How much do I pay for editing? How much would you pay?

On the flip side the big trad. pub. houses charge thousands and thousands.

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The big traditional pub houses charge nothing at all.

But, if you're getting a novel edited for self-publication by someone who can actually do the work, expect to pay around $1K or up.

Depends on the word count... if you're looking at the 90,000-1000,000 words range, expect anywhere from $900-1000.

The cheapest I've seen is $1 a manuscript page. I've never used the services myself, but it can get expensive.

Just remember to check credentials, as with any other contractor, and see what kind of work they do. Or pay for them to do a few pages first instead of the entire book. A bad editor can completely ruin a book.

Decide what professional level you want and pay the lowest you can for that level. I would predict $500 and up.

Posts on this thread have good and recent information.

It depends what kind of edit you're looking for. The process typically includes 3 stages and often multiple editors and multiple passes at the earlier stages:

Developmental edit: Editor talks about big picture issues--theme, character, plot, style, pace.
Copyedit: Line by line editing for grammar, style, and content (like making sure a characters blue eyes on p.16 aren't green on p.216.)
Proofreading: Making sure the final manuscript has no typographical or grammatical mistakes.

You could probably get a pretty cheap proofread of moderate quality. The other two require a real expertise to be of value and are going to typically require a lot of hours of work, which means a high cost to you. Those are the kinds of editing which are typically quoted in the $1000 range. (Sometimes the two are combined, sometimes they are seperate. Proofreading is almost always a separate expense--you don't want the same person doing the proofreading that did any other editing.)

writingallthetime said:

Thanks. However, the thread sort of stopped. I have a lot of questions.

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Fine, ask away - I just thought the link to editorial rates on post #4 might have been of interest. Plus, of course, the thread gives you the names of a couple of AW members who are editors and might have more info as well.

I thought it would be a good starting place, that's all.

Honestly, is a self-published author really going to be utilizing a developmental edit?
I would assume that most who want to self-publish already have an idea of how to form a story.
Yes or no?

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That would be up to the writer. I don't think anyone is suggesting you have to - but you asked for prices and that's one of the areas of editorial expertise...

writingallthetime said:

So how much would you personally pay for a proofread or edit?

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A good copyedit on a novel is probably worth the cost but I have little experience. I write short fiction and the expected income is not worth the cost, so I do without. Regarding proofreading, I depend on my own eye and my writing buddies of many years to help catch mistakes--easy enough for short fiction. I've gotten a few stories looked at for free by a friend who worked professionally as a copyeditor and her critiques were always gold. YMMV in regards to that particularly for a novel and early on in your writing "career" where you just don't have the contacts and experience. I could see paying in the realm of $1 a page as reasonable for a proofread but you likely aren't getting a "pro" for that. Just a sanity check.

What constitutes a qualified editor? Someone in another thread said not to trust those who advertise on the internet, and I cannot understand that reasoning. What would be the reason for that? (Besides they may not be good.) However, you can tell right away if they know what they are doing from a sample, right?

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Personal recommendations from authors whose books you've read and found the writing to be good and the sample edit to make sure you and the editor are a good fit.

I think the bit about not trusting the internet is that anyone can put up a site and a few glowing endorsements and it's had to tell if they're any good. I've seen a few manuscripts that were supposedly edited that remained completely amateurish in the prose department. I felt bad for the authors--they tried to do the right thing and got burned.

Lynn O'Dell at RedAdept comes highly recommended. She's in the ~$1000 range for, if I recall, light developmental edit and a solid copyedit and then a recommendation for a seperate proofreader (which they also offer for an additional fee.) Joe Konrath has publicly recommended one of his freelance editors on his blog recently. David Gaughran has publicly recommended his editor on his blog. And then most self-publishers are very accessible online and if you have one whose work you like in a similar genre you can just ask who they use and what services.

Honestly, is a self-published author really going to be utilizing a developmental edit?
I would assume that most who want to self-publish already have an idea of how to form a story.
Yes or no?

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Many probably should, most don't. I'd guess that most who self-pub are no better in regards to how to tell a story compared to those using trade publishers and those authors tend to get real value out of developmental editing. A novel is a big thing, and I can see the author getting lost in it and not being able to see the forest for the trees.

But there are more factors for a self-publisher and cost is a real concern. Critique groups and "beta" readers may be a better starting point for an author who has zero outside feedback, and zero experience with real editing. You need to be pretty confident about the value to justify the expense.

Knowing the editor is a good fit is determined by the sample edit. You read what they recommend changing and if you're saying "yes! yes! that is soooo much better than what I did!" over and over they are a good fit. If you're saying "I understand this but it doesn't seem like a good change to me" over and over they are a bad fit. If you are saying "I don't even understand this" the editor could be terrible or you might not be far enough along in developing your writing skill to get much value.

If there is no sample edit, I wouldn't spend a large sum of money on them.

