I am thinking about becoming a proofreader for self-publishing authors. My main problem is that I have no idea what to charge? What would you be comfortable paying for me to proofread your book? I am thinking I will have different prices for the different lengths of books since obviously a novella of 40,000 words would not take as long to proofread as a novel of 100,000 words would. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Since proof reading means you'll only be tackling grammatical errors and not the gritty stuff like plot, I'd pay maybe... $8 per 10000 words? Maybe more, depending on how well it's done.

Anyone else?

I started a post and it got deleted, so that's why it took me a bit longer to reply.

What are you going to base cost on? I've seen people who do it per word, per page, per hour, and per project (I assume that means they decide a fixed price based on aspects of what they're going to be doing). Usually they give a maximum word count per page, so that is pretty much the same as per word. Another thing they sometimes heighten or decrease the price for is based on how quick the client wants the job to be done.

You'd have to make the price pretty low if you're doing it for self publishers...but you'll still have to make it worth the effort, of course. Seabird's estimate for what she'd pay is really far below the general market for proofreaders.... Some do it for as much as 1000 per 10,000 words. Some obviously do it for much less, someone said the average quotes he got for his 84,000 word novel was 450 to 1400.

What would I pay? Well, I don't know. If I hired someone to do it, which I would consider not doing, I would probably be willing to pay at most, for an eighty-thousand word novel, 400.

Thanks, Seabird and Juliet! That helps. I'm not sure what I am going to base my cost on. Right now I am thinking of basing it on words. I plan on making it affordable for authors since I know many of them do not have the money to pay big bucks. $400 for an 80,000 word book sounds a bit steep to me, personally.

Thanks again!

Yeah. As I said, that would be the most. * grins *

Geez... That's more expensive than a new Wii U system.

I don't know how hard proofreading is and how long it would take, I was just basing it off of the market prices I've found. But I do know that proofreading isn't easy and it is time consuming, especially good proofreading. * shrugs * It ain't cheap.

How long does it take you to get through a thousand words, Katharina?

I'm not exactly sure. My guess would be 2-5 minutes.

Then I'm guessing that you're planning on offering a level down from proofreading, actually. The average pace for someone to proofread a thousand words is twenty minutes.

I did some more calculations too, and discovered that according to this pamphlet thing by the SfEP (society for editors and proofreaders), and according to the FFG (freelance fees guide), you should charge no less than 540 per 80,000 of proofreading. They strongly recommend going no lower than that. They say that you must be positive that you can offer a lower rate for the same quality of work without compromising your business.

If you're not planning on actually offering that quality of work, though, maybe you should market your services as something else. 'Text polishing' or something? * grin *

I think it would depend on what exactly you are doing. Are you checking and fixing typos, or are you offering plot feedback and detailed critique? If it was the former, then I would expect to hire someone for a much lower price, between probably $20 and $100, depending on the length. If you are doing the latter, then definitely more around what Juliet is talking about.

Mainly, once I can get on the same page as you regarding what exactly you are doing, then I can tell you what I'd pay for those services.

I am thinking of the fixing and editing the typos. I can do the plot and critiquing, but am much better with fixing the typos.

Plot feed back and so on is actually not called proofreading, and as far as I know, it costs even more than the figures I mentioned for proofreading. I don't know, I haven't researched it at as much. * looks up a summary of what is generally included in proofreading * Uh...from the writing center at the university of Wisconsin: 'Proofreading means examining your text carefully to find and correct typographical errors and mistakes in grammar, style, and spelling.'

* does a bit more research * Right...so there's substantive editors, copy editors, and proofreaders. A substantive editor 'examines plot flow, themes, and character development'. Copy editors are one level down, and deal with more minor changes in presentation and also fact checking and a bit of consistency, I think. And proofreaders I defined above. And...yes, copy editors usually cost more than proofreaders, and substantive editors usually cost more than copy editors. Odd...I would have thought that substantive editors would cost less. Oh, well, maybe not... * is thinking about the book she is currently substantive editing *

* scratches head * Of course most of the figures are different, but considering everything...400 would actually be really cheap for proofreading an 80,000 word novel. As in I haven't seen a single person who even verges on that cheap.

Of course, that is high lines for self publishers... * shrugs * Some say it's worth it, considering that self publishers are known for having badly edited books... 'Course others, like this person, say it isn't....

But the price is up to you. If you can get the same quality out at a lower price than the normal, you'll probably have plenty of customers.

Thanks for the link, Juliet! Personally, I think I would feel uncomfortable charging someone $400 for proofreading an 80,000 word book. Partially because I personally would not pay that much and partially because it seems like a really steep price to me. Maybe I'm just too nice, but after having read some really good books with really bad typos, all I want to do now is fix them.

Ducky of you. * grin * Guess who I'll be hiring when I publish a book....

I would have to agree... $400 for reading and fixing typos seems like an awful lot for a self-published author. For professional plot feedback, I might consider paying that much, but not for proofreading.

So, now that I know what you are doing, for an 80,000 word novel I'd probably be willing to pay $50 to $80 to have you read it through thoroughly and fix typos and grammatical errors.

Goodness, maybe I need to start proofreading too O.o I don't even make $400 in two weeks, most of the time.

For self-publishers, sounds like you could do $2-300.

...it's just really hard for me to process paying that much for someone to fix typos, personally. But even charging less, if you can find people they may be more willing to pay you because it's cheaper.

Thanks, Juliet!



Thank you for your input, Azlyn. That does sound like a good price.



No kidding, Arias. In a good two weeks, I might make about $400 and that is working about 30 hours a week.

The main thing that got me interested in this (besides somebody asking if I knew anybody who did it) was reading a few really good books on my Kindle and finding tons of simple, but unnecessary typos. Now, I think I know why. If proofreaders are really charging that much...I wouldn't have a proofreader either.

Yeah...I'm still trying to figure out what in the world makes it such a lucrative job. O.o

Agreed. Proofreading is easy and less time consuming compared to what I do at work.

My sister is a proof reader, she's qualified etc, but she hasn't had much work (apparently it can be hard to get on the proof reading market) so she might be interested in doing some voluntary work if I asked her. I know she's busy with work etc at the moment, but if I asked I think she'd certainly be open to it. If you were interested I could ask her and see what she said.