Discussions

Am wondering what the going rate is for keying an academic report/ essay for college/ university. How much to charge per page unedited and to charge to edit?

Are you typing this from someone who has recorded their thoughts to audio or typing from an already handwritten document?  
I would say around $2 per page if it's from an audio file plus another 50 cents per page for editing.  
If it is from a handwritten copy, maybe only a dollar per page and 50 cents extra per page for editing as this is obviously a lot faster.  
If you are just writing the essay/report completely from scratch, I'd be charging more like $3 per page plus then the 50 cents per page for editing.

There are people that will type out a 20 page handwritten essay for $20??? I would be embarrassed to even expect someone to do that for such little money.  
 
Back in the day we used to type and edit our own papers for University. I didn't realize people hired people to do their work and for peanuts! I would find someone that did that type of work and ask what they charge, if it seems reasonable to you then go for it!

$20 to type an essay from a handwritten copy would maybe take all of an hour. To edit, at most another hour. That would be $30 bucks for 2 hours worth of pretty easy work. I’d say that’s pretty good money.

A standard page single spaced contains about 500 words - double-spaced about half that. A person who can key 50 wpm when working from printed copy will take 10 minutes to type 1 single spaced page, 5 for a double-spaced page. If the paper contains footnotes, endnotes, needs to conform to academic standards (such as MLA) and needs to be proofed these times can double. A reasonable expectation is about 3-4 pages per hour single spaced, 7-8 double spaced. Determine what you feel is a reasonable hourly wage and divide it by these numbers to come up with a cost per page.

A standard page single spaced contains about 500 words - double-spaced about half that. A person who can key 50 wpm when working from printed copy will take 10 minutes to type 1 single spaced page, 5 for a double-spaced page. If the paper contains footnotes, endnotes, needs to conform to academic standards (such as MLA) and needs to be proofed these times can double. A reasonable expectation is about 3-4 pages per hour single spaced, 7-8 double spaced. Determine what you feel is a reasonable hourly wage and divide it by these numbers to come up with a cost per page.

$2 to $3 a page more if audio.  
 
Editing should be another $2 per page.  
 
Or go the word count of 5 cents a word.  
 
Never ever go by hour as you run into problems of undercharging for your work.  
 
If the handwriting is terrible I would charge more.  
 
If by page base on standard essay requirements for post secondary school as if someone wants smaller font or less line spacing.  
 
I think per word is the best way to get a more fair way for you and client.  
 
You are providing a professional service.

If you were a legal or medical transcriber, you'd be getting in the range of $1.55 to $3.50 per page, and generally only around 45 to 75 cents per page for editing. This is all dependant on turn around time as well. The shorter the turn around time, the higher the pay. This is all done from audio files, so it does take quite a bit more work than just typing directly off of a written paper copy.  
I would not be paying someone $2 per page for editing. That's quite high.

I had never thought about the price to have reports transcibed and typed by someone else.  
 
seems to me though that 50 words a minute is higher than average, is it not closer to 40 ??  
 
also pricing per page seems an odd way of pricing, other than the paper cost which is minimal. What does it matter if it is single or double or triple spaced. Has nothing to do with line spacing or font size for the length of time it takes to do it. Computer does not care once it is set up.  
 
I would agree with one poster as to total word count  
 
to be charged different for single, double or triple spacing is not right.  
 
but formatting, indents, headers, footers for sure. and depends on who is receieving it I quess as well. High school teacher, University prof, scientific paper ??  
 
to me and I am don't type fast at all, how legible the hand writing is and the size of print would make a huge differance. maybe also whether they printed or used cursive style.

I am a medical trans:criptionist who works from home and I charge .10 a line (based on a 65-character line, which Word calculates for you) for audio and written documents. If you are just editing, half that cost. Of course, the first document will be a bit more expensive because of the time used for set-up, but future documents should then be just keying. I think the average speed for someone who keys for a living is about 60 wpm. I hope this helps.