As I understand it, it's a few pages done free of charge. I suppose it could vary from editor to editor. They'll let you know of their process if you get to that stage. You should be in pretty serious discussions at that point with the editor. It likely isn't the whim of sending out 5 pages to 20 editors, getting them all to do work, and then seeing if you like any of them or just forget it all together. But again, no personal experience--just what I've pieced together from others.

J. Tanner said:

As I understand it, it's a few pages done free of charge. I suppose it could vary from editor to editor. They'll let you know of their process if you get to that stage. You should be in pretty serious discussions at that point with the editor. It likely isn't the whim of sending out 5 pages to 20 editors, getting them all to do work, and then seeing if you like any of them or just forget it all together. But again, no personal experience--just what I've pieced together from others.

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A few pages to a few chapters might work for copyediting, but not for developmental editing.

As far as that goes, maybe most self-published authors don't get developmental editing, but there are a ton of them who should.

Even then, not even Maxwell Perkins on his best day could have turned some of the things I've seen into readable novels.

Here's a little story...

About eight years ago I searched for freelance editors online. I whittled the choices down to five from the dozens I researched. Each one asked for samples, anywhere from 5 pages to 10. I sent each one what they requested.

All five caught the simple typo's, spelling and punctuation mistakes, but each one had a different style and noted different things about the samples. Voice, PoV shifts, paragraph formatting, sentence structures, and on and on the list went.

One editor actually tried to inject purple prose into my story with her sample. I later learned she used to edit Elf Quest magazine, I think it was, or something similar. She would not have been a good fit for me...

All wanted to charge me between 3 and 5 cents a word. Only one editor had the balls to tell me I was not ready for them yet, but he would be glad to take my money. If I ever went back, he would have been my choice...

The dollar a page noted earlier is generally for short works like a query letter, synopsis, business letters and such. Not for novels of 60,000 words or less.

Also, Line item editing and Proof editing are different so they will have different prices. What you do is talk to the editor on what you need and what they can do for the price you can afford. Note...the more you have them do, the higher the price.

Personally, I can't afford the price and have spent years learning to edit my own work. There is a very good thread her on what freelance editors do in the ask the editor forum, I think. I would suggest you read it before choosing an editor as it is very insightful.

Good luck...

PS, my 140,000 word novel would have cost me over $5,000. for full editing and proof reading and no guarantee that my book would have been picked up by an agent or publisher. There is also the fact that if a publisher did pick it up, their editor would have gone through it as well. Any editor that guarantees you their services will help sell to a publisher is not an editor I would use.

James D. Macdonald said:

A few pages to a few chapters might work for copyediting, but not for developmental editing.

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True enough. For developmental it will probably be based on primarily author recommendations and a bit on the "feel" of the copyedit.

As far as that goes, maybe most self-published authors don't get developmental editing, but there are a ton of them who should.

Even then, not even Maxwell Perkins on his best day could have turned some of the things I've seen into readable novels.

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Probably accurate more often than not, but we assume the best about an individual writer while predicting the worst about writers overall.

A lot of self-pubbers aren't ready. The market should sort it out and their feedback will let them know, and typically in more concrete terms than feedback through the trade publishing avenue. (Less blaming the intermediaries.)

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@totheguard51: Is your avatar one of the old covers for Moorcock's Ice Schooner? I remember reading that book every day in the library as a teen at lunch for a couple weeks because I lost my library card. Good times!

I have used Lynn O'Dell from Red Adept and find her prices to be reasonable, her staff prompt in reply and her personally very easy to work with. That said, I have not gotten what I would consider a developmental edit from them in the largest sense. I've gotten very good copy/line edits, and excellent proofreading. And they're not afraid to say "go back and work on this some more, it's not ready to be released," which is important.

writingallthetime said:

I am looking at it from both sides, as an editor and as an author.
Thanks!

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writingallthetime said:

What kind of actual credentials would you expect from an editor?

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writingallthetime said:

So how much would you personally pay for a proofread or edit?

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writingallthetime said:

... I was posing to the group if they thought or knew of any self-published authors who would utilize developmental editing.

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writingallthetime said:

What is most important in knowing the editor is a good fit for you? How would you know, and what is the big deal? They are just doing a service for you, and supplying the final result.

Does there always have to be a sample edit?
Can't the editor simply offer samples of previous work to avoid having to do an edit for free?

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writingallthetime said:

What's the bare minimum for a sample edit?

How much is standard to send?

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writingallthetime, are you looking to set yourself up as an editor for self-publishing authors by asking members of a writer's forum what they would expect to make the choice between competitors and how much they would be willing to pay?

Not that there is anything wrong with that. You did specify you were concerned about both the author and editor perspective in the original post. I'm just a bit unclear still, and I think the conversation may be veering much more into the "author perspective" than may be most helpful to you.

Edit: That is, as writers speaking to another writer, we are going to be more focused on helping them figure out whether they need an editor, or how to do it on their own, or on recommending an editor one of us knows to be solid.

As speaking to an up and coming editor, it might be more helpful to focus on what we would like to hear from you in order to make a good choice between you and your competitors. It's a different sort of conversation, and it may be more helpful to you if we explicitly switch gears.