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What I’ve been up to in October

02 Nov

October is traditionally a quieter month after the student Master’s dissertation rush of August and September, and I have certainly seen a slight drop-off in workflow, although it’s still kept ticking along. I’ve …

Edited some PhD theses – some ongoing, some in their entirety; some large documents and a PowerPoint presentation for one ongoing client (discovering that, even if you can’t Track Changes, you can stick sticky notes all over the slides); quite a few blog posts for a new ongoing client who is not a native English speaker (picking up a lovely reference along the way); and all sorts of business and academic writing for my translator client.

Edited and proofread my usual American magazine’s quarterly publication and the MoseleyB13 local magazine.

Edited two articles for publication, ensuring they conformed to the journal’s style guide.

Set up a coaching relationship with one PhD student, where we talk via email every week about the new work he’s completed in an effort to get his thesis written up this year.

Transcribed interviews for my journalist client, who’s got some cover stories in women’s magazines as well as the usual music magazine pieces, and a new client who presents teleseminars and interviews on writing and marketing your work (learning a lot as I go along!).

And I also …

Ran my fourth Birmingham Half Marathon, with a personal best time!

Wrote some blog posts on starting your own business, including starting a proofreading business, pre-launched my new Libro Newsletter by telling people about it and inviting them to sign up, and placed some more guest posts.

Attended a Social Media Cafe, where I talked through a business problem with my peers – very useful.  I attended the Kings Heath Business Association AGM and will hopefully be helping out on their committee in the New Year, and I went along to the Entrepreneur meetup and met some more lovely, enthusiastic people with great business ideas.

Phew! I’ve also received the 22nd questionnaire response for my Iris Murdoch research project, and this month/December I will be applying to present a paper on it at the next Iris Murdoch Conference and writing up some results!

Coming up …

The Big Decision is coming up now: when to take Libro full-time. Working part-time while running the business is getting tiring, and where I haven’t had to turn any work away, I have had to turn down a few opportunities for networking and other events which could potentially drive some new business my way. I also want to be able to be more flexible for my clients as to when I can do their work, and have time for my partner and my friends! So … it’s decision time this month!

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proofreading, transcription, typing and localisation services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations. Click on the links to find out more!

 
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Posted by on November 2, 2011 in Business, Celebration, Copyediting, Jobs, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

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What can Libro do for you?

20 Oct
What can Libro do for you?

Here’s a handy list of everything that Libro can do for you, to make your life that bit easier and make your words work better …

Libro is all about making your words work, whether the words themselves need tweaking (editing what you’ve written, proofreading and polishing before publication), or writing (from your notes or a chat with you), or changing in terms of location (localisation from US to UK English or vice versa), or changing in terms of medium (turning handwritten notes or a taped interview into a typed document).

Follow the links for more information, but here’s a summary:

Editing  – making sure your words, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and even your plots and non-fiction books don’t contain gaping holes.  Checking marketing content (leaflets, websites … ), blog posts, letters, reports …

Proofreading – checking that what you’re about to publish in print or online looks right and works as the document you expect it to be – checking page numbering, headers and footers, website links, etc.

(and for the difference between editing and proofreading, see here)

Copy writing – writing text for your book, downloadable e-book or leaflet, brochure, website, letter, press release, advertorial, advertisement, etc. from your notes or a conversation with you.  I can add in SEO keywords to build your presence in the search engines with text that potential clients will want to read, too.  I work with web designers, too – writing content for the websites they design.

Localisation – adjusting your copy to match UK or US English standards – not just the spellings but sentence structures, word usage, etc.

Transcription – saving you hours of time typing up dictations, interviews, meetings; why not produce a transcript of your webinar or training session to offer to your clients as an added extra?

Copy typing – bundles of notes and no inclination to type them up? Scan them in, send them to me and I’ll produce a nice, tidy, grammatically correct and properly spelled document.

I also offer all of these services as an add-on for virtual assistants, meaning they can offer a wider service without having to have all the skills themselves.

Contact me via email or via my contact form.

 
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Posted by on October 20, 2011 in Copyediting, proofreading, Skillset, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

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What I’ve been up to in September

05 Oct

September is another traditionally busy month for Libro, although again, like in August, I’ve had a good range of non-seasonal work as well as the expected deluge of Master’s dissertations. So, what has this proofreader, editor, writer, typist, transcriber and localiser been up to in the past month … ?

