Proofreading and Editing Fees

A Doctor of what, may I ask?

I suspect an established reputation would carry more weight.

Good luck in your venture.

(This is an Ask the Editor Forum. Why would an Editor want editing services?)

Are they medical articles that you're editing / proofing? Otherwise I can't see the relevance of increasing fees because of the doctorate (are we talking medical here?).

Bufty's right. I'd have thought proofing and editing qualifications / experience would be more important as that is the service you are offering.

Honestly, if I saw an editor trumpeting their doctorate in an unrelated field, I would run far and fast, because it would seem to me that they did not have enough experience in this field. Being a doctor is great, but if a man barged into an airplane cockpit and started pushing buttons and yelling "It's okay, I'm a doctor!" I would not be filled with confidence, either.

Nicola said:

Hi,

I am expanding my business to offer proofreading and editing services, along with the writing I already do. Can you advise on the fees you would expect to pay for proofreading and editing services? Furthermore, would you be happy to pay more if the work was being completed by a Doctor (since time is money based on expertise and experience)?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Nicola

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If you're expanding your business to offer proof reading and editing services, what does your business offer at the moment? And when you say "editing services", what precisely do you mean by that? Do you give structural edits, line edits, copy edits? It's important to know.

The fees I charge are dependent on the job in hand and, of course, I get most of my work because I am experienced and have a certain reputation: it's difficult to suggest what you could charge as I don't know who you'd be editing for, what you'd be editing, or what experience or reputation you have.

What is your experience, by the way? What qualifies you to edit and proof read?

I note that your PhD is in health psychology.

I'm impressed by this, as you must have worked really hard to get that PhD: but it has nothing to do with proof reading or editing, and so it has no bearing here.

I note that you're asking about courses in editing in a different thread. If you're considering taking one of these courses do you really think you're ready to take money for your editing services?

I'm not going to recommend any amounts to charge, in my opinion they should be based on what you need, not what someone will pay. If you need to earn $50,000 a year, you need that much, no matter what the market is. You may find yourself without a viable market though.

As for credentials, the only credentials I'd value would be editing work in/for a publishing house or work you've done for a colleague who recommends you.

Proofreading? Basic proofreading, spelling, punctuation, typos, etc. runs from a couple bucks a page up to the $10-$15 a page range. A lot depends on what is being proofed, some depends on length. I've also been quoted per word from 2 cents to about 10 cents a word. And you do get what you pay for.

For my money, I've never had a proofreader catch everything. Something always makes it through to print and stands out the first time you open the book.

Jeff

First, a writer who pays for a service any publisher offers for free is just a fool and his money. Commercial publishers at every level already have proofreaders and editors. They come for free as part of the deal. A self-published writer may need to pay an editor, though most of what paid editors do, including proofing and editing, can be had for free with very little trouble.

The only time I see paying someone a penny is warranted is when the writer really isn't a writer, but an expert in some field who wants to publish a book or a series of articles in his specialty. In this case, a co-writer of some sort is the norm.

Otherwise, paying an "editor" anything is a complete waste of money. And if you do get in teh business, you'd better have some serious credits to back up your claims.

Jamesaritchie said:

First, a writer who pays for a service any publisher offers for free...

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Not all writers use a trade publisher that provides these services. And there are a number of publishers that farm these services out, who may end up as clients of the OP.

Jeff

Jamesaritchie said:

First, a writer who pays for a service any publisher offers for free is just a fool and his money.

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And there are no dyslexics out there who want to make sure their novel isn't a spelling wreck before they submit?

Talking about freelance editing like it's snake oil doesn't just insult writers who use the service, it's offensive to every ethical freelance editor out there.

I agree that there are plenty of writers out there who don't need an editor prior to submitting, but I've worked with and spoken to some writers who needed a professional to take their hand and rake their manuscript over the coals in order to learn and improve to that level, and they consider the money well spent.

Jamesaritchie said:

First, a writer who pays for a service any publisher offers for free is just a fool and his money. Commercial publishers at every level already have proofreaders and editors. They come for free as part of the deal. A self-published writer may need to pay an editor, though most of what paid editors do, including proofing and editing, can be had for free with very little trouble.

The only time I see paying someone a penny is warranted is when the writer really isn't a writer, but an expert in some field who wants to publish a book or a series of articles in his specialty. In this case, a co-writer of some sort is the norm.

Otherwise, paying an "editor" anything is a complete waste of money. And if you do get in teh business, you'd better have some serious credits to back up your claims.

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James, you've just called many of our members fools, and suggested that some of them aren't "really a writer". And you've just insulted the editors who work at trade publishers, too, by implying that the work they do can be acquired for free "with very little trouble".

Don't do this again.

Jamesaritchie said:

Otherwise, paying an "editor" anything is a complete waste of money. And if you do get in teh [sic] business, you'd better have some serious credits to back up your claims.

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By the way, Mr. Ritchie, what, exactly, are your credits?

I see the books you sold to a book packager in the late 1990s.

But you've indicated you're an editor. What do you edit and for whom?

Editing services are a great way to learn what's wrong with your manuscript, especially if you can't get it to the quality needed to be accepted by a publisher yet.

Think about it. If you always make the same mistake, is it better to find out from an editor with the first manuscript or to discover and overcome it on your own on the 5th/6th/20th manuscript?

If you take it as a course in writing then £500 to £1,000 looks a lot cheaper than the £15,000 plus I'm going to pay for a university course.

1. Taking a university course, or having a doctorate does not make one an editor. I say this as someone with a Ph.D. in English.

2. Editors are both born and made; that is, there's a specific set of abilities that need to be sharpened to become a specific set of professional skills.

3. I wouldn't hire any editor with any degree if the editor had not worked in commercial publishing as an editor for the kind of book I'd be hiring said editor to edit.

4. I'm seeing a lot of people hanging up a sign declaring themselves an editor and subsequently charging for services. I'd suggest interviewing them carefully, asking for references, and for a sample no-fee edit. Be aware that structural editing/developmental editing, copy editing and proofreading are separate tasks and skill sets. They are not all the same, or performed by the same people at most publishers.

5. Here's a post from an editor with advice about hiring an editor.

There are lots of MA courses: they're good cash-cows for the Universities which provide them. But they rarely offer what the aspiring writers who take them hope for, and I speak as someone who has an MA in writing.

If you're going to take such a course, make sure it is taught by professional writers with good publications behind them, and not by writers who have never published a thing. That way, at least you won't learn bad habits.

Also, make sure you have realistic expectations of what the course can provide. No course can guarantee you publication, nor can one reasonably promise to get you up to any particular standard. MA courses can give you time in which to explore your own talents, but that's about it.