Once you’ve finished a draft of your book, the natural next step is to look for a book editor. But how much does an editor cost?
And, most importantly, is it going to break the bank and wipe out your revenue?
I wish I could give you a firm rule, something like proofreading will always cost one cent per word, copyediting two cents per word, and developmental editing three cents per word.
Wondering how much does an editor cost? Keep reading!
The truth is much hazier than that. How much a book editor costs depends on several factors.
So my goal here is to flesh out those factors and give you a sense of how much book editing might cost.
Freelance editing rates vary widely from one editor to the next, so I’ll also help you think through how to compare different editors and decide which one to hire.
How much does an editor cost?
How much an editor costs, as with any self-publishing service, depends on a lot of factors. That said, for copyediting/proofreading, you’re generally looking at $1,000-$3,000 per book. For developmental editing—the higher level stuff—you’ll be looking at $5,000 to $10,000 USD per book.
There’s obviously a lot of room in there, so let’s break down some hard numbers and actual rates.
Many writers point to the Editorial Freelancers Association rates page as a guide toward setting editorial rates. (Disclaimer: I’m a member of the EFA.)
The EFA rates page lists various editing and writing tasks and their attendant hourly rates as self-reported by EFA members who took the rates survey. They break down editing into five subcategories and list proofreading as a separate category.
(Tip: they also list per-hour and per-word rates for writing work.)
For comparison purposes, let’s look at the editing rates and use an average page-per-hour and an average hourly rate. For instance, the EFA lists basic copyediting of 5–10 pages per hour at a cost of $30–$40 per hour, so I’ve assumed 7.5 pages per hour at a cost of $35 per hour. The other total calculations also use their respective average rates.
For a 70,000-word book, your editing costs could be:
- Developmental editing: $.08 per word, or $5,600 total
- Basic copyediting: $.018 per word, or $1,260 total
- Proofreading: $.0113, or $791 total
It’s easy to extrapolate from this what your total expected editing cost could be. Fantasy, sci-fi, and epic novel writers should be forewarned.
For a 120,000-word book, your editing costs could be:
- Developmental editing: $.08 per word, or $9,600 total
- Basic copyediting: $.018 per word, or $2,160 total
- Proofreading: $.0113, or $1,356 total
While these are simply one website’s average estimates for editorial costs, they serve as a reliable benchmark.
If you end up paying more for an editor, you might be glad you did. As in life, so too in books: you often get what you pay for.
7 questions to ask before hiring an editor
Think through these questions when trying to figure out how much to spend on your editing project. They’ll help you figure out how much you’ll need to pay an editor to review your book.
1. What kind of editing do you need?
What does a book editor do? Not all editing is created equal. Here are a few different kinds of editing:
- Developmental editing: big picture, content editing, macro editing
- Copyediting: micro editing, grammar editing, flow and structure editing
- Proofreading: consistency check, format and layout
Developmental editing costs more than copyediting, and copyediting costs more than proofreading.
2. What’s your total word count?
Book editors for hire typically charge by word count or page count. Some charge by the hour, but that’s rare, especially for editing long books.
Knowing your total word count is essential to an editor’s cost estimations for taking on your project.
3. How complex is your book?
Editing academic work to a niche style guide will cost more than editing a novel per the Chicago Manual of Style.
Editing a book with hundreds of footnotes or endnotes should cost more than editing a book without citations.
In other words, the complexity and niche of your work will affect the book editing rate.
4. What’s your deadline?
How quickly do you need the work done? The more flexible you are with your deadline, the less you might pay.
If you ask for your 100,000-word novel to be copyedited within two weeks, you might have to pay a premium for such a fast turnaround, especially if your editor is already booked.
5. What’s your writing experience?
Do you consider yourself a beginner, mid-level or expert writer?
By default, beginning writers will need more help, which means more time, which can mean more money.
An experienced editor can often take a look at an excerpt from a manuscript, get a feel for your experience level, and deduce the amount of time they need to edit the full manuscript.
For beginning writers: always look at hiring an editor as an investment in both your book and yourself. With the right editor, you should grow as a writer because of the feedback.
6. What’s your editor’s experience level and/or demand?
A novice editor will cost less than an editor with decades of experience and multiple best-sellers in their portfolio.
Of course, you get what you pay for, and an experienced editor might bring more value.
Likewise, if you want to work with an editor who’s in high demand and booked six months out, you’ll likely have to pay more than if you choose to work with an editor who has lots of room in her schedule.
7. What’s your flexibility?
If an editor is booked solid, can you afford to wait six months to get the editor you want?
Or, will you pay a premium to jump their queue if they offer such an option? Or, will you choose a lesser-known or less experienced editor at a lower price so that you can have your editing accomplished faster?
How to compare editing costs (free download)
If you’d like to get truly organized about your search, download this simple book editing checklist to help in your search for an editor who meets most of your desired criteria and offers freelance editing rates you’re willing to pay.
I say “most of your desired criteria” because it’s rare to find an editor who will meet all your criteria.
For instance, you may have to pay a few hundred to a few thousand dollars more for your top pick. Or, you may find someone at your precise price point, but their experience isn’t quite what you’d like it to be. You must be the one to assess what trade-offs you’re willing to make.
By using that checklist, you should be able to quickly and easily compare the editors you’re vetting.
If you’re given an hourly rate for freelance editing, ask the editor how many pages per hour they can edit, then extrapolate their per-word rate.
Compiling this information is a headache (especially for math-averse writers like myself), but seeing every editor’s rate as a per-word rate will help you better compare editors.
To learn more about editing as a whole, and the entire publishing process, check out the resource below.
This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.