Copyedited at least 21 Master’s dissertations and three whole or part PhD theses (including one which was dictated into Dragon software, giving some interesting new issues to look out for!).

Copyedited several texts that have been translated into English from another language by native speakers of the other language, to make sure they flow well and conform to either British or American English standards.

Transcribed tapes for my long-term journalist client (an interview with a writer), and some new clients including a Chinese company who has outsourced transcription of tapes by American career coaches to me, and a company involved with helping writers market themselves.

Edited and written text for websites for a cleaning company and a faith-based charity.

Edited various company policies and tender applications for another long-term client.

Written some articles on retail display shelving for a fairly new regular client who has kindly been Tweeting my praises on Twitter.

Localised online content for the UK market for a football game, an exercise company and a big corporation that I can’t name because I was working for an agency on that one.

Edited and proofread the usual Yacht Club publications.

In non-paid work news, I’ve also …

Written a website (a very simple one in WordPress) for a locally based charitable organisation.

And I also

Attended a Social Media Cafe, where I was told I was an “oracle” who kept connecting people with one another! and went to my first Kings Heath Business Association breakfast.

Phew! I’ve also received the 21st questionnaire response for my Iris Murdoch research project, and I should be back on track applying to present a paper on it at the next Iris Murdoch Conference and writing up some results soon!

Coming up …

More of the same, really … well, fewer dissertations, but I’ve got some PhDs booked in to finish off and then it’s ongoing work with my regulars and hopefully picking up some more bits and pieces. And, of course, planning when and how to take Libro full-time!

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proofreading, transcription, typing and localisation services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations. Click on the links to find out more!

 
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Posted by on October 5, 2011 in Business, Celebration, Copyediting, Jobs, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

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What I’ve been up to in August

07 Sep

August is one of Libro’s traditionally busy months, along with September, mainly owing to the looming deadlines for student undergraduate and Master’s dissertations.  But this past month, I have been busy with much more than dissertations, although those have been active too.

Deep breath! Ready … in August I have …

Copyedited 28 dissertations / theses or parts thereof (sometimes people send me them chapter by chapter, with gaps of time in between while they write the next bit).

Copyedited some documents translated into English to make sure the (British or American) English was fluent-sounding and appropriate (another long-term client who’s been concentrating on a project translated out of English over the summer – it’s good to have him back!)

Proofread a few tender applications and company policies for a regular client.

Typed up 2 inverview transcriptions for my ongoing journalist client and one set of interviews for a student’s dissertation.

Polished a freelance training expert’s web text and copyedited several blog posts for her too.  Worked on web text for a retail shelving company.

Written 2 advertorials for my retail shelving company client to be published in September in a trade magazine.  Also written 5 features on local businesses in the Black Country for a local website.

Written up Terms and Conditions for a web designer based on previous Ts & Cs for his other services (to be checked by a lawyer, of course!)

Recorded myself reading a list of English names for a website where you input a name and hear someone from their country saying the name (!).

Localised webtext for a large software company and a dealer brochure for a cult automotive company, both working from American to British English.

In non-paid work news, I’ve also …

Helped  my mentee with his webtext, social media presence and hopefully found him a mentor in his particular line of business and written some explanatory text for a student starting up a new business, that can be used for webtext or a press release.

Helped at a Social Media Cafe and attended Birmingham Entrepreneurs’ Meetup and Social Media Cafe networking events; also attempted co-working at a cafe with no wifi (more on that later when I’ve written up the review!).

Had two guest posts published on other people’s blogs – this is something I love doing (so do ask if you’d like me to write something for your blog!) and hosting (so do ask if you’d like to contribute to this blog!) and published 4 freelancer/businessperson Saturday interview features.

Phew! I’ve also received the 20th questionnaire response for my Iris Murdoch research project, although I’ve given myself study leave for August-September so I can concentrate on Libro busy times rather than trying to write up research at the same time!

Coming up … more of the same really – I’ve already written some marketing materials, worked on some dissertations, started another transcription and localised a newsletter!

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proofreading, transcription, typing and localisation services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations. Click on the links to find out more!

 
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Posted by on September 7, 2011 in Business, Celebration, Copyediting, Jobs, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

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What I’ve been up to in July

03 Aug

It’s the beginning of a new month – and Libro was 2 years old on Monday, so Happy Birthday Libro, first of all!  I’m doing better than I could have imagined when I set it all up in August 2009; well, we all know I love my job by now … and I’m building up a good base of regular clients but still with the time to do one-off projects as well.  The variety in my Libro life has increased dramatically; originally I was just offering proofreading and copyediting but now I do writing, transcribing and even good old copy typing for all sorts of people, from academics to journalists, working on websites to novels to advertising materials to … well, anything to do with words!

