How Podcast Editors Get Paid

He recently sent an email to his mailing list talking about “how the money works” in podcast editing, at least for him. I’m including some of that information here to help those who either want to hire an editor for their podcasts or are thinking about adding podcast editing to their list of production services.

This was the percentage of podcast editing clients who paid Steve a “per-episode” fee when he started editing podcasts for a living.

Today, this amount is closer to 40% as more of his clients pay per month to work with him. If you’re considering doing any kind of production/editing work, a monthly fee can be beneficial for a few reasons.

And buyers have similar benefits:

Steve’s”per-episode” fee has a base rate of $175 for up to 45-minutes of raw audio. Every 10 minutes of additional raw audio is $15.

Why price podcast editing services based on raw audio length rather than how long it takes him to do the job? Steve says, “I love the upfront transparency it provides my clients.”

In short, this pricing model allows Steve’s podcast editing clients to do the math before they hire him. They know ahead of time, exactly how much editing an episode will cost, and feel like they are in control of their money.

The benefit to Steve is: No matter how easy the edit is, the rate stays the same. The easier the edit, the more money he makes for his time.

The problem is, no matter how difficult the edit is, the rate stays the same. There is definitely a risk that you’ll make less than your “per-hour” rate if an edit is complicated.

Charging per-episode can be great for clients who record different lengths of episodes or want to release bonus episodes from time-to-time.

There are plenty of people, including many podcast editors, who charge for their time and not by the project. They use tools like Toggl, or accounting software like FreshBooks or QuickBooks to keep track of the number of minutes/hours they spend on each project.

Here’s an example of a weekly report:

The Premium version of RescueTime will also show you how much time you’re spending on specific clients and projects.

Here’s one of Steve’s reports from the Premium version of RescueTime:

It’s a good tool that I use myself. And it may be a good option for you to automatically keep track of the hours you work and help you charge appropriately!

When (and how often) you want to invoice your clients is entirely up to you:

Each has its pros and cons. Personally, I’ve found it best to get paid upfront, especially when working with people I don’t already have a relationship with. This will allow you to focus on the work you’re being paid for and not have to worry about billing and payments in the future. Also, there is a far greater incentive for somebody to pay to have the work done rather than after it’s been completed.

Steve does things differently. He says, “For me, I love getting paid for a job well done. Thus, I invoice clients after the production has been completed.”

Like me, he prefers to keep accounting work to a minimum. Because of this, he invoices clients just once per month, depending on the which type of service they’ve purchased.

“Per-episode” clients are sent an invoice on the 15th of each month. “Per-month” clients are sent an invoice on the last day of the month. Splitting invoicing in this way can help to make cash flow more consistent.

Beyond being skilled at making podcasts sound great, the success of any podcast post-production business is based on:

This takes time and energy. And if, like Steve said, you want to focus on growing your business, it may be something worth outsourcing to somebody else.

Do you like editing and want to offer it as a service for others? Charge appropriately.

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