Going rates for book writing/LaTeX transcription

[Orsorum]

A professor of mine is offering me a job typing up the main text of a book he and a colleague are writing. As far as I know, I am looking about transcribing about 250 pages of text/handwritten notes into LaTeX. I would be working on my own time, wherever I feel like writing it (i.e. my apartment, library, etc).

So, I am trying to figure out how I should get paid, and how much. I am thinking either two ways would be appropriate - by page, or by time.

If I get paid by the page, I would feel comfortable charging about $4-5 a page; given the time it takes to type a full page of text (on regular notebook paper) into LaTeX, plus additional formatting, etc.

If I get paid by the hour, I would guess that I should charge between $10 - 12 an hour; this might be more appropriate, simply because I have to throw in the time taken to refresh aspects of LaTeX that I have not used in a while, research the different packages, etc that would needed to be used.

I am unsure as to whether there are any "going rates" for this kind of work, or even if how I am thinking of charging my time is appropriate. Thoughts?

 

[Chaotic42]

I would say $750-$1000 is appropriate.

 

[Orsorum]

So probably a flat $4 a page? Any other thoughts?

 

[Orsorum]

Bump.

 

[gentobu]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I would say $750-$1000 is appropriate.

Wow. Are you serious about that?

 

[TheBoyBlunder]

Originally posted by: gentobu

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I would say $750-$1000 is appropriate.

Wow. Are you serious about that?

Do the math...$4 * 250 pages = $1000. And in response to the original post...I don't know what LaTeX is or how much you should charge.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: TheBoyBlunder

Originally posted by: gentobu

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I would say $750-$1000 is appropriate.

Wow. Are you serious about that?

Do the math...$4 * 250 pages = $1000. And in response to the original post...I don't know what LaTeX is or how much you should charge.

It's a (mathematical) document transcription system... technically it's a markup language. It's comparable to typing 250 pages of text into HTML, plus formatting.

 

[gentobu]

Actually $4 a page seems about right. Are there a lot of charts/graphics in the book? If so, I would charge by the hour. I remember having a pretty hard time getting those things to format correctly when I had to type up reports in LaTeX.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: gentobu
Actually $4 a page seems about right. Are there a lot of charts/graphics in the book? If so, I would charge by the hour. I remember having a pretty hard time getting those things to format correctly when I had to type up reports in LaTeX.

I'm not exactly sure how many graphics there are... there most likely will be a great deal of proofs. This is a book on basic mathematical logic, proof writing, etc. He's writing a book to replace the crappy book we used this quarter.

That's kind of what I'm thinking. I'll ask him tomorrow if the text is graphics intensive, and if it is, I'll charge by the hour. I'm still stymied as to how much I should charge per hour.

I was thinking that $4-5 sounds about right, too, but I have no idea about an hourly rate.

 

[gentobu]

Originally posted by: Orsorum

Originally posted by: gentobu
Actually $4 a page seems about right. Are there a lot of charts/graphics in the book? If so, I would charge by the hour. I remember having a pretty hard time getting those things to format correctly when I had to type up reports in LaTeX.

I'm not exactly sure how many graphics there are... there most likely will be a great deal of proofs. This is a book on basic mathematical logic, proof writing, etc. He's writing a book to replace the crappy book we used this quarter.

That's kind of what I'm thinking. I'll ask him tomorrow if the text is graphics intensive, and if it is, I'll charge by the hour. I'm still stymied as to how much I should charge per hour.

I was thinking that $4-5 sounds about right, too, but I have no idea about an hourly rate.

I did a quick/random search at monster.com for data entry positions, and most were about $10-$12 an hour.

 

[DivideBYZero]

:evil:LATEX:evil:

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: gentobu

I did a quick/random search at monster.com for data entry positions, and most were about $10-$12 an hour.

So $12 an hour would probably be within range... hmmm.

 

[oboeguy]

I think you're asking for trouble by charging by the page or a flat rate, because LaTeX can be very, very time-consuming. Keep in mind that no doubt the prof will make changes, etc. Establish an hourly rate, and actually work during those hours. OTOH, if it looks like it will be light on the formatting and diagrams, and you're really fast, then maybe a per page cost is better. Choose whichever nets you the best rate-per-hour when the job is done.

If you choose the hourly way of things, get some time cards and fill them out for real.

 

[dullard]

250 pages of LaTEX? Have fun with that project. I know some people who love it, but in my opinion it was the best in its time but regular word processors have far exceeded its capabilities. I honestly don't know what the going rate would be but $10-$12 an hour seems quite reasonable for a non-thinking job that takes some special training to do (think factory work).

 

[The Stigenator]

try this program www.winedt.com

its got a latex front end..

what is teh original document in, cause for my dad we did some text conversions with some software and it got quite easy after that..bfore that he was hand transcribing it..

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: The_good_guy
try this program <a href="http://www.winedt.com">www.winedt.com</A>

its got a latex front end..

what is teh original document in, cause for my dad we did some text conversions with some software and it got quite easy after that..bfore that he was hand transcribing it..

I love WinEdt. First shareware program I've paid money for in years.

I asked him today about the graphics requirements, apparently it is going to be purely proof-writing, number theory, so it will not require complex graphics. It will, however, require quite a bit of formatting.

I'll stew about it for the weekend, and send him an email after the final (probably Tuesday morning).

Any other ideas?

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: dullard
250 pages of LaTEX? Have fun with that project. I know some people who love it, but in my opinion it was the best in its time but regular word processors have far exceeded its capabilities. I honestly don't know what the going rate would be but $10-$12 an hour seems quite reasonable for a non-thinking job that takes some special training to do (think factory work).

I am going to propose $15 an hour and gauge his reaction. If he deems it unreasonable or something similar, I will lower it to $12 or $10.