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been up to in July …

Well, first of all, I went on holiday! Just a quick week in the Lake District, staying here, which is a hotel I can heartily recommend, especially for those on special diets.  I had a bit of a break from Libro work; I did have a few bits of work in but I took a laptop and managed to get them out of the way in the early mornings (and I didn’t mind being interrupted slightly).  Apart from that it was all very relaxing, but a lot of walking meant I got enough exercise not to get twitchy, and I even took Matthew out in a rowing boat on Lake Windermere!

The rest of the month was nice and busy …

I transcribed two interviews for journalist Jude Rogers (and she kindly tweeted about my services to her followers – social media exposure really helps my business – which I think I’ll blog about soon!)

I carried on coaching my Taiwanese client through the final stages of her Master’s dissertation – not long to go now and I’ll miss working with her.

I did various bits and pieces for my lovely physiotherapist client, Kate, including a final proof-read of her new brochures and e-book and a section on her new colleague for her website.

My American PR company client sent me various projects, including the usual bi-monthly magazine and an advertising leaflet to copyedit and proof.

A previous client came back to me with another medical journal article to work on, with more to come …

And I wrote pieces on local businesses and a downloadable brochure about retail shelving for two clients who came to me through recommendations.

I’ve also been busy networking, attending the Birmingham Entrepreneurs meetup and the Social Media Cafe this month.  I’ve met lots of interesting people through these two regular meetings, and while networking often doesn’t generate direct sales or offers of work (although sometimes it does!), it’s worth remembering that everyone on whom you make an impression is likely to remember you and perhaps recommend you when they hear of someone who needs what you provide. I’ve also ended up with an unofficial mentee; I’ve been helping one of the entrepreneurs with his website, advertising materials and marketing strategies, which is a nice way of giving something back.

As we go into August, the dissertations and theses are starting to build up already (get your booking in now if you’re a student with a dissertation due in August, September or October!) and will join my regular clients’ projects in what are traditionally my busiest months of the year.  I’ve got some time booked off my part-time job towards the end of the month to make sure I’ve got the time to devote to Libro.

I’m concentrating on building up a set of troublesome pair and business-related blog posts so I can just publish as I go through my busy weeks, and there are still opportunities to take part in my Freelancer Chat interviews, which are proving popular with my interviewees and readers alike.

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proof-reading, transcription and typing services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations. Click on the links to find out more!

 
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Posted by on August 3, 2011 in Business, Celebration, Copyediting, Jobs, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

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On Why I Love What I Do

27 Jul

I wrote this during graduation week at the University where I still worked part time at the time, and that’s a time of year I have always loved.  The expectation, the joy of the families, the relief that the hard work is over.  And during the past couple of years there’s been the added pleasure of knowing that some of the people whose dissertations and theses I’ve proof-read are among those happy bands of people throwing their hats into the air on the library steps at my University and at various campuses around the country.

It’s not just the students, either.  OK, I also had a lovely email from a client whose English I’ve been helping throughout her Master’s year.  She’s nearly finished her dissertation, it isn’t half bad, her written English has improved hugely as she’s worked hard through the year, and I’m proud of what she’s achieved – and she appreciates the care I’ve put into my work with her.

But I’m also proud of the novelists who get their precious words in print, whether in a “tree book” or electronically.  I enjoy working with people who struggle with their writing, whether English isn’t their first language or they face issues like dyslexia, and bringing their words and meaning to life with them.  And I’m always excited to see my name on an acknowledgements page in a book!  I get a real thrill from opening a favourite magazine and seeing a journalist’s article which they’ve created from the bare bones of an interview I’ve transcribed for them – but I’m also pleased when I help someone with a transcription that is never going to see the light of day anywhere but in a research paper.

I get pleasure from seeing my corporate clients grow their businesses with the help of blogs and press releases I have written.  They are so proud of the work they do, and I love the fact that I can fill in some of the areas in which they might not be so confident.  I don’t think I’ll stop being pleased when I see the words I’ve written filling someone else’s website, helping them climb up the search engine rankings and representing their voice as well as I can – even though there won’t be a credit to me on the website and sometimes I don’t even tell anyone I’ve written it!

