If you’re like most independent authors, you don’t have a lot of money. You’re probably writing this book hoping it will be a cash cow. But on the off chance it isn’t, do you really want to mortgage your house to pay for an editor? Doubt it.
Unfortunately, most editors do cost money, and the better the editor, the more she’ll cost. In my years of helping independent authors make their books a reality, I’ve charged anywhere from $500 for a basic edit of a short ebook to nearly $10,000 for ghostwriting, editing, and marketing a printed self-help book. The cost depends on a lot of factors, including the length of the book, what sort of shape it’s in when you hand it over to me, and how many revisions we go through together.
Knowing exactly what an editor does will help you figure out how much you’re going to spend.
Developmental Editing
During earlier phases of your manuscript, an editor can give you high-level feedback on your book. What’s working, what’s not. Whether your storyline has continuity. Whether your outline is translating into a narrative. (You did start with an outline, right?)
Considering how crucial it is to whip your book into readable shape, developmental editing is not always all that expensive. I will sometimes give a book a read-through, and give the author feedback, in about six or seven hours. At my hourly rate, that’s about $500. Of course, the amount of time ultimately depends on the length of your book, and whether it flows to begin with. So it’s a good idea to get your manuscript in the best possible shape before you ever run it by pro eyeballs.
Line Editing
This is probably the most common type of editing I do, and it’s also the most time consuming. During line editing, I read every single sentence very carefully and make adjustments to flow together the tone, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, etc. I usually create a style guide while I am doing this — a set of standards for your book so the spelling, grammar, use of numerals versus numbers, etc., will always be consistent, from start to finish, no matter who touches it. And I make notes in the “margins” on things I want you to change or work on, or things that I need you to clarify.
Expect to spend at least $1,000 to $1,500 for one round of line edits. The cost, of course, depends on the length of the book and how tight it is to begin with.
Copy Editing and Proofing
This is usually the last stage in the process and happens several times, ideally by several people. Once again, the editor reads Every. Single. Word. To make sure there are no typos. Not even one. Not a single. When I edit a book for a client, line editing and proofing often get wrapped into one process. I do several revisions and read the book multiple times, at least once on paper and out loud to make sure I don’t miss a letter.
Occasionally clients will hire me to simply proof a book or ebook that they feel is already 95 percent of the way there. For a short ebook, this might just take a handful of hours. For a “real book” of significant length, more like 10-15 hours. I charge $60-75 an hour for book proofing.
And of course, the more work you do on your manuscript before you hand it off to an editor, the less you’ll pay. It’s tempting to pass it off the moment you feel stuck or bored, but these 10 Tips to Save You Money on a Book Editor might help you get more organized first… which will ultimately save you money.
