What do freelance editors charge?

This is the question on the minds of editors and their clients. What is a fair and reasonable price for an editing quote? If I want someone to proofread or edit my work, what should I expect to pay for editing services in Australia? Does the price differ between Queensland and other states? How much does an editor usually charge as an hourly rate?

There is no more crucial question for an editor establishing their own freelance editing business, or for the writer looking for quality editing work that meets their budget. On the page below we have provided information for these two groups: Editors asking how to establish a rate for freelance work, and people seeking editorial services for their documents or manuscripts.

What do freelancers charge?

The following introduction was written by former Society Web Officer, Dave Gardiner, back in August 2004. It shows that not a lot has changed when it comes to setting expectations of a suitable fee for freelance editors. The subsequent headings highlight links to articles and resources on this subject. While another Survey of Editors was conducted at the 2007 National Editors Conference, the results have not yet been published, and so the 2003 offering below is still the most current national data.

There is no more hotly debated topic amongst freelance editors than what to charge for jobs. State editors’ societies and editors have discussed this issue over the past few years. Should freelancers quote by the hour or by the word? Are there different rates for different services? How do fees vary with experience? Fortunately there is some useful information available that can help freelancers with setting their own fees.

The following information will give you a general idea about rates. You will notice that there is a huge variation in the fees charged, and this depends on many factors — experience, type of editing, and the size of jobs.

Survey of Editors 2003

This survey was taken at Beyond Gutenberg and Gates, the Second National Editors’ Conference, in July 2003. Covering editing and indexing services, this shows for the first time the differences between states. You can find an excerpt from Pamela Hewitt’s article here.

Historian editors

An article concerning historians’ fees was published by the late John Kerr in the November 2003 issue of Offpress, the newsletter of the Society of Editors (Queensland). In this article, he proposes a scale of fees for discussion. This can be taken as an indicative guide to rates based on experience.

Pricing FAQ

The Society of Editors (Tasmania) Inc. has prepared a comprehensive fact sheet about how to quote and charge for jobs. Follow this link to the document:
http://www.tas-editors.org.au/freelancepricing.html.

Survey of Editors and Indexers 2001

Some information about rates was collected by Pamela Hewitt as part of a survey of participants at the first joint national conference of indexers and editors. The excerpt compares editing and indexing rates.

Other information

There is an article about award rates for in-house editors published in the September 2003 issue of The Society of Editors (Victoria) Inc. newsletter:
http://www.socedvic.org/NLSep2003.pdf.

Charging for manuscript appraisal is outlined in the November–December 2001 issue of the Book Worm newsletter: http://editorswa.com/pdf/bw0111.pdf

Pamela Hewitt prepared a paper ‘Valuing your services, having your services valued’ for the first national conference as a prelude to the survey of editors and indexers. This has some salient points about quoting and negotiating, and is available on the Canberra Society of Editors web site.

Around the world

The National Union of Journalists (UK) has a Freelance Fees Guide that sets out rates for editing, writing, research, photography and other journalistic work:
http://www.londonfreelance.org/feesguide/index.html.

(Thanks to Helena Bond for reviewing this article)

For editors: Working out what to charge

The following meeting report by Tim Bugler is a summary of the presentation "Freelancer, know thyself", given at the Society's May 2007 meeting. This report was also published in the June 2007 issue of Offpress.

At the May meeting Kerry Davies shared her experience with us to offer some guidelines on setting suitable rates and managing workflows.

The basic question in calculating a rate is: what do you want to achieve? Do you want freelance editing to be part-time or full-time work? Are you expecting to rely on it as a primary income, or will it be a secondary income supplementing your own or your partner’s primary income? A balance also has to be found between charging a rate that you feel is justified and charging a rate that clients will accept. Once you have decided on your rate, you must develop systems to support it.

Your single most important business tool is your timesheet: are you getting work done in time to meet your deadline? Your single most important accounting tool is your cashflow: do you have enough money coming in to meet your outgoings?

Your timesheet will form the basis of your invoices, schedules and future payment. It will also allow you to monitor your work habits, both overall and on particular projects; as a freelancer, intimate knowledge of your own work practice is essential. Get into the habit of recording the time spent on each task. (For example, you might write up and review your timesheet at the end of each day, then enter it into a spreadsheet at the end of each week.) Don’t forget to keep track of non-billable working time (such as your own administrative work).

To get work, you will have to develop quotes, which means you will have to decide on what basis you quote. Most freelancers quote by the hour; some quote by the page or word. Most publishers pay freelancers by the hour; government departments increasingly ask for a firm quote (that is, a quote on the full cost of the project up front).

A firm quote is safer for smaller jobs, as larger jobs tend to go over budget.

You will typically do a trial edit before you form a quote. This will give you an idea of the level of editing required for the project. If possible, avoid the beginning of the manuscript for your trial edit, as this is likely to be the part the writer has polished the most; instead, test material from the middle or the end.

You will also need to discuss with your prospective client what specific tasks you will have to do (is this job a simple copyedit, or will you have to do picture research, formatting and indexing?) and how the client expects you to do them (can you edit on screen and send them tracked changes, or do they insist on hard copy?). This discussion will help the client assess your quote, especially if they aren’t familiar with publishing.

Once you know what you have to do on the project, you can form your quote. Estimate how long each task will take you — your past timesheets will be very useful here, particularly if you have worked on similar projects in the past — and apply your rate. Send your quote to the client, and hopefully they will say yes!

All of the above may sound daunting, but it shouldn’t. Your knowledge of your own practices and experience should lead you to develop a thorough and logical system for managing your work. How to find work is a topic for another day ...