Cost
What does it actually cost to get a book typed?
A fair question, and one that's surprisingly hard to get a straight answer to elsewhere. Here are real figures, not vague ranges, along with what actually drives the cost up or down.
The short version
Typing is priced per 1,000 words, and the rate depends on what you're starting from. A 50,000-word memoir in clear handwriting comes to around £900. An 80,000-word novel, also clear handwriting, is around £1,440. The same length manuscript in a genuinely difficult hand runs closer to £1,920. Formatting for submission is included in the price of typing, and comes to a flat £40–£75 on its own if your book is already typed.
What actually moves the price
- What you're starting from. An old typescript retyped is the cheapest work, since the letters are already formed clearly and consistently. Clear modern handwriting is next. A genuinely difficult hand — cramped, hurried, heavily corrected, or written in pencil — costs more because it simply takes longer to read accurately.
- The age of the manuscript. Older manuscripts, with faded ink and dated spelling, sit in their own bracket, partly for the extra time and partly for the extra care needed to mark uncertain readings correctly.
- Length. Straightforwardly — more words, more cost, since it's priced by the thousand throughout.
- Dictation is priced differently — by the recorded minute rather than the word, since that's the honest measure of the work.
What's included, with no extra charge
- A full written report of every query and uncertain passage
- A properly formatted Word document — headings, page numbers, table of contents
- Your spelling and punctuation preserved exactly as written
- Corrections, if anything's been misread
- A signed confidentiality agreement before a word is typed
Why it isn't priced by the hour
A per-word rate means the price never depends on how quickly I happen to be working on a given day, and it means you know roughly what you're looking at before you even get in touch. It also means there's no incentive on either side to draw the job out.
The real number, before you commit to anything
Every manuscript is quoted individually after a free assessment — the opening 1,000 words, typed at no charge. You'll have an exact figure, not an estimate, before any payment is discussed.
Get your exact figure
Send a few sample pages and a rough page count.