How to Set Freelance Editing Rates

Knowing how much to charge for your services can be difficult for new freelancers, but it’s important to get your editing rates right. You don’t want to undersell yourself, nor do you want to price yourself out of the market!

While there’s no single perfect way to set freelance editing rates, we have a few helpful tips to share with you. Keep reading to learn more about setting your freelance editing rates.

How to Set Your Freelance Editing Rates

There are a number of important steps to take when setting your freelance editing rates. You should:

1. Decide whether to charge by the hour, word, or page
2. Research average rates for your services and experience level
3. Establish a baseline rate for each service you provide
4. Adapt your baseline rates to fit each job
   

1. Decide How You’ll Charge

The most common ways to charge for freelance editing services are by the hour, by the word (or number of words, such as per 1,000 words), or by the page. Each of these methods has its own merits.

• Charging by the hour means you’re guaranteed to be paid for your time. However, it’s also easy to misjudge how long a job will take, especially when you’re just starting out. You might therefore either quote too much or too little for the whole project and end up underpaying yourself or overcharging your client.
• Charging by the word or page, meanwhile, makes it easy to quote a price for a project. But different projects may require different amounts of work, even for documents of a similar length. And if you don’t take that into account, you may find yourself charging the same for a well-written document that only requires minor tweaks as for one that needs significant work.

Ultimately, whether you advertise your services with rates set by the hour, word, or page will be a matter of preference, with the final decision depending on what you think will appeal to your target clients (e.g., if you mostly work on longer documents, a per-page rate may be the most attractive to potential clients). But flexibility is also helpful here – for example, if you list your rates by the hour, you could add a note saying that you’re willing to quote by the word or page if preferred.

2. Research Average Editing Rates

Once you know how you plan to charge, you’ll need to decide how much to charge. It’s a good idea to research the standard editing rates in your region. Here are a couple of examples:

• The EFA (US) recommends charging $36–$50 per hour for copyediting, and between $46–$70 per hour for developmental editing (depending on the type of document).
• The CIEP (UK) recommends a minimum hourly rate of £33.30 for copyediting and £38.30 for substantial editing, rewriting, and developmental editing.

The average rate can change over time, though, so always check how up-to-date (or otherwise) the information is and keep an eye on any changes. As a freelancer, it’s important to know when to raise your rates.

And don’t forget, research can be as simple as asking a friend in the same field how much they charge for their services. If you don’t know any freelance editors, you can always find other editors’ websites via search engines or connect with them via social media. Do your best to find people at a similar experience level, though, as well as those who are providing the same service(s) as you.

3. Work Out Baseline Rate(s)

Once you’ve done your research, you can decide on baseline rates for all of the services you provide. Your baseline rates will act as a guide to help you quote prices for each job.

Note the plural here: you should price separate services differently. Think about the services you’re able to offer and their respective levels of difficulty. Typically, this should reflect the amount of work involved.

For example, it’s important to understand the difference between proofreading and editing. You’ll need to set separate rates for these services.

4. Adapt Your Rates to Reflect the Work

Baseline rates are just that: a baseline. You won’t want to deviate from them too much when quoting prices – after all, potential clients aren’t likely to stick around if you ask them to pay a rate way above the one you advertise! But as long as you clearly label them as a baseline, there’s room to adjust your rates to fit the situation at hand.

There are a range of factors to consider when quoting a price for a job; here are the key ones:

• The service type and level of editing requested. For example, while you might have a base rate for developmental editing, different editing jobs can vary significantly. You may want to ask to see a writing sample, or offer a sample edit, to get a stronger sense of what will be involved.
• Whether the job requires any specialized knowledge.
• The volume of work involved. One client might ask you to review a manuscript and offer advice on how to improve it, after which they will redraft themselves, while another might ask you to redraft the document. Other things to consider are whether the client is seeking a single pass on a document or ongoing support, whether it’s one document or several, and how long the document is.
• The complexity, topic, and genre of the document.
• How quickly your client needs the work finished.
• The relationship you have with your client. Many editors offer a discount for clients who provide regular work.

You can then use this information to decide whether you need to adjust your baseline rates when quoting a price for a job. Likewise, if required, you can change the way your charge (e.g., charging by the page when your usual rates are by the hour). It’s about finding an arrangement that works for both you and the client before you start working on a document.

Remember that your rates are not set in stone! It’s a good idea to examine what you’re charging at least every six months. Here are some valid reasons for raising your rates:

• Your skills have improved or you’ve undertaken additional training.
• None of your clients are questioning (or complaining) about your rates.
• There’s a rise in industry rates.
• You’re having trouble covering your business costs.
  

Becoming A Proofreader

Having a proofreading or editing qualification may mean you can charge more for your services. It shows that your skills are up to date and that you’re motivated to grow and develop as a professional.

Our proofreading and editing courses are CPD accredited and will teach you everything you need to know to begin or develop a career in the field. Give a free trial a go today to find out more!