Rachel Caldecott
Full Member
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The RSPCA and the Fire Fighters Charity. I've probably spent about £1100 pounds so far on the editing, a previous MS assessment and several social media advertising for the ebook. I don't ever expect to see that back but it's worth it for the help the Fire Fighters Charity gave me for after an injury.Thank you. By the way, I am very impressed (and happy to hear) that you are donating your profits to charity. May I ask which ones?
Had 4 quotes in November last year for the 97000+ word MS, synopsis, and intro letter and the £600 was the cheapest. The highest (more than double) was for an editor recommended by a very popular literary MS assessment company. As you mentioned, a proof read edit sort of came with it to a degree. It wasn't a structure edit.I have to say that sounds awfully expensive Paul V, unless both your books are exceptionally long. I had my 170,000 word novel professionally edited by a well-respected editor 3 years ago. It took the better part of 6 months and cost me £550. This was a regular, prep-for-publication edit, not a proof-read, but the proof read sort of came with it anyway. Though it was a traumatic exerience for a time, having my story ripped to shreds, after a 2 months sulk, I re-read it all and realised everything he'd said was spot on. I spent the next 2 years completely re-writing the thing and it's now an entirely different and way, way better novel than I ever expected it to be. Far and away the best money I've ever spent.
Agreed, entirely. Especially yr final sentence.I write for publication but do editing for a living. What I charge the author is directly related to the state of the manuscript he or she submits to me. Some manuscripts are in pretty good shape to start with, and these will merit a fee at the lower end of a sliding scale. Others require much more work — occasionally a virtually complete rewrite. And then there's the question of length to consider. Added to this is the fact that some authors are difficult to deal with, and others do not pay their bills. I have not recently done any editing for less than $800 or for more than $2500. Editing does include a good deal of proofreading, but proofreading is a skill in itself that even a good editor may not possess.
To trust any of this work to "family and friends" or to "an English teacher" is a great mistake.
What you get from the editing process depends entirely on what you agreed to pay the editor for. They're running a business, after all. If what you agreed to was copy editing, then that's what you're going to get. If you want both content and copy editing, it's going to cost more, and you have to find someone who does both. That's why it's important to discuss things like that up front when you're discussing pricing. Copy editing and content editing are two entirely different animals. Editors who do both will often do those separately so they can give each aspect their full concentration.
I would also strongly encourage anyone trying out a new editor for the first time to request a free sample edit. Most will give you up to 1,000 words edited for free, so you can both determine whether you will work well together. This also gives you the chance to see their editing style.
I wrote a Writing Wiki blog post on this a few months ago. You might find the information in it helpful.
Perhaps he/she found you a good and cooperative client?Yes they are different, yes it is important to know what you want/expect from the edit and how much you want or can afford to pay, yes I would advise researching/reviewing the editor you choose and yes, it is important to have those discussions from the start...
Perhaps I just had a helpful and lovely editor who went that bit further than a basic copy-edit.
Do you get your work professionally copy-edited before submitting to agents, or rely on friends/family? What is the going rate (say in the UK) for a decent copy-editor? And how on earth do you pick one?
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I've been researching this and have seen rates of anywhere from 1.5c per word, up to 6c per word, depending on services. At 6c per word, my manuscript would cost a whopping $9600 to edit both content and copy. And I don't think they refund what they recommend you cut!