What does editing cost?

Request a free quote

If you would like a free estimate, simply fill in the following form and click “submit” to e-mail me the information. If you’re in a hurry, only the fields with red asterisks need to be filled in. Please read on, after you’ve filled out the form, to learn more about editing prices and how I arrive at a cost estimate.

Editing rates

My editing rates

Editing rates are determined by several factors. The subject of your work, your manuscript’s length and complexity, and the quality of your writing will all determine the type or level of editing you require.

Just like many freelance editors, I charge by the hour for most projects. However, unlike some editors, I don’t make a great distinction between rates for the various types of editing work. This is because no matter what work I’m doing, an hour is still an hour of my time.

Stylistic editing, copy editing, proofreading, manuscript evaluations: $55.00/hour.
Developmental editing, substantive editing, structural editing, rewriting: $55.00/hour.
For rush work, 30% will be added to the total cost.

If you prefer a per-word rate or a per-page rate, I’d be pleased to provide those. After I review a sample of your writing, I can convert my hourly rate to whatever fee system works best for you.

Typical editing speeds

To arrive at my cost estimate for your unique project, I time myself on a sample of your manuscript to determine my editing speed—how many pages per hour I can edit—and extrapolate from the total word count to determine the number of hours. A standard manuscript “page” is 250 words. Depending on the above variables, editing speeds may range widely between projects—anywhere from one to twenty 250-word pages an hour. According to Editors’ Association of Canada guidelines, the following are typical pages-per-hour editing speeds for the various levels of editing. Keep in mind that an editor will often work on several of these levels at once, increasing the amount of time spent per page. For more information about the different levels of editing, please visit my page Types of editing defined.

Developmental, substantive, structural editing, rewriting – one to three pages per hour
Heavy/medium copy editing, stylistic (line) editing – four to six pages per hour
Medium/light copy editing, stylistic editing – six to eight pages per hour
Proofreading – eight to eleven pages per hour
Manuscript evaluation/developmental analysis – twelve to twenty pages per hour, plus evaluation report (reading speed can vary widely depending on the quality of the writing, complexity of subject matter, degree of critical analysis applied, and number of comments and notes made throughout).

Business matters

If you prefer, I can provide you with an official contract form, drawn up by lawyers and a team from the Editors’ Association of Canada for legal purposes. However, this is not strictly necessary. In the past, I have found e-mail agreements and my own simplified contract to be more than adequate. Finally, I reserve the right to alter my quote, if the project should take on dimensions outside the parameters of those in our original agreement, but only after consultation with you. Conversely, I will be happy to lower my final price, should the editing take less time than estimated in my original quote.

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