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Freelance proofreading won’t make you rich, but you can earn a reasonable wage from the job if you can build up a bank of regular, trustworthy clients.
The big question
With few set-up costs, no travelling expenses and pretty much all the flexibility you want, freelance proofreading can be an exciting and fulfilling way to earn a crust.
And it's therefore probably no surprise that the question I'm most often asked by those looking to break into our industry is 'How much can you earn?' Different models of pricing
In the UK, the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) updates its suggested minimum hourly rates for proofreading and other editorial services each year.
Whether you can earn its suggestion will depend on who you work for, what pricing model is in play and what skills you have. If you're working for clients who are price-setters (for example, publishers, packagers and agencies), some of them might offer a set project fee. Whether you complete the work in 10 hours or 100 won't change the number on your invoice. If you're working for clients where you're the price-setter (for example, independent authors) you might charge per 1,000 words, but at least you'll be able to evaluate the project first, assess how many words you'll be able to do per hour and create a quotation for your services (hourly rate or set fee) that properly reflects the time it takes to complete the work. Your ability to work efficiently in different formats (for example, Word, PDF or a content management system) and to use supporting software (for example, macros and PerfectIt) f will, of course, affect how long a project takes and therefore what your hourly rate works out at. You’ll probably improve your efficiency as you become more experienced, too. And if you work for a client on a regular basis, you’ll become familiar with their style, which will speed you up. Different rates for different specialisms
Publisher and packager rates
In my experience, you can expect to earn higher rates if you proofread science, technical or medical materials. Clients tend to prefer people with a background in these fields, and the level of technical expertise required can mean earnings at the higher end of the rates spectrum. Some of my colleagues have also found the educational publishing sector to be lucrative. However, in the social sciences the rates tend to average out lower. And as for the trade publishing sector, the fee rarely gets anywhere near the CIEP recommended rates. The books are diverse and fun, but you’ll have to compromise on the pay! Setting your own rates
If you're visible to other types of clients (for example indie authors, students and corporate clients) via directories, the search engines, the answer engines or professional bodies, you'll be able to set your own rates, and you can build your pricing model in whatever way you want, whether that's per word, per hour, per day or per project.
Bear in mind that when you proofread directly with a client, the text might not have been through previous levels of editing, so it may require more intervention. Make sure your client understands how you define the scope of a proofreading project,. That way you won't end up setting a proofreading rate only to discover that you're actually carrying out copyediting, line editing or developmental editing. When you're the price-setter, you can also consider higher rates for out-of-hours work (however you define them) or for a fast turnaround. You can also elect to offer different rates for different client types (for example, higher-income corporates versus lower-income creatives). Why don’t some publishers and packagers pay more?
Publishers, packagers and project-management agencies usually set their own proofreading rates. Should they decide to accept your services, you’ll have to decide whether to accept their rates. They vary enormously.
There's frequently talk in the editorial community about poor rates of pay in this sector. Here's something you should know: Book publishing is an expensive business, and those publisher clients that don’t have other revenue streams (subscription-based products like journals, for example) have very tight margins. Controlling editorial costs is crucial if they're to ensure their businesses remain sustainable. That might mean that you're going to be disappointed with some of the rates being offered. But think about how disappointed an in-house employee would be if they were made redundant. All businesses – including ours - have to balance their budgets, and that might mean a particular client just isn't a good fit for you. There’s little point in grouching about it – you’re self-employed now. No one’s forcing you to take the rate so think about:
and make your decision accordingly. Try negotiating by all means, but if your client won’t budge, consider this: The highest rate isn’t always the best deal in the long run. One client offering a one-off job worth £60 per hour isn’t as financially rewarding on an annual basis as another who’ll give you monthly projects at an hourly rate of £30. Repeat work means you don’t have to spend money and time on marketing yourself quite as vigorously, so do the maths. Taking a lower rate or working for free to get experience
When you’re starting out, you need experience. This is not a good time to be worrying about whether you’re getting a professional organisation's suggested minimum rate.
Instead, think long term – go for whatever jobs you can get to beef up your portfolio; work for free if you need to. Experience counts for a lot, as do good references. Working for little now will pay off in the future, allowing you to attract new clients and be pickier about who you want to work for and what rates you’re prepared to accept. Should you work for below the suggested minimums?
Some freelance editors and proofreaders think that every time one of us accepts a ‘low’ rate we undermine the entire industry, forcing down the price.
