Hi, SueAnne! I would determine how long it takes you to do those other tasks and set your per-audio-minute rate to cover that extra stuff. I have been doing this for over 14 years and up until now charged by the hour. I now offer new clients the option of per hour or per audio minute.

To figure out what I wanted my per audio minute rates to be, I kept track by the hour for different digital recordings and what the charge would be for those recordings. Then I would figure the same recordings by audio minute and what I needed to charge per minute to get a bit higher than the same amount I would charge if I was billing per hour. I did that for different types of digital recordings with different degrees of difficulty and different number of speakers. Then I had what I felt sure were per minute rates (not just one rate) that would be fair to both me and the client, regardless of what type of digital recording I had. And I also compared what I wanted to charge per minute to others to make sure I was in the ballpark. Does that make any sense? (Of course with tapes, I still charge by the hour.)

I charge extra for second passes against the recording and do my research while I'm typing, and then of course spell check and proofread.

I hope this helps and isn't too confusing!

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Pam Deyerle - Transcriptionist in the Richmond, Virginia area
The Perfect Word Transcription Services