In a nutshell: Podcast Transcription is essential to good PR. This article covers three means of getting it done.
We think of podcasting as a purely aural medium, but we ignore podcast transcription at our peril (not to sound like a character from I, Claudius). In all seriousness, if your podcast doesn't have transcripts, that's an awful lot of audience you're missing.
“Wait a minute!” you say. “Transcripts are more time and money. How much do you expect me to invest in this podcasting thing? What's in it for me?”
We've already talked about why you should use transcripts. It bears repeating, however:
In this article, we're not going to talk about why you want to invest the additional work or money into podcast transcription. We're going to talk about different methods or companies that you can use to get your podcasts transcribed, and in front of your audience.
DIY Methods for Podcast Transcription
If your podcast is a scripted audio drama, you can certainly use that script. You can also sit down and type out your podcast's recording, word for word. If you're already a professional stenographer, this won't bother you too much. However, not many people have that skill set or patience.
Dictation Software Hack
Another option for podcast transcription (recommended in a livestream by our friends at Music Radio Creative) is to use Google Docs voice typing. Here's how it works:
When you try this, make sure that the audio is cued up at the point where you want it transcribed. if you let it run through a minute of intro music or so, the voice typing tool won't recognize the music as anything useful, and will shut itself off.
Google's Voice Typing was pretty good at recognizing what I said when I tried it. To test its accuracy, I selected UK English, US English, and Nigerian English, to see if there would be differences in the resulting text. There wasn't.
You'll end up with pages and pages of unpunctuated text. It's very stream-of-consciousness. You will have to go through it and format it, put in punctuation and check for errors. However, it saves you a lot of time over typing the audio word for word.
There's a quality control issue here, as well. You may notice as you're making this podcast transcript, that you notice the dialogue as an outsider. Transcribing the podcast yourself will help you see the details of what you talk about, and how.
Video Captions
Another DIY method is to use your audio to make a video, upload it to YouTube, and use its closed captioning to provide a transcript. I can't vouch for the accuracy of YouTube's closed captioning. Joe Rogan uses this exclusively, and it works for him. Your mileage may vary.
Headliner is a free app which can be used to make audiograms (and it's fun to use). It's 100% worth your time to try it out, and see how its captioning system fits your podcast.
Think about your SEO for a second. Google's Product Manager for Google, Brad Ellis, spoke about automatic captioning and SEO at the Streaming Media Conference in 2016. He said that when a YouTube user uploads their own captions, Google does index them. But, because the automatic transcriptions are error-prone, they are not indexed. Granted, this was four years ago, and the technology may have changed. For now, if your SEO is your most important reason for having transcripts, it's best not to rely on YouTube's automatic captioning only.
Many people consume their podcasts via YouTube. It's not a bad idea to make them available there with captions. But it shouldn't be your only way of publishing those transcripts.
Outsourcing Podcast Transcription
If you don't want to do the transcription yourself, you have a few options. They are:
Human Transcription
This is the most accurate version of podcast transcription that you can use. Humans can understand context and spoken sound in a way that machines can't. If your podcast uses the sentence, “Let's eat Grandma,” a human would know where to put the comma, while a machine might not. It's also not cheap. Some transcribers charge by how long it takes them to do the work, others by how much audio you supply. In most cases, it's between $1-$2 per minute of transcribed audio. If you look at a site like Upwork or fiverr.com, you can find a fair number of freelance transcribers.
GoTranscript offers “100% Human-Generated Transcription Services,” and offer a minimum of 6-hour turnaround time. Their prices vary by how soon you need your podcast transcript finished, and how long your audio files are. Expect to spend around 80 cents to $2 per minute.
If you have a loyal fan or close friend who loves your podcast, you may be able to get them to volunteer to transcribe your podcast in a skill swap. Ask them if they would transcribe an episode or two of your podcast in exchange for helping them move house.
Artificial Intelligence
If you've ever asked Siri to send a text message for you, or if you've asked Google to look something up, you've used something like one of these services.
Trint offers monthly or annual subscription packages ($60-$85), with a 7-day free trial. They range by the amount of files you can upload per month, and how many users you can have on the account. However, since a file can be any duration, the starter package would fit most indie podcasters, if you organize your audio files well. Trint also has an iPhone app.
Temi is very similar, with one price tier: 25 cents a minute. Their f...