Editing Rates
I’m a big believer in transparency. While I can guess at why other editors don’t list their prices online, it just doesn’t make sense to me. I want you to know what to expect in terms of my experience, my skill, and my rates, so I made this page for you. I offer three kinds of services: developmental editing on a sliding scale, line editing at the EFA standard rate, and hourly editorial support.
A Developmental Edit includes reading your book to assess the overall strengths and room for improvement, providing minimal notes in the margins, and writing an editorial letter with specific suggestions for ways to strengthen your book. To developmentally edit a book-length project of up to 90,000 words, my sliding-scale range is $1,500 – $2,500. The low end of this range reflects the truly bare minimum for my time and skill. The high end reflects the typical going rate for developmental editing.
A Line Edit includes reading your manuscript to assess how your story is communicated on the sentence-to-sentence level, as well as paying attention to clarity, themes, goals, audience, and writing style. The focus overall is on the way you use language to tell your story. I provide line editing on a case-by-case basis only. Line editing requires a high level of attention and effort and so I only take on a few projects a year. To line edit a book-length project, I charge .049/word. This reflects the Editorial Freelancers Association (see more below).
Personalized Writing Coaching is one of my favorite offerings. I adore digging into a book, story, or body of work with an author and helping them decipher ways to strengthen their own writing that are relevant to them. I’m a firm believer in a highly personalized approach to coaching which means there isn’t a set number of sessions or rate, but instead, we will get together for a brief planning session during which we’ll determine what will best serve you as an author, what your budget is, and what we can do together within those parameters.
Other Editorial Work: I offer developmental editing of short works (short stories, audioplays, and essays) and self-publishing support at an hourly rate of $50/hour.
Details! I wanna know details!
Where do these rates come from?
The higher end of my sliding scale range for developmental editing reflects what others have charged for my work as a subcontractor, the standards of the Editorial Freelancers Association, and research I’ve done on the rates of other freelance developmental editors. The lower end is the bare minimum I can charge for my years of experience, expertise, and, frankly, time.
It’s also important to remember that in both my hourly wage and my sliding scale, I’m a freelancer. That means that I do not get any benefits. I pay for my own insurance, accounting, marketing, and pretty much every business expense out of pocket–before compensating myself at all.
How do I reserve a spot?
I don’t take on just any client. I have a limited number of spots available on my schedule and at this time, I am booking for Spring 2023 and beyond. If you’re interested in becoming a client, drop me an email and I’ll reply with a few questions for you to respond to. If we agree that we’re a good fit, I’ll accept a deposit and get you on my books.
To reserve a spot on my books, I require a quarter of the total amount as a deposit.
What if my project is longer than 90,000 words?
To developmentally edit any project over 90,000 words, email me and let’s figure out the price that works for you.