How Much Do You Charge for Editing?

[Debbi]

I've been offered the opportunity to edit an academic paper about 150 pages in length. How much would you charge forthis kind of work? How do you assess how long it will take? Do you charge per hour, per page, or per project?

Thanks, guys

[Elizabeth Ann West]

I charge $8-$12 per page for editing, depending on the academic level. Since this is a large project, I would ask for a few pages to see the level of editing needed, and figure out how much you need per hour. My editing rate also depends on the services required. For an outside client who writes press releases, I not only make the change, I add a note explaining what the change was and why. Her writing has improved enormously. If this client just wants changes made, I would charge less. HTH.

[4rumid]

I always charge per hour for editing. Number of pages or words doesn't tell you anything about how much work the piece requires. One person's 20-page paper could take 2 hours, someone else's, 4 hours. For clients who request it, I give an estimate of how long I think the job will take, based on how long it takes me to edit the first few pages and, if possible, skimming through the whole thing or reading random sections throughout the paper. I'm probably saying something similar to what Elizabeth said, but I charge directly for the time it takes.

As for rate, it really depends. What kind of editing is the client looking for? Just fixing typos and punctuation, or a really substantive edit that could involve rewording, reorganizing, etc.? Is the topic highly technical or is it accessible? If it's mechanical editing of general material, I'd charge $25-$30/hour. (If it's someone on a very tight budget, I might go a little lower.) If it's highly technical and/or requires substantive editing, I might go as high as $40/hour. I have even charged higher, but rarely do. (It also partly depends on who the client is and what they can afford; e.g., I sometimes charge companies more than individuals.) These days, I generally charge around $30/hour for a private client (as opposed to a publisher).

I'd be interested in hearing what other people charge, if anyone else would like to reveal it . . . And Elizabeth, what does your fee generally translate to as an hourly rate?

[Elizabeth Ann West]

Um, well those are primarily for press releases, nothing earth shattering. It works out to about $16-$24 an hour, as I typically do a page in 15-30 minutes, but thrown into that too is the time it takes me to correspond with her. She sends me work like "Need this by tomorrow if you have time." So for this specific project, I just edit all month long and then invoice, like last month's invoice was $77 (there was a writing piece in there too). Since her project is so big, I said my method wouldn't really work, she needs to ask for a sample and then price by the hour.

[jennifer]

How do you find editing jobs?

[Debbi]

I know a college professor who sends me work occasionally from ESL students who need help with their graduate school papers.

I've seen some online editing sites that have a similar structure to CC, taking a 30% to 40% cut for connecting you with editing work, but I haven't tried any yet. I ran across one today called EditFast.com. Anyone have any experience with them?

[MPIvy]

Okay, so now I'm not going to feel like I overcharged at $10/hour for proofreading someone's family history! Of course, that's not as involved as editing I know, but still 150 pages single-spaced genealogy was like reading DNA code for the most part.

Interesting to read that someone has done editing for ESL students. Is there actually a market for that? Is it legit to just contact colleges/universities and offer this kind of service.

Online writing and related freelance stuff is really, really new to me, so I have no background in what's okay and what's really tacky and what's just silly. But reading what others are doing is certainly educational and thought-provoking. And, there is great humor here as well. I just clicked the "crash blossoms" link and howled. I was also relieved to see that even the pros can get so caught up in what they are thinking/intending that they don't notice a real stinker sitting right in front of them.

Ed posted the link elsewhere so I'll post it here!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/magaz ... age-t.html

[Evelyn]

I just got done editing a grant proposal for a dear friend, and he paid me a lovely pork chop dinner and a dozen "real" chicken eggs. This is one writer who does work for food.

On the "crash blossoms" note, which was highly amusing, when I first started Yahoo chatting with my then-future husband he teased me endlessly about using complete sentences with punctuation and everything. I've since stopped that nonsense and never capitalize anything. The comma splices are unimaginable. But I did invent a new shorthand, GOL, which is "groan out loud," so we'll see if GOL goes viral.

[ecdoran]

I just got done editing a grant proposal for a dear friend, and he paid me a lovely pork chop dinner and a dozen "real" chicken eggs. This is one writer who does work for food.

On the "crash blossoms" note, which was highly amusing, when I first started Yahoo chatting with my then-future husband he teased me endlessly about using complete sentences with punctuation and everything. I've since stopped that nonsense and never capitalize anything. The comma splices are unimaginable. But I did invent a new shorthand, GOL, which is "groan out loud," so we'll see if GOL goes viral.

GOL! I love it. I'll help spread it. It'll be a pandemic of epic proportions, not seen since LOL or ROFL. It'll be excellent.

[KinsleyRoyale]

These are my rates:

Basic Pricing: $.0125 to $.0145* per word (example: 4 single-spaced pages $15* based on 300 word page)

*papers requiring extra work in correct English translation or editing may result in a higher fee.*In Person Consultations Extra. *Hard copies extra.

(if English is a second language, or the person has particularly poor grammar & sentence structure, it all takes longer thus the higher amount)