My opinion is that it’s up to you. Once you become freelance, you’re running your own business. Don't waste time worrying about what others are charging. You have to decide how best to achieve your strategic goals. If accepting a rate that is considered ‘low’, or is below a suggested minimum, enables you to acquire clients who provide you with regular work, clear briefs and timely payment, then you may consider this an acceptable compromise, and it's not for me to tell you otherwise. Plus, what's 'low' anyway? What's low to you might seem okay to me because I live in a different location and my circumstances are different to yours in multiple ways. Take the long view
When assessing a rate, don’t just think about the rate per job – think about what you might earn from this client over the course of a year … two years … five years.
In the past I've accepted work from clients who were paying below the CIEP's suggested rates, but:
I wouldn't accept their rates now because my business is in a different place, but it's those clients and the work I did for them twenty years ago that enabled me to build and grow my business. Because of them I was self-employed, not self-unemployed. So can you earn a living from proofreading?
Can you earn a living from proofreading? That depends on:
Tens of thousands of editorial freelancers across the globe do have sustainable editorial businesses, so the possibility of earning a living is absolutely within reach. About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
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Find out what publishers think about professional editorial training courses, to help you decide how best to invest.
A note on when this post was originally written
I wrote this post about editorial training in 2011. However, I'm confident that the advice should still stand. While these days I line edit for indie fiction authors who find me via organic search, publishers are still and incredibly valuable source of work for many editors and proofreaders, so it's useful to understand how they assess the freelancers who work for them.
How far will training get you in the editorial freelancing market?
Publishers and editorial freelancers understand each other. We have the same expectations regarding the level of editing being undertaken (e.g. developmental, line/copy, proofreading), which saves both parties time.
Publishers are in a position to offer repeat work, thus taking some of the stress out of marketing. Plus the portfolio- and testimonial-building opportunities are excellent. And so while the rates are sometimes an issue (though not always by any means), publishers are a brilliant client group to target. It's therefore important to bear in mind where they see the value when hiring editorial freelancers. Here's what I found out ... Is training useless?
Somewhere out in the ether is a blog where the author calls proofreading courses a "scam" and "unnecessary", and the qualifications "useless". The rant continues, the author arguing that they’ve never been asked to produce evidence of any qualification or completion of a course by an "official" body.
And luckily for anyone looking to enter this extraordinarily crowded and competitive field, said author offers a far cheaper alternative to all those "rip-off" courses: their very own proofreading course in the form of an ebook. Back in 2005, I spent seven months doing just the type of course this author was decrying. I opted for Essential Proofreading, a distance learning course run by the Publishing Training Centre (PTC), an industry-recognized body. I also joined the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), formerly the SfEP, and did the necessaries to qualify for membership. So did I waste my money? Was I ripped off? Did the training I took on help me get to where I am now or was I kidding myself? Should I have instead invested in an ebook course that would have given me change from a twenty-pound note? I discussed this issue with some of my clients, all of whom are established and respected publishing houses or packagers in the UK. What came out of the conversation led me to conclude that the training I undertook was definitely worthwhile, and membership of the CIEP/SfEP has provided me with wonderful information-sharing opportunities as well as the right to advertise in their Directory of Editorial Services. Nevertheless, there was much food for thought in the responses I received. Thumbs up for training courses …
Out of House Publishing (now Newgen) consider only the CIEP/SfEP and PTC courses to be "useful and relevant" and then Managing Director Jo Bottrill stated that he "certainly consider[s] freelancers who have completed such training much more seriously".
Constable & Robinson’s website states, "Please note our minimum requirements include training from recognized establishments such as SfEP or the Publishing Training Centre." Aimée Feenan from Ashgate concurs, saying that most Ashgate staff have undertaken some sort of training at the PTC, and knowing that freelance staff are able to work to the same editorial standards means they are more likely to be hired. They also recognize the CIEP/SfEP as a trusted source. And at SAGE Publishing, training is considered important, with the CIEP/SfEP and PTC again being the two most trusted external suppliers. Elizabeth Clack at Edward Elgar felt "that the Publishing Training Centre and CIEP/SfEP courses are good quality and are well-regarded, so it would be a plus point if someone had taken courses with them, although that's not to say that we would only consider freelances who had taken courses with these bodies". She added, "it indicates to us that the freelance has reached a certain