Does anyone edit?

[sophiewritergirl]

I posted this in the freelance writing folder because I am at a loss for how to proceed and thought maybe someone here might have experience in this.

I am a freelance writer, but I have a client who is asking me to edit a book he has just written. I know I can do this, but I have no idea what to charge. The book is about 280 pages long with 300-350 words per page. I was thinking of charging $1.50 per page for a total of $420. I feel that this is pretty reasonable but I really just don't know what the going rate for freelance editing is.

If anyone here has any experience in this or any advice to offer, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks so much!

[VirtualAvenger]

A lot of people believe that editing should be cheap since it's not writing, but the exact opposite is true. The first important thing to determine is whether he wants you to edit the document or proofread the document. Editing implies that you have leeway to rearrange sentences or rewrite certain parts to make a passage flow better, while proofreading is limited to grammar and spelling changes, but leaving the rest alone. From what I understand, editing services typically charge around $2 per page, so you're offering him a good deal. This might be a good idea if you're expecting to get more work from him in the future, however if you believe this will be a one-time job, then I'd recommend bumping it up to at least $1.75 or even $1.90. Your work should be worth it to him.

I cannot express enough how important it is not to undersell yourself. If you are a good writer and a good proofreader/editor, then you need to charge people what your experience and time is actually worth to you. I know how tempting it is to offer people less money so they'll be more likely to use your services, but that is so clearly a reflection upon what you think your work is worth, and clients subconsciously (or consciously) know that.

Anyway, as I said, $1.50 might be a good "starting rate" for him if you think he'll be able to throw you more business. But if you think you'll never hear from him again, charge him a little more, closer to the industry standard, because if he turns you down he won't run into many people who will do it much cheaper than that.

Good luck!