By Katie Jackson – October 26, 2019

Editing and proofreading involve tremendous amounts of concentration. A thorough review of a historical fiction manuscript, in particular, requires extreme focus on every single word, while simultaneously maintaining an awareness of context and time period. Although a seasoned professional will never guarantee perfection—we’re only human, after all—we do strive for error-free excellence. Such attention to detail takes a significant amount of time to accomplish. For that reason, many in the freelance editorial realm will charge a flat, per-word rate.

Benefits of a Per-Word Rate

A flat rate ensures that the client knows up front exactly what the cost of their project will be. There won’t be any last-minute, “this took longer than expected” surprises. The client also benefits from not limiting or rushing their editor with hourly constraints. The editor can spend as much time as needed—within deadlines, of course—carefully and methodically reviewing the manuscript. Furthermore, the document will be that much more polished when an editor or proofreader is able to go through it at a comfortable pace.

Per-Word Rate vs. Hourly Rate

A freelance copyeditor or proofreader can usually review an average of 2,000 words per hour, assuming a well-written and fairly clean manuscript. The pace can be faster or slower, depending on the content. Generally speaking, an hourly rate tends to cost clients more and can be unpredictable. For example, a 100,000-word fiction manuscript at a flat rate of $0.01 per word would cost $1,000 for proofreading. The same manuscript, at the average speed noted above, would take around 50 hours to review. At $30.00 per hour, a fair rate for the expertise of a skilled professional, the cost would be $1,500.

Turnaround Time

It is important to bear in mind that such extreme concentration can only be maintained for a few hours per day without physically and mentally straining the editor. An experienced editor will always attempt to avoid over-promising and under-delivering. Our clients’ success and satisfaction are our top priority.