I also love helping other entrepreneurs and organisations, both formally through helping out at the Social Media Surgeries and more informally at Entrepreneurs’ meetings in coffee shops and the Social Media Cafe every month.  It’s great meeting other people with such enthusiasm and drive, and wonderful to share ideas, tips and hints, in a spirit of collaboration rather than competition.  As part of that, I’m really enjoying putting together the interviews I’ve been posting on Saturdays for the past few weeks.

I became a librarian because I wanted to help people and benefit society in some way.  As I transition away from my library career and more and more into Libro’s world, I am happy to say that I feel I’m helping people and benefiting them and, yes, society, perhaps more than in my library work.  Libro turns two in August, and I will continue to work in a way that I feel is both comfortable (most of the time – a few challenges along the way make it more fun!) and ethical, and, well … I love doing what I do!

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proof-reading, transcription and typing services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations.  Click on the links to find out more!

 
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Posted by on July 27, 2011 in Celebration, Copyediting, New skills, proofreading, Students, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

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Outsourcing for fun and profit (2)

20 Jul

Welcome to the second in my two-part series about outsourcing.  In Part One we learned about the different tasks you could consider outsourcing to an outside company or individual.  Now we’re going to look at how to work out if it’s worth outsourcing.

There are three reasons why you might choose to outsource a task:

  • You’re so busy, you don’t have time to perform the task effectively, or at all
  • The task is not one of your specialities (OK: you’re not very good at it)
  • It’s more costly in terms of time and income to do the job yourself than to pay someone else to do it

Let’s look at these in turn.

You’re too busy to do the task yourself

Your company’s doing so well that you’re flooded with orders and work, you’re making those widgets till they’re coming out of your ears … but your filing system’s a mess.  Call someone in to sort out what you don’t have time to do.  You’ll profit in terms of having good systems that can be run easily, and not wasting time sorting through a mess to find a vital piece of paperwork.  Or you’re a journalist with too many deadlines and you haven’t got time to transcribe all your tapes – send them off to someone else!

You’re not very good at the task

Maybe you’re great at making widgets but you clam up on the phone when you’re making sales calls to get more clients.  Or you create beautiful websites but panic when a client asks you to write or check content for them.  Or you work with your hands, add up invoices in your head, but need to create some leaflets and are not sure of your spelling.  This is when calling in an expert in their field will help you concentrate on building your expertise – and income – in your own field, and make sure you’re representing yourself as well as you can.

It would actually cost MORE to do it yourself

Remember that method of justifying buying an expensive coat by breaking it down into cost per wear (price of coat divided by number of times you’ll wear it.  Now it costs 50p – hooray!)?  Well this works a bit like that.  Say I have a very simple tax return to do and it only takes half an hour.  Say I charge my clients £20 per hour.  Doing my tax return will cost me £10 in terms of lost potential revenue for that half hour (and I know it’s so simple that an accountant wouldn’t be able to get my tax any lower).  I doubt I’ll be able to get an accountant to do this for £10.  So it’s not worth me outsourcing it.  But if I had a big complicated business, with VAT and all sorts of deductions, and it took me 10 hours to battle through it, then that £200 in lost potential revenue (plus any tax savings I’m missing by not being an expert) could probably pay for an accountant to do it properly.  Similarly, if it’s going to take you 10 hours to type up a 1 hour interview tape that I could do for you for £45, it’s worth outsourcing to me and saving time and money.

In summary: if it’s more expensive to do it yourself, or you don’t have the time or skills to do it, consider outsourcing!

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proof-reading, transcription and typing services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations. Click on the links to find out more!

 
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Posted by on July 20, 2011 in Business, Copyediting, Organisation, proofreading, Transcription, Writing

 

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Outsourcing for fun and profit

19 Jul

Today I’m going to talk about outsourcing.  Did you know that you can save your own time and money by outsourcing some of the everyday tasks of your business or even your work life if you’re employed by somebody else?  Maybe it’s not something you’ve thought about before, so I’m going to run through some ideas.  I’ll also tell you in another post how to tell if it’s worth outsourcing something or not.

