Written by Gary Logsdon
There are many options you have when creating transcriptions, and in this article we look at the paid manual transcription services. In other articles, we also cover both free services and Paid Automated Transcription
Manual transcription is when you pay an actual human to transcribe your audio. They will listen to it and write down what is said, similar to a court stenographer.
If accuracy is your most critical decision factor, paying for professional transcribers will be your best option. Also, if the quality of your source audio is poor and includes multiple speakers with a noisy background, manual transcription may be your only option. Manual transcription is the most expensive typically coming in around $1.00 a minute or greater.
Rev has a reputation of being one of the better transcription service providers online. In 2018 they were selected as the PC Magazine's Editors' Choice for transcription services. They charge $1.00 per audio minute for transcription and their turnaround time is typically less than 12 hours. they claim a 99% accuracy and from what I've read it appears they step up to this mark.
You simply upload your audio or video file to their website. They will have some of their 20,000+ professionals go to work creating the transcription. They then deliver your transcript in an editable document, which you can view and edit using their tools.
If you need the accuracy that manual transcription provides, I would recommend Rev. However, there are some other online manual providers including: GoTranscript and TranscribeMe.
Other sources of manual transcription services are freelancer sites such as: Fiverr and Upwork. Of course the challenge here is finding a freelancer that provides the accuracy and pricing that you desire.
As a food blogger, there may be rare instances in which you may need to use a paid manual transcription service. This would typically occur if you want the transcription to be done very accurately or your source audio includes challenges, such as multiple speakers, accents, crosstalk, and background noise or music. We feel most of the time, paid automated transcription services are best for food bloggers.
How do you approach this? Let me know in the Makin Bacon Facebook Group or the comments below.
