How Much Does Editing Cost?
Today, I’m going to push myself out of my comfort zone to discuss something that is a bit of a taboo subject in the UK: money! Or more specifically, the costs of editing.
If you were to contact multiple editors and ask for a quote, you’d likely receive multiple different quotes. There are very good reasons for this, but they are not always clear to those outside of the editing industry.
So, I want to look at these in detail, in the hopes that this will help you to think about costs and pricing, if and when you’re thinking about hiring an editor.
If you aren’t entirely sure whether you need to hire an editor or not, I recommend reading this blog post, which goes into this subject in more detail.
The Main Elements of Pricing
There are four main cost considerations around pricing for an editorial job:
The individual editor
The editing service
The complexity of the job
The turnaround time
I’ll discuss each of these in this post and explain how they affect the price of editing.
The Individual Editor
Each individual editor is going to charge differently. Some charge by the hour, some by the word, some by page, and some charge a flat fee, depending on the service.
Editors are providing a service, but they are also running a business, and they need to be able to make that business viable. As business owners, editors have to pay for:
Equipment (computers, tech equipment and software, office furniture, stationery, reference books, etc.)
Utilities (electricity, heating, broadband, etc.)
Online services (webhosting, email services, online marketing, etc.)
Tax, national insurance contributions, professional insurance, pension payments and accounting
Membership of professional organisations (the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, ACES, Alliance of Independent Authors, the EFA, etc.)
Professional development courses and conferences
In addition to all this, they also have to think about holiday pay, sick pay, maternity pay, etc.
This will all need paying for before an editor is going to make a profit, and as a business owner, they will need to factor this in when quoting for a service.
The Editing Service
The three most common types/levels of fiction editing services are:
Developmental editing
Copyediting
Proofreading
Just as each editor is going to charge differently, it is likely that each of an individual editor’s services will have a different rate, because each service will require a different investment of time and expertise.
For example, a developmental edit of a 100k high fantasy book is going to take many more hours to complete than a proofread of the same manuscript. This is because developmental editing requires much more from the editor, including a more specialist type of training and understanding of narrative theory, a more nuanced consideration for the author’s intentions, an in-depth understanding of the manuscript’s genre, and a more involved level of author—editor communication.
As such, it’s not surprising that professional editorial organisations’ recommended rates are different for each of these services.
But even with these recommendations, pricing an editorial job is a lot more complicated than it appears. How an editor decides to charge for their services is going to be based on more than just rate per hour, because each individual editor is going to offer something slightly different for a service, even if the name is exactly the same. They also need to think about the complexity and level of intervention that each individual job requires, the specific job’s turnaround time and their own personal circumstances.
These are all going to have to be taken into consideration when quoting for a job.
Complexity
In general, an editor is going to ask to see your manuscript (or at the very least, part of it!) before they will quote for a service. This is so that they can spend some time considering the level of intervention required, and checking whether the service you’re requesting is going to be the best use of your money.
If you inquire about a proofreading service, but the editor evaluates the manuscript and notices that there are a larger number of grammatical or syntactical errors that would be feasible to fix in a proofread, they will likely explain that a copyedit would be a better fit for you, or they might recommend some craft books or resources that you could use to try to eliminate more of the errors yourself, and suggest that you come back to them at a later date to arrange the proofread.
Let’s consider the previous example of a developmental edit of a 100k high fantasy novel: this is almost certainly going to involve very in-depth considerations such as magic systems, complex worldbuilding, intricate plot structure, multiple POVs and perhaps multiple timelines. As such, it will take me substantially longer than a developmental edit of a 70k contemporary romance, and this needs to be taken into consideration when I quote. However, a manuscript evaluation of the same 100k high fantasy novel will not go into the same level of depth, consideration and feedback as the developmental edit, and so the quote for the evaluation will reflect that.
The complexity of both the service requested and the level of intervention required will play a large role in an editor’s quote.
Turnaround Time
An editor doesn’t edit for eight hours every day. Firstly, this is because editing is such an intensive job that trying to work for too long can introduce errors, instead of remove them. The average number of hours that an editor can edit for on an average workday is about five hours.
Also, as a business owner, an editor has to also spend time running the business itself, including dealing with administrative tasks, marketing, training, accounts, etc. Even if an editor is working on their business for 40 hours a week, that doesn’t mean that they’re editing for those 40 hours.
Every editor is going to have a different editing speed, and this is going to be further impacted by the specific service’s level of intervention and the complexity of the project.
That being said, if we look at information from the EFA about typical editing speeds, we can extrapolate a bit about how long a specific job might take – let’s use the same example of a 100k high fantasy novel, and assume that the editor will be working five hours a day, five days a week.
What happens if you contact an editor, wanting them to perform an urgent proofread for your 100k fantasy novel?
Let’s imagine the editor estimates that the proofread will take them 2000 words an hour (or 50 hours) and so they quote a two-week turnaround time, because they will plan on working on your manuscript for five hours a day.
If you need that job completed within one week, the scope of the job doesn’t change (because they can’t perform a ‘quick’ proofread – they either proofread your manuscript, or they don’t!), so the number of hours taken to complete it will be the same, just performed over one week, not two.
This means that the editor will have to work in their evenings, and perhaps at the weekend, to complete the job within the timeframe. Even if they are happy to do so, the chances are that they are going to charge you a higher rate for the service, because you are asking them to rush!
The amount of time available to an editor to complete the requested job is also going to play a part in the cost of the service.
What does this mean for you?
When you look at the four elements above, it starts to become clear why the question ‘How much does editing cost?’ doesn’t have a quick or easy answer, and why quotes from editors might vary even if you ask for the same editorial service.
This can be very confusing and frustrating when you’re trying to do your due diligence and look for an editor for your project, and it can be tempting to simply pick the cheapest quote. I mean, you have to pick one of them, after all!
However, I’d caution you against only considering price when choosing an editor.
Obviously, budget is hugely important – you don’t want to end up getting into financial difficulties – but other important considerations include:
the editor’s background (How much experience do they have working on projects like yours? Are they affiliated with any professional editorial organisations? Has anyone vetted them and their qualifications?)
the scope of the service they are providing (What are you getting for your money? Does the editor include any other deliverables, or just the edit? What level of intervention can you expect from their edit? If it’s a copyedit, will they restrict themselves to grammar, punctuation and factual considerations, or will they look at stylistic/line editing aspects of the manuscript?)
the editor’s ethos and way of working (Will this editor work with you or for you? Do they see themselves as part of your team, or are they simply providing a service? How much contact can you expect to have during the edit, and after? Will they provide you with an opportunity after the edit is finished to discuss the project and feedback with them?)
There isn’t a ‘right’ way or a ‘wrong’ way to work, but it’s important to make sure that you choose an editor whose style of working reflects what matters to you as an author.
For example, my developmental edit is an incredibly in-depth service that considers the manuscript from its very foundation and works up. As such, the author can expect a great deal of feedback, touching on every level of their work.
However, because this is such an involved service, it takes a long time to complete, and so my turnaround times for developmental edits can be quite long. For an author who has a tight deadline, the fact that they will get a great deal of feedback and deliverables from me won’t matter so much if I can’t return the edit within the necessary timeframe!
It is also important to me that when I take on a client, I work not only on their manuscript but also with them to celebrate where their strengths are, and to educate and help them to develop their writing craft. I am passionate about helping each client to learn and grow as an author so that each subsequent book they write needs less editorial intervention. I want to know that my edits help an author to do more than just invest in their book, I want the edits to help my clients invest in themselves and their writing careers. But this approach won’t be ideal for everyone. Some authors don’t want this from their editor, and that’s absolutely valid!
You should make sure that your editor works specifically on projects like yours, so that you can be sure you’re paying for the right experience. For example, I work primarily with fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, speculative, and romance fiction. Chances are, if you were to ask me to edit your suspense novel, I would politely decline. This is because I would not be able to deliver the quality of edit that I pride myself on, because it is not in my area of specialism.
This is why it is important to consider multiple factors when choosing an editor. Finding someone that is the right fit for your project is key.
The Expense
Finally, I just wanted to talk very briefly about the expense of having your book professionally edited.
For most people with an average budget, professional editing will likely seem expensive, and if it doesn’t, I would be cautious.
Anyone offering to edit your manuscript for a couple of hundred dollars is either very inexperienced or isn’t planning on doing anything resembling a thorough job.
An experienced, educated and conscientious editor will have invested thousands and thousands of dollars and hours on professional development and experience, and will have learned how to do their job well. When you pay for an edit, you aren’t simply paying for the editing service, you’re paying for that editor’s experience and knowledge.
Ultimately, hiring an editor is an investment. Just as an editor invests money in training and development to expand their skills, authors invest in professional editing to improve their writing and their novels.
As with any other investment, it is important that you seriously consider it, save for it, and do your research before parting with your money.
Finally, if you know for definite that you do want to hire an editor, but would still like to try to keep costs as low as possible, keep an eye on the blog over the next couple of weeks! With the cost of living rising for so many of us, I want to do what I can to make editing a more achievable investment. The next blog post in the Reading Room will be all about what authors can do to make editing cheaper.
Hi, I’m Alexandra.
I’m a developmental editor specialising in helping authors of fantasy, sci-fi and all kinds of speculative fiction bring their worlds to life, and make their books as immersive, compelling and enjoyable as possible!
Follow my blog for writing craft tips specifically tailored for speculative fiction authors.
