What Does It Cost For Someone To Edit Your Podcast?
Most of our clients reach a point where they need some help on their podcasts. Some clients, they realize from the start that the lift and excess energy required is much more than they have available. For others, the podcast grows, or they see the potential for something unique and want to take the quality to another level. Still, the first question we typically discuss is the cost of our services. Especially how much does it cost to have a professional team work on a podcast?
Later in this post, we’ll unpack the significant differences between companies that charge sub $100 for episode editing and companies that charge several thousand. But first, where does Blue Sky Podcasting fit in the market? Blue Sky Podcasting is what you would call a turnkey solution for podcasting. As we write this post, about half of our clients use us for recording, editing, mixing, creating marketing collateral, and distributing their shows. The other half, we help in some parts of the podcast process.
There are many companies and freelancers who provide similar services to Blue Sky Podcasting. Companies like www.prestigiouspodcaster.com do what we do but also find VIP guests. They don’t list prices on their site, but from the little information we could find, packages start around $10,000. A little more on the higher end of the spectrum. Then there are edit-only services like nextdaypodcast.com that start around $79 per episode and provide podcast editing. Lastly, you have the freelancers that you could use on fiver.com or upward.com. These freelancers typically only do one of the roles mentioned, and prices vary.
We fill that boutique-style roll in our industry. You can undoubtedly schedule on a call with a real person on our team after your onboarding meeting, but we aren’t the least cost-effective support in the market. Here are specific rates to give you a better idea of how much it cost and what “somewhere in the middle” looks like.
We have a “quick edit” rate starting at $150 per episode. This rate provides the benefit of having a professional audio engineer expertly mix your tracks (eq, compression, noise reduction); writing fades, but they don’t comb through the episode. You can send 3-5 cut points with time codes.
Our “full edit” rates start around $350 per episode. The full editing involves a professional engineer mixing your tracks (eq, compression, noise reduction), writing fades, combing through and cutting weird transitions, most umm’s, all mistakes, and making the show sound to the highest quality standards in the industry.
Lastly, our “full production” rates include all of the above, but we’ll also be present virtually on the recording, or the client will use our studio. Sometimes we also bring a mobile rig to their office or conference room. These rates typically start at $600 per episode.
Some of the other factors that drive the price up would be additional deliverables. We often provide:
Show snippets that are easy to share and promote the show on social.
We also LOVE transcripts. Transcripts resolve a number of compliance issues; opens your show to a new audience; and also gives a huge SEO bump!
Finally, for some we help with distribution. This often means uploading, filling out metadata, and for some - even writing the title and description for episodes.
I hope this provides a much better idea of how much it costs to have someone edit your podcast. Please feel free to email any questions and we’d be honored to walk you through what it could look like to help carry the load of your podcast.