A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

How does general transcription compare to medical? - Wondering

Posted: Apr 16, 2014

For those who have done general transcription how does it compare to medical? Is it easier? What about the pay? Any other info wold be great too!

i personally think it is boring -- general - mtr

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

General Transcription - LinK

[ In Reply To ..]
I have a love/hate relationship with general transcription. If the subject that I'm typing about is interesting then I really like it. It's a great change of pace from doing medical. If it's a boring subject that I have no interest in, then I don't like it much. One on one interviews are my favorite, but if you have to track the speakers for a big focus group or the audio is bad then it's sheer torture. The pay also varies by company. It recently took me 12 hours to type something that normally would have taken 4 hours. I basically made less than $3 an hour.

I agree completely! Also.... sm - MTMT

[ In Reply To ..]
If you've been doing MT for a number of years you've probably got a lot of shortcuts in place. With general transcription, since the subject matter can change from one job to the next, it's hard to set up a good shortcut dictionary, so you end up pretty much typing every word.

I was lucky. I typed for a journalist who mostly did one-on-one interviews. But when there was a group it was harder, trying to keep track of who is talking, and the people further away from the mike were hard to hear. But she paid me well and actually returned an invoice to me one time and told me I wasn't charging enough. She actually told me to rebill her at a higher rate!

But that was a rare find (got the job thru a friend) as most of those types of jobs go through a service and they take their cut. If you can find a general transcription job that doesn't have a middleman, it could be rather interesting, but it most likely won't be full time. But it is a nice change of pace once in a while to get a break from medical.

General Transcription audio rate - wondering

[ In Reply To ..]
What's the current going rate per audio minute? I've only done medical transcription and charged per line.

I charged per line - MTMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I was getting 20 cents per line (remember, I had no middleman taking a cut). I don't know about audio minutes, but I wouldn't take less than $1.00 per audio minute if working through a service. When accepting a job paying per audio minute, keep in mind how long it will take you to transcribe it. For example, $1.00 per audio minute is $60 per audio hour. It could take you 3 to 4 hours to transcribe that, and longer if it is poor quality or multiple speakers. So, best case scenario is you would make $20 per hour, and that rate goes down the longer it takes you to transcribe the work. If a service offers you 60 cents per audio minute (I think that's what some of them are paying), that's $36 per audio hour, transcribed in 3 hours would get you $12.00 an hour. Personally, I think my time is worth way more than $12.00 per hour, especially when you start to factor in that I'm using my equipment, my office space, and I'm paying more taxes as an IC.

So, lots for you to consider when deciding what rate you would be comfortable with. I hope you find a great gig that you really like. Good luck!

Similar Messages:

Sep 13, 2010

I am curious of the views of those of you who do or have done general transcription and medical transcription. How do they compare? Can you make more money with one or the other? Where do you search for general transcription jobs online? Thanks in advance ...

Jun 30, 2011

Recently contacted by a local church pastor to transcribe some sermons for him to make into a booklet form. (Maybe 3 to 4 hours worth of work or about 160 minutes). I have never done or charged for general transcription like that and certainly don't want to over charge a church, yet do not want to do it for free either. They asked me would I want to be paid the same way the hospital pays me? What are your suggestions? Thanks in advance. Forgive me if I pu ...

Feb 14, 2011

I was contacted today with a potential offer to transcribe general work as an IC. I have yet to find out out if they pay by the hour or line, their definition of a line, etc. This is a new concept for me as I've always been a hospital employee. While surfing posts on this board I learned that I have the power to define my pay and hours, but I would appreciate it if someone could shed more light on transcribing in that aspect. I would mainly l ...

Jul 11, 2011

Was it an easy transition to make? ...

Jul 18, 2012

Anyone been doing general transcription for a while? How long should 30 minutes of audio (interviewer and Interviewee) with time stamps take? I am getting $22.50 for 30 minutes of audio, but it is taking me hours, upon hours to do and then I have to re-listing and edit it. Not sure if this job is worth it. Need some feedback. Thanks ...

Jan 09, 2015

I gave up on MT as a career and am working in a different industry. I've always loved transcribing and writing and I really miss it. I googled "transcription jobs online" and was surprised at the number of sites that came up. Some were non-medical, some were both. I haven't explored them in depth yet. Just wondering if anyone has gone this route and had any success? Any good or bad names to share? Feel free to PM me if they can't be mentio ...

Feb 21, 2015

A few here have mentioned doing some general transcription gigs. Can you share any names of online companies? I've read some favorable reviews on Tigerfish. Anyone worked for them? I looked into Elance once but wasn't impressed. I believe they merged with Odesk? ...

Jun 03, 2015

Just took a general transcription test. Took me forever... Does anyone know what a good rate of reimbursement is per minute for those? I know $1 a minute was what MTs used to get. ...

Nov 18, 2009

Is it the same 10 cents per line as medical? I am out of work right now with over 2 years of experience. I have been checking out freelance websites, and the pay seems pretty low. It is sometimes described as dollar amount per audio hour or as an hourly rate. They list the hourly rate as about $5 an hour or less. Is it because the work would be easy? Should I bid for a job and offer 10 cents a line? I need some work so badly I just don't know what ...

Aug 24, 2010

What would a good rate of pay be to do general transcription? This is not medical transcription, but general audio like a phone conversation or meeting. ...

Jul 16, 2012

Hi all, I have been offered a general transcription job today and they will be calling me with a pay rate. I have no idea what is fair pay for this kind of work, as I have always worked in medical transcription. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks ...

Feb 06, 2014

I realize this is a Medical transcriptionist site, but I know someone interested in getting into general and/or legal transcription. She does have law office experience, however, transcribing on a daily basis, like we MTs do, is different than what is done in an office setting. Does anyone know where she could get online training for general and/or legal transcription? Thanks. ...

Feb 08, 2014

Did anyone happen to get the e-mail address of an ad that appeared on the job seeker's board for general, medical and legal transcription for a person by the name of Nancy Dash? It has disappeared today, and I just wondered if anyone might still have the e-mail address. Thanks. ...

Feb 05, 2015

xx ...

Aug 17, 2012

If you do general transcription, can you recommend a good (free or low cost) transcription program for audio files? I tried InqScribe and it works okay, but I don't like that they make you use their built-in word processing program that doesn't have any text expanders. I use Express Scribe. Do they have a way to transcribe videos? (I think it has something called Prism video, but I never figured out how to use it). Thanks. ...

Jan 20, 2015

Has anybody left medical transcription at home to become a medical scribe? I have an opportunity to do so but there aren't any scribes currently in my area and I don't know anyone who has worked as a scribe before. The scribe position starting pay is almost double what I make as an MT per hour so it is very tempting, I just don't know much about it. ...

May 29, 2013

I have found a few things on these companies but was looking to find a little more in depth information from past or current employees. ...

Mar 14, 2012

Has anyone worked on both M-Modal and Escription, and can you compare them as to ease of use, line count, etc. Thanks. ...

Jan 21, 2010

Is there anyone out there who has worked for Spheris and other large companies? If so, how does Spheris compare? Looking for other opportunities, but don't want to end up in a worse situation :) In particular, has anyone worked for both Spheris and Webmedx? thanks ...

Jul 28, 2010

echocardiogram to compare air to ?_______ dilatation Does this make sense? ...

Apr 16, 2011

especially if you're on a southwestern account and doing editing for the first time. I started with MQ last month and feel very discouraged, mainly for all the minor negative feedback I'm getting. I'd like to know how the other new employees are doing so I can get a sense of where I stand. I keep thinking any day now I'll get a notice I'm fired. Email me directly and dish it out. ...

Jun 25, 2014

Anyone hear from them yet? Over 1100 views, that means a billion resumes. ...

Feb 12, 2014

Nuance Fiesa is about to drive me insane. 0.25 deduction for not putting a period in. REALLY???? I will contest it, but hate the amount of time we have to spend defending ourselves against this crappy QA system. Thinking about SoftScript. Anyone able to compare how their QA stands next to Nuance. Any info for comparison purposes welcome. I realize there is no such thing as a perfect company, but... Thanks. ...

Feb 22, 2015

Anyone have experience with both and able to give a comparison? Line requirements, benefits, QA, etc. TIA ...

Oct 15, 2009

A legal contact was inquiring about the connection of medical mistakes related to off-shored transcription mistakes. I have told him to review these boards and hopefully he will benefit from the information here. While he did not discuss the exact case, I think that he will be able to use the off-shore transcription issue to his client's benefit or at least highlight that the provider in question does not have as rigorous control on processing records as other pr ...

Jun 20, 2012

I'm seeing pay rates all over the place on this board and I'm just curious as to what others are receiving. I'm an independent contractor. I have a lot of psychiatric accounts but they only pay 10 cents a line (65 characters, of course). That's a decrease from my standard rate a few years ago (but supply and demand made me reduce my rate). Because I'm a fast typist and the psychiatric work is easy, I easly make $30 an hour when I'm focused.I've ...

Sep 01, 2012

As little or as much info as you want is certainly appreciated. Whatever you have time to post. Thank you so much. ...

Nov 28, 2012

I've been on EditScript for a while now and was looking for another position using the same platform but elsewhere. I have a lead that is M*Modal, though (they used to use EditScript), and even the recruiter admitted that of those who've done both, most prefer EditScript. But I'm thinking that with a smaller company where there aren't so many cooks in the kitchen it might even out to be about the same in terms of quality anyway? Or maybe I'll just be on ...

Apr 03, 2014

Can we post line rates quoted to experienced MTs this year? I think many of us do not wish to waste applying and testing for a company that is reducing the line rate AGAIN to only .03 cpl. If anyone was offered less than .04/.08, did you turn it down? Did they offer more? Name of company?Thanks for any input. ...

Aug 19, 2014

Can someone please tell me how to compare line rates between IC and employee? I know IC pays less due to taxes and social security not paid by employer, but if someone could tell me what 8 cpl as an IC really pays, I would really appreciate it. TIA. ...