Tasks you can outsource

The main point of outsourcing is to get someone else to do tasks which you’re either not so good at, or which actually cost more for you to do yourself than paying someone else to do them.  We’ll look at how to decide on the cost factors next time, but for now let’s look at the tasks you can outsource …

  • Accounting and bookkeeping – this is a classic.  If you have a very simple business model, like I do – no car, no additional premises, not VAT registered, sole trader, only one person working for the business – then you can get away with doing your own accounts.  But if you’ve got anything more complicated going on, it’s well worth using a bookkeeper or fully-fledged accountant to keep things under control.  A bookkeeper will be able to keep track of your profits and spending, record your receipts, etc., and an accountant can advise you on how best to minimise your tax burden.  Some companies will even set up your business for you in the first place!
  • Human resources and staffing – it can be worth using a recruitment firm to handle selecting and taking on new staff for you.  And then they can advise on any HR issues – sick pay, maternity pay, dismissals, grievances … and there are companies who will handle your payroll for you, too.
  • Sales and marketing – maybe you’re great at what you do, but you’re not so good at those sales calls and marketing techniques.  Calling in a specialist telemarketing, sales or PR and marketing expert can be well worth the money you spend on them in terms of the return you get from all those extra customers they bring in for you.
  • Telephone answering – there are many companies out there who will provide different levels of phone answering for you, from offering voice mailboxes to answering the phone as if they are working for your company themselves.  This means you can advertise a landline number and have it diverted to your mobile, or have someone answer it when you’re busy, or when you want to switch off for the evening.
  • Secretarial services – Virtual Administrators and Secretaries can provide remote or in-office solutions for you.  If you need an admin assistant but don’t need one full-time and are worried about the costs of employing people, use a VA to either come in and sort out your office systems or provide support for you offsite.
  • Transcription, copy typing, etc. – If you’re not a trained secretary or a fast touch-typist, it’s often well worth your while to use someone outside your business to do your typing.  I can get through a transcription in three times the length of a tape (i.e. it’ll take me 3 hours to type up 1 hour of transcription).  That might seem a long time – but I type fast and use special software.  Try typing a few minutes of tape and see how long it takes you … then outsource away!  I recently did some transcription work for an academic studying how students reacted to their courses, so this definitely works for the employed as well as the self-employed.  It’s the same with copy typing – paying someone else to type up those scribbled conference notes or handwritten novel will usually get it done far more quickly than you could do yourself.
  • Additional services you’d like to offer through your business – speaking from experience, I offer copy writing and proof-reading via web designers who are expert at designing websites but would prefer to concentrate on design and functionality and outsource providing or checking the content to me, and all of my services via VAs who use me to mop up overflow work and additional services they don’t offer personally.  In both these cases, the outsourcer can concentrate on doing what they do best, while offering a fuller service to their own clients.

Points to remember

A couple of points to remember here:

  • Choosing a partner – word of mouth can be vital here.  Ask other small businesses what they do and who they use.  Have a look at the company’s references – I make sure I maintain a page of up to date references from users of all parts of my service, and whoever you look at using should have something similar to show you.  Make sure they’re up to date and, if possible, have some details like names and information on the work undertaken (I keep most of my clients’ surnames off my references page but can provide some more detailed testimonials if required).
  • Confidentiality – a reputable company will always keep your business confidential anyway.  I never mind signing a confidentiality agreement if that’s what makes my client feel more secure – and it’s a question worth asking when you’re selecting someone to outsource to.
  • Contracts – always make sure you have a signed terms and conditions document so you both know what to expect from one another.  I have a standard one I use with web designers, for example, and another standard one for people who are part of a particular franchise I work with a lot.  Just makes everything plain and simple for all to see.
  • Extending the service you’re getting – if the person you’re outsourcing to doesn’t seem to offer a service you’re interested in, just ask.  They’re likely to know someone they can recommend, or they might outsource it themselves! I work with some VAs offering additional services like writing and typing – so it’s worth asking your trusted company before going off and searching again.

In Part 2, we’ll look at how to work out if it’s financially worth outsourcing …

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proof-reading, transcription and typing services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations.  Click on the links to find out more!

 
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Posted by on July 19, 2011 in Business, Copyediting, Jobs, Organisation, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

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What I’ve been up to in June

06 Jul

Before I tell you what Libro has been up to in June, I wanted to mention the results (so far!) of my user survey.  Last month, I posted a survey in order to get some feedback on how my blog was going, what people thought of the content, how often I posted, how often I told people about what I’d posted, etc.  The poll is still running, but I’ve gathered together some interim results, and am making some changes as a result.

14 people have been kind enough to respond to the survey so far. I know this doesn’t lend itself kindly to statistically significant results, but I have drawn out some trends. As regards the content of my blog posts, reactions were varied, with the guest posts and these “what I’ve been up to” posts attracting the most extreme likes and dislikes. But … these weighed each other out. For every person who didn’t like so much detail about what I’ve been doing, there was someone who wanted more of that! So the content of my blog posts is going to stay pretty much the same.  After all, when I promote a post, you get an idea of what it’s about, and can choose whether to click to read further.

Although the majority thought I was doing it just right, slightly more people thought I advertised my blog posts too much than too little.  Most of those people were people who accessed the posts through Facebook.  So I’ve cut down on the number of times I promote my posts on Facebook (and I now post about them more often to the people who’ve “liked” my Libro page, on the grounds that they have actually signed up to know stuff about Libro, than to my friends list), with maybe slightly more on Twitter, as people do miss great chunks of Tweets through the day.

Quite a few people thought I posted articles a bit too much during a typical week.  I did get a bit over-enthusiastic for a while, especially with similar, marketing-type posts.  And I know I posted two articles yesterday, plus this one today – but those two were on very different, and not very Libro-centric, topics.  So I have listened, and I have cut down and varied things a bit.  Each week, you should see one or two “troublesome pairs”, a main post on a Wednesday about a topic that’s important to Libro, over the next few weeks, something for the students instead of a troublesome pair on a Friday, and a freelancer interview on a Saturday.  With the odd extra cafe review or Iris Murdoch update.

There’s still time to fill in the survey, so please feel free to do so if you haven’t already. And I really appreciate those of you who took a moment to fill in the survey and add your comments!

What I’ve been up to in June

Trying to get this a bit closer to the end of the month than I managed for May …

I’ve had a good, busy and varied month. I worked on some tender documents for a company that provides these for other companies trying to get contracts with local authorities etc. (although I just do the proofreading at the end, this ties in with the contract writing work I used to do in London – everything comes in handy one day!); continued working for my lovely regular customers; helped someone write an introduction to a book; copyedited parts of two PhD theses and a couple of dissertations; worked on an e-book on marketing; transcribed some tutor-student interviews; proofread a Kindle version of a book; did a substantive copyedit on a novel.

If you want to know what any of these tasks involve, the blog posts in the what do I do category should help.

In other projects, I sorted out my libroediting domain names so my web address is now http://www.libroediting.com and my email address liz@libroediting.com; gained a logo in a skills swap with a graphic designer (I wrote her some marketing letters) and sorted out a dedicated mobile phone for Libro. I also helped out at another Social Media Surgery and attended a great Social Media Cafe at the end of the month, where I met some lovely new people and introduced some old and new friends to one another.  I’ve also started publishing a series of interviews with fellow freelancers; I plan to revisit them all in a year’s time to see how they’re getting on.

And I collected some lovely quotes for my references page!

 
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Posted by on July 6, 2011 in Business, Copyediting, Jobs, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

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What is transcription? What does a transcriber do?

22 Jun

One of the jobs I really enjoy – and which can really free up your time if you outsource it – is transcription.

Basically, transcription involves listening to a recording of something and typing the contents up into a document, which is then returned to the client, giving them a written record of what’s on the recording. Typically, this will be an interview – which might be something a journalist has undertaken with someone they’re writing about, or part of a study, where a researcher has interviewed subjects and needs to record their responses.  It can take absolutely ages to type out a recording like this – much longer than you think it will, particularly if you don’t type very fast!

When I learnt to audio-type, it was all done with tapes and a special pedal you pressed to play and rewind the recording.  These days, although you can still get the pedals, it can all be done with MP3s, some special software (I use some provided free by NCH) and the function keys on the keyboard take the place of the pedals.  You can even speed up or slow down the playback.

The time it takes to transcribe a recording depends on several factors:
– the speed at which the people are talking
– the number of people talking
– the clarity of the recording (background noise, phone interview … )
– the clarity of the speaking voices (accents, speaking English as a second language, mumbling … )

If you’ve got lots of interviews to transcribe or need to have a dictation, a lecture, a radio programme or a presentation turned into text, it’s worth contacting a professional transcriber like me to do it for you.

Pricing for transcription is here.

Related posts on the Libro blog: Learn why humans are better at transcription than machines, find out how to develop a career in transcription, and learn about the tools of the trade.

Want to learn more? Read my book: A Quick Guide to Transcription as a Career – buy from Amazon UK or visit the book’s web page for worldwide links and news.

 
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Posted by on June 22, 2011 in Skillset, Transcription, What Do I Do?

 

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