What Kind of Editor? And Rates

What kind of editor are you looking for? Here are basic descriptions of editing types. My rates are pretty much what you’ll find at https://www.edsguild.org/editorial-rates, but I generally go by project rate. Decide what kind of editor you’re looking for and drop me a line.

Developmental editor

My rates for a developmental edit start at $2,000. After your work’s been written and rewritten and agonized over (and you did, somewhere in the back of your mind, even if you don’t realize it), you need to hand it over to a developmental editor (DE) to take a look at it. A DE reads it, notes what needs to be fleshed out, filled out, cut out. Then you get it back and look at those notes, sigh heavily, and figure out which ones you’re going to do or not. This is the point at which you look deeply into your soul and decide whether those suggestions, given to you by someone who is essentially your first reader, make sense. And you are writing for the reader, remember. Take care of those suggestions and next, send it along to the next step…

Line editor

My rates for a line edit start at $1,000. The line editor (LE) flexes his or her fingers and starts the deep dive into every single line and word, determining whether those words and lines are exactly what you want to use to get your story across. You may say the LE is quibbling, and you may be right. You may not. The sharper the line, the more accurate the word, the clearer and shinier your work becomes. But you’re not done.

Copy editor

Then there’s the copy editor (CE), who reads over your work and makes sure that the grammar works, the spelling works, and in general the detail works. This is where you’re going to say, “But my grammar’s fine! And that’s what spellcheck’s for!” Uh, think again. But this is where it’s best to let someone who’s not YOU make that determination. The line and copy editors are the nuts and bolts people, making sure your work reads the way it should, polishing and polishing, which is why their duties are often lumped together. My rates for a copy edit vary depending on whether the work has gone through a thorough dev/line edit. My rate for a copyedit starts at $1,000.

Editing for serials

Are you writing a serial? I charge one flat fee to edit your serials, no matter how many chapters you have. Drop me a line and we’ll talk about it.

Short story editing

Short stories and novellas have two options:

Per word: $0.03 (about $30 per 1,000 words)

Per hour: $50 per hour for editing and proofreading

Proofread

This isn’t editing, but it’s part of the process. After your work has been developed, fleshed out, needled into existence, polished until it’s pretty, and then copy edited, someone’s got to check to make sure there aren’t any bits or pieces that got overlooked. That’s what a proofreader does. My rates for a proofread, like for a copy edit, vary on whether the work has been thoroughly edited.

Manuscript evaluation

Before your work can be edited, whether copy, line, or developed, you need to have it evaluated. I offer that too. Drop me a line about this. I charge $60 a hour.