Going rates for academic developmental and copyediting
I am an experienced teacher, writing coach, and editor beginning my own freelance business. I have a Ph.D. in my field and an MLIS. I am wondering if others can share their fees for writing and editorial assistance, both with non-academic clients, and with those working in my field of expertise. Broadly, do people charge per project or a standard hourly rate? One project I am working on currently is to refine an academic article for journal publication. Another is a larger project involving revising an entire dissertation manuscript for publication as a book. I am charging an hourly rate for the article, but unsure whether to charge hourly or a flat fee for the manuscript assistance, Both involve developmental/conceptual editing as well as line editing, and both necessitate a fluency with theoretical approaches to the subject and academic jargon. I am trying to be mindful of the fact that a significant portion of fee will go to taxes and to childcare, so it needs to be "worth it", in addition to accounting for the years I have spent preparing for and working in the field. I had thought to charge $75/hour, but with taxes and childcare, that amounts to likely roughly $35/hour. And I am someone who tends to put in 2 hours for every one hour I charge for, as I am somewhat of a perfectionist and workaholic. I should also mention that I *detest* asking for money, and have done a lot of pro bono and reduced fee work in the past because of it. But I am really needing to get paid for my worth and time. I would love to hear from others what their range is, and, too, how they determine what to charge based on the type of work/client. Lastly, how to ask for money tactfully. Lawyers have no problem charging hundreds per hour, and I have a grantwriting friend who charges $150/hour. I would love to ask for $100/hour. Am I out of the ballpark? Thank you.
Parent Replies
Yes, you are way out of the ballpark. I copyedit for major publishers (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Ten Speed Press, and so on), and my fee is $35-$40 an hour. And yes, those are billable hours, which means I work much more than that. I do not know academic rates, but my guess is that you wouldn't know many academics (or academic presses) that can afford $100/hour. Look at the rates posted by the Editorial Freelancers Association. http://www.the-efa.org/res/rates.php
Also, there is a Facebook group called EAE Backroom (EAE stands for Editors Association of Earth). If you go there, you will get many thorough responses. Sad to tell you that none of us in editorial are in it for the money. Good luck, mama!
I am responding as an academic, not as someone in your field. I think that you should charge more than $75.00/hour. And I don't think you should do the dissertation-to-book price as a project but by the hour. Honestly, you'd earn more if you did private tutoring to help kids with their writing after hours or on the weekend but I understand that may be impossible since you have kids. Given your expertise in your particular field, maybe try to market yourself to folks in that discipline so that it's your knowledge in addition to your writing skills that you bring to the table. good luck!
You could consider charging a project rate rather than by the hour. This can work well if you are fast.
What you are talking about is way beyond editing. In fact, in terms of turning a dissertation into a book, it might amount to ghost-writing a book and would be considered fraud in my field (not in some others, so I am not judging, just saying it's a big job). Many people spend several years on the tenure track trying to get their dissertation into a book. That said, I think there are a number of issues here: 1. What you can charge is what people are willing to pay you. That will depend on skills and credentials, yes, but more so on reputation. Your grantwriter friend can charge that probably because he or she has a reputation for writing grants that get funded. So factor in that you need to build a reputation at the start but it can pay off later. 2. "Billable" hours. I think you are better off charging a lower rate and charging for the hours you work. People freak out about hourly rates. However, they also freak out about total cost. You need to figure out how much of your 'perfectionism' is giving clients excellent work and how much is overkill. Charge for good work, not overkill. 3. If you are going freelance, you need to figure out how to ask for money. Set a rate, set some policies, and require people, politely, to follow them. Setting a clear rate and policies can make it easier. "My fees and payment expectations are in the enclosed document ..." or "on my website."
Good writers are in demand and sorely needed -- Take courage!
I have recently done some freelance assignments that included writing in a specific policy field and charged $90/hour. Maybe copyediting as a discrete job tends to pay less... so maybe you want to get out of that niche. However the type of work projects you are doing sound like writing as much as or more than editing so I would suggest you prepare a proposal for the client that describes the work to be done and your hourly rate and your estimated hours, perhaps indicating that the client will receive a draft of work to date at each milestone of X hours or by chapter or whatever. Don't let yourself be taken advantage of; along those lines you should also ask for in your proposal some sort of credit, yes?
For myself, I am working toward a fee schedule that is different for non-profit clients/government clients/for-profit clients, although that has yet to go into effect.
Original poster here: thank you for the candid and helpful replies. A follow-up question:
Aside from networking (I'm not very good at it) and referrals, do people have suggestions as to where to look for freelance editing and writing jobs? I have looked at CL, Flexjobs, and several of the major freelance aggregators, but the pay seems pretty crappy and barely covers childcare, let alone anything else. Someone mentioned being a writing tutor for area high school kids, but last time I looked at CL, people were charging between $20-30/hour to offer these services, and there is no way I can "afford" to compete with those rates. I am certainly not in this field for the money, but I do need to make some! Thanks very much.