PRODUCT LITERATURE SAVINGS CALCULATOR

By 9to5 Media Services / for the Specs and Docs platform

Version 2024-08-19-00-36-07

How much does it cost to create, typeset, translate and publish a new product quick guide and a manual?

How much money can you save with a workflow using machine translation, artificial intelligence / large language models and an automated publishing workflow?

We have created this calculator so you can play with the relevant numbers (words, pages, hours, rates) and see how much a modern workflow could save you.

Obviously, every brand, product, manual and illustration set is different, and some factors such as words, illustrations and page numbers are interdependent. However, this calculator should allow you to get a first idea of typical costs.

Please note that your data is never transmitted to our server. Reloading this page will reset all values to defaults. If you need a copy with your customized values, please print or save a copy from your web browser.

Total cost
mostly humans (€)▼		 Estimated savings
through AI & APW (%) ▼		 Estimated savings
through AI & APW (€) ▼		 Total cost
mosty AI & APW (€) ▼
€ € €

A. The Quick Guide (QSG)

Assumptions for default values:
A typical (1000 words) quick guide, written by a subject-matter expert, typeset and then translated to ten target languages. Please note that to cover all European Union languages, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, you would actually be looking at 33 languages. Translations usually require post-editing – layout edits to accomodate for longer text, fonts mapping for Eastern-European and Asian languages etc. The source and the translations are then concatenated and printed.

1 Quick start guide copywriting

1.1 Required number of words in quick start guide: words
1.2 Technical writer hourly output: words
1.3 Hours for technical writing: hours
1.4 Hourly rate for writer: €
1.5 Quick start guide copywriting costs: € % [2] € €

2 Quick start guide layout / typesetting the source language

2.1 Number of pages to design: pages
2.2 Hourly output (pages) for quick start guide design (creative/complex work): pages
2.3 Hours for layout work: hours
2.4 Hourly rate for designer: €
2.5 Quick start guide layout / typesetting costs: € % € €

3 Quick start guide translation

3.1 Number of target languages: languages
3.2 Number of words to translate: words
3.3 Hourly output (words) of professional translator using machine translation: words
3.4 Hours for translating the quick start guide: hours
3.5 Translation word rate (average/across all languages): €
3.6 Quick start guide translation costs: € % [3] € €

4 Quick start guide Layout / post-editing the translations layout

4.1 Number of total pages in translations: pages
4.2 Number of translated pages post-edited per hour: pages
4.3 Hours for post-editing pages: hours
4.4 Hourly rate for designer: €
4.5 Translation layout post-editing costs: € % € €

Quick start guide total cost
(writing, layout, translation, translation layout post-editing):

€ € €

II. The Manual

Assumptions for default values:
A typical manual where content from the question is reused, with 2000 extra/new words, written by a subject-matter expert, typeset and then assigned to translators. Six target languages (to cover relevant markets). Translations usually require some post-editing (layout edits to accomodate for longer text, fonts changes) , but as manuals usually are long-form documents with few layout variations, they can be typeset rather quickly by a professional designer. The finished manuals (source and translations) are then uploaded as separate documents to the content or document management system.

1 Manual copywriting

1.1 Required number of words in manual (in addition to content from quick start guide): words
1.2 Technical writer hourly output: words
1.3 Hours for technical writing: hours
1.4 Hourly rate for writer: €
1.5 Manual copywriting costs: € % [2] € €

2 Manual layout / typesetting the source

2.1 Number of pages to design: pages
2.2 Hourly output (pages) for Manual design (simple/repetitive work): pages
2.3 Hours for layout work: hours
2.4 Hourly rate for designer: €
2.5 Manual layout / typesetting costs: € % € €

3 Manual translation

3.1 Number of target languages: languages
3.2 Number of words to translate: words
3.3 Hourly output (words) of professional translator using machine translation: words
3.4 Hours for translating the manual: hours
3.5 Translation word rate (average/across all languages): €
3.6 Manual translation costs: € % [3] € €

4 Manual layout / post-editing the translations layout

4.1 Number of total pages in translations: pages
4.2 Number of translated pages post-edited per hour: pages
4.3 Hours for post-editing translated pages: hours
4.4 Hourly rate for designer: €
4.5 Translation layout post-editing costs: € % [1] € €

Manual total costs
(writing, layout, translation, translation layout post-editing):

€ € €

III Media and content required for all product literature

1 Technical illustrations

Assumptions for default values:
Product literature (quick guide and manual) illustrations for household consumer device, hi-fi product or musical production device such as a signal processor: product overview, back panel, signal flow diagrams etc. Vector line-art created by a professional designer, without any editable text.

1.1 Required number of illustrations (in all documents): illustrations
1.2 Number of hours per illustration (including reviews): hours
1.3 Hours for all illustrations: hours
1.4 Hourly rate for illustrator: €

Total illustrations costs:

€ % [4] € €

Footnotes

[1] Automated publishing workflows

In a single source publishing workflow, a document is created in a “neutral” source format (usually based on XML or a lightweight markup language such as Markdown), and all required target formats are rendered from this source. Publishing formats can also be cascaded: Markdown → HTML → PDF.

In an automated single source publishing workflow (APW), structured content is combined with one or multiple templates. More sophisticated systems such as LOOPS allow writers and project managers to specify and use conditions/logic that will activate, deactivate or configure template components, for example to show or hide document sections or change color schemes or fonts for specific documents or target languages. In a fully automated publishing workflow, the cost for typesetting generic, long-form content (headings, lists, some illustrations) can be reduced to near zero. ▲

[2] Savings through the use of large language models in technical writing

Technical writers can save time by using large language models to create content “chunks” (setup routines, descriptions of concepts and technologies), polish, extend or shorten segments. Results can be improved by using “personas” and providing guidelines with regard to text length, register and terminology. ▲

[3] Savings through the use of artificial intelligence in translation

Artificial intelligence has been used in translation for many years. Machine translation is an established technology and used in modern translation workflows both by individual translators and language service providers.

In a setup and workflow where machine translations can be published without any post-editing, translation savings are 100%. ▲

[4] Large language models for technical illustrations

While current (2024) generative artificial intelligence tools cannot create technical illustrations for product manuals and quick guides from scratch, AI-supported functions can be used to speed up the illustration process. The number of hours saved in translation depends on several factors such as the complexity of the source material (topics), register, terminology, machine translation model quality, post-editing effort and other factors. ▲