Biografix is a service set up by Rowland Janes in 2002. We can research or publish life stories, or family or company histories, in print or digital media (we design, build and maintain websites for a variety of clients). We are based between Bristol, Bath and Wells, and mostly we take commissions from clients in those cities, plus Somerset, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire.
To
find out more
Phone or e-mail
to discuss roughly what you want and what we can do. We'll either send you a
free written quote ASAP, or arrange to see you to submit a more detailed quote,
with an estimate of when the work can be completed. The current basis of any
work undertaken is £15 per hour for all time spent, whether on research or presentation.
The minimum fee is £60.
If you are commissioning
a life story, this minimum fee could cover
a 90 minute interview, and the basic transcription, editing and presentation.
The interview would include any comments and recollections relating to photographs
or documents to be used. (By the way, our ratio of time spent recording to transcription
and editing is a lot lower than those frequently quoted - eg: "Transcribing
from tape does take time - anywhere from six hours of typing and editing per
hour of tape" - Ellen Epstein and Jane Lewit, authors of "Record &
Remember - Tracing Your Roots Through Oral History").
We would produce one verbatim transcript of the interview, for reference, and
one copy of an edited article of about 1000-1500 words laid out in A4 magazine
style over two or more pages, with up to ten photographs incorporated or appended.
Or we could do more pics and less text, whatever you want. True, a 90 minute
tape will usually produce more words than that, but as poorly edited transcripts
show, some careful cutting and re-sequencing can greatly improve the readability
of the final text! The quoted fee would also cover one proof version and one
set of any amendments or corrections you may want.
This text could
then be incorprated with other material into books, booklets, CDs, DVDs or whatever
medium you wanted. You could consider and negotiate that on the evidence of
the work we had already completed for you. This could also be the point at which
to consider further work, or the quality and quantity of any further outputting,
and, if you thought it appropriate, marketing.
Cost of materials for presentation (e.g. any copies you may want of DVDs, CDs,
videos, audio tapes, mini-discs, albums, books, etc) will be added, at cost.
We will of course include this in any quote.