the board. They also need to be reflected in the text.

The second case is recordings of online trainings. Typically, they are distinguished by the speaker’s legible speech and an abundance of slides, so it is easier to work with them.

Tricks at work:

• Few people know this, but almost all video players can adjust the playback speed. Just like with audio materials, this will help optimize your work.
• You can play the video on your phone and place it next to your computer screen, so you don't need to be distracted from typing.
• In many cases, working with video is no different than working with audio, so you may as well look only at the keyboard most of the time.

Where to look for orders

If you decide to try your hand at remote work, then you can be called a freelancer. All freelancers first place their profiles on special exchanges.

List of popular freelance exchanges where transcribers can find work:

1. fl.ru
2. freelance.ru
3. kwork.ru
4. work-zilla.com

The first two are the largest exchanges. It's easiest to get an order in thirds and fourths. I recommend registering for everyone.

Take a close look at how the personal profiles of other freelancers are designed. Make your profile more attractive. Employers carefully study them and in 90% of cases decide to work with a freelancer or not.

Post your vacancy on free message boards:

1. avito.ru
2. irr.ru
3. youla.ru

And also add vacancies to sites that help people find jobs:

1. superjob.ru
2. hh.ru

Don’t be lazy and place yourself wherever you can. Then the chances of receiving orders will increase. Many freelancers are very lazy and place their ads only on the largest exchanges, but there are also dozens of small ones where the competition is much lower! Use this advantage to your advantage.

Where can you make money by transcribing?

Digitization tasks are quite rare for copywriting exchanges, so we can safely discard them. Our efforts should not focus on one-time work (although this should not be abandoned), but on finding regular clients who are engaged in the digitization of audio, video and handwritten materials. Making money from transcription is not as difficult as copywriting, so the level of competition here will be slightly higher. We suggest looking for customers in the following places.

• Freelance exchanges . Sometimes you come across offers that allow you to earn more than a thousand rubles in a few hours of work. In addition, having ordered transcription from you once and made sure of your professionalism and speed of work, they will order you again.
• Web masters forums . You can offer your services as a separate topic on the forum, as well as find suitable tasks and respond to them. Forums are valuable because they usually look for contractors for large volumes, and a couple of customers may well provide you with work for a whole month. Value your reputation, deliver on time, and you will receive good recommendations and stable income.

If you have carefully read what transcription is, how to make money will no longer be a question for you. Choose three or four freelance exchanges and the same number of forums on which you will promote your services, then register on them and start working. You shouldn’t expect great results in the first two weeks - spend this time gaining clients, completing each task with the highest quality possible.

Pros and cons of being a transcriber

Any activity has its own nuances and details. This profession is no exception. There are even more minuses than pluses here. Let's take off our rose-colored glasses and let's go!

Minuses:

1. Big competition.
2. It is impossible to become the best in the profession, which means there is no chance to stand out among other freelancers.
3. Low paying job.
4. There is no opportunity for career growth.
5. You will have to spend time checking exchanges in the hope of receiving an order. If you do not respond quickly to the request, the order will go to another specialist.
6. Monotonous and tedious work.
7. It is unlikely to become the main source of income.
8. One hour of transcription takes up to seven hours of work!
9. You will not be the master of your time.

Pros:

1. Ability to work remotely.
2. If you are lucky, you will meet entrepreneurs and receive regular orders from them in the future.

Perhaps these are all advantages. If you know other advantages, please write them in the comments below.

Transcription programs

Transcription takes effort, time and energy. You always want to have a program on hand that will help you translate audio or video into text.

To transcribe text, you will have to turn on the sound, memorize a few words, then pause and type the text. Sometimes you will have to rewind and listen to the same sentence more than once. And between this you still need to switch from tab to tab. As I already said, one hour of translation can last up to seven hours!

There are three programs that will be useful for both beginners and experienced freelancers.

Express Scribe Transcription Software

The program runs on the Mac OS X and Windows operating systems. There is a free and paid version. Free will suit us.

Express Scribe operating interface

What it can do:

• slow down audio playback speed
• supports audio and video file format
• Works with Microsoft Word, which allows you to avoid wasting time switching tabs. Slow down the sound, listen to the audio and immediately type the text. Everything is on one screen

Minuses:

1. program in English
2. additional features only in the paid version

Pros:

1. even if you don’t know English, you can easily understand it
2. easy to use
3. Doesn't take up space on your computer

LossPlay

This transcription player is suitable for beginners, as it is simple and does not require any additional settings. The player is designed to work with Microsoft Word.

LossPlay works with Word

What it can do:

• Supports all popular audio formats
• playback speed adjustment
• setting up hot keys
• works with MS Word

Pros:

1. Russian interface
2. free
3. easy to learn

Minuses:

1. only works on Windows

Voice pad Speechpad

From the name it immediately becomes clear what this service can do.

Notepad allows you to translate audio into text. All you need is a microphone and the Google Chrome browser. Turn on the microphone and start speaking. The program will automatically decipher the text and record it.

To translate a video, paste the link from YouTube and click the “record” button.

Speechpad does online transcription

What it can do:

• translate videos from YouTube using the link
• translate audio

Pros:

1. online service that does not require installation on your computer

Minuses:

1. you need to install additional browser plugins
2. not all text will be recognized

These three programs are enough to make transcription much faster than doing it manually. But remember! That no program will do all the work for you. Programs can hear words in their own way and you will definitely have to double-check them to avoid mistakes.

Voice notepad – official website

TYPES OF FORMATS

Most often you have to decrypt two types of formats:

• Audio files.

• Video files.

We type “audio formats” into the Google search engine and see the following picture.

All audio formats are divided into three groups: uncompressed, lossless compressed and lossy.

On exchanges, orders are most often given in two formats - WAV and MP3. You are unlikely to be able to tell them apart by ear, even if you are a musician.

But not all programs support all formats, so you need to check everything carefully before use.

Video formats are AVI, MP4, MOV, FLV, DVD, MPEG2 and others. Each format has several more extensions.

A little advice: when you select your orders, it is very important that the selected formats are played on household devices, i.e. players, TV, etc., otherwise it may not be uploaded to the program you use, and transcoding one video format to another is very difficult for a beginner.

You are unlikely to be able to do this correctly right away, avoiding mistakes.

But, most often, files uploaded to YouTube are used. There are two options available:

• A link is immediately indicated that you just need to copy and paste into your program.

• First, you need to download an extension that allows you to use popular and most commonly used video formats. For example, SaveFrom.net.

The extension is convenient because you can use two formats at once - video and audio.

Conclusion

It's not the easiest money to earn from transcription. I repeat once again, do not listen to those people who tell you about easy money. They are not here and will not be.

I may have scared you a lot, but I still advise you not to listen to me, but to take it and check everything from your own experience. They won’t take money from you for this, but you will gain experience. If you are more persistent, you will definitely earn your first money!

If you are interested in remote work and earning money via the Internet, then subscribe to my newsletter, where I share my income and expenses for business on the Internet.

Best regards, Sergei.