Help Please! What are the going rates for a proof read?

[LJ Beck]

Hi Litopians!

I'd like to pay a friend to proof read my MS before sending it off for beta reads. She's an excellent proof reader, and can also find things like logic issues, or inconsistencies, etc. She won't do "story dev" editing, just what I'm calling a "proof plus" edit. (Not sure if there's a proper label for this kind of editing?) What I want is a tighter read for my betas.

To ward off other suggestions: I will of course do my best to catch all these things myself beforehand, but I am bad with grammar and spelling. And inevitably, there will be logic things I miss. I know that after my beta reads, things will change and some or much of her proofing will be for naught. That's okay. I would rather that than have my beta readers stopped by dumb things, and also get back a bunch of the same notes about the same dumb things. (this has happened before...) And I do not use AI. At all. So please don't suggest that.

So... my question: what do you think is a good fee for a "proof plus" edit for a 95K word sci-fi MS?
Thanks heaps!

 

[James Charles]

Hi Litopians!

I'd like to pay a friend to proof read my MS before sending it off for beta reads. She's an excellent proof reader, and can also find things like logic issues, or inconsistencies, etc. She won't do "story dev" editing, just what I'm calling a "proof plus" edit. (Not sure if there's a proper label for this kind of editing?) What I want is a tighter read for my betas.

To ward off other suggestions: I will of course do my best to catch all these things myself beforehand, but I am bad with grammar and spelling. And inevitably, there will be logic things I miss. I know that after my beta reads, things will change and some or much of her proofing will be for naught. That's okay. I would rather that than have my beta readers stopped by dumb things, and also get back a bunch of the same notes about the same dumb things. (this has happened before...) And I do not use AI. At all. So please don't suggest that.

So... my question: what do you think is a good fee for a "proof plus" edit for a 95K word sci-fi MS?
Thanks heaps!

Interesting conundrum. Normally, as you know, a developmental edit or manuscript evaluation is done first and the last thing to do is a copy edit. You say proofread but are looking for issues such as logic or inconsistencies. I don’t know about that; it sounds sort of developmental.

In any event, a so-called copy edit (which if ANYONE is considering self-publishing I highly recommend because it looks amateurish if there are mistakes once published) can run several hundred dollars. Usually it’s per word like 3 cents or something.

 

[LJ Beck]

Thanks James! That’s exactly what I wanted to know.

 

[Aethalope]

For academic proofreading I get paid $0.016 per word. What you are talking about sounds more like premium editing, which is indeed $0.03 per word.

 

[LJ Beck]

For academic proofreading I get paid $0.016 per word. What you are talking about sounds more like premium editing, which is indeed $0.03 per word.

Fab! Thank you!!

 

[Pamela Jo]

I think Tiffany Yates Martin, a top developmental editor, charges about 3k per manuscript. She could probably charge more but would rather pick and chose what she reads.
So for what you are doing I would think somewhere in between the proofread and the developmental.

 

[LJ Beck]

I think Tiffany Yates Martin, a top developmental editor, charges about 3k per manuscript. She could probably charge more but would rather pick and chose what she reads.
So for what you are doing I would think somewhere in between the proofread and the developmental.

Yeah, I'm thinking that too. My friend won't do any story dev stuff. Mainly a proof. The odd continuity thing, like "the mc put her ring in a safety deposit box, and in the next chapter she's wearing it." I'll do a little research as well on the types of editors and their rates, but it's great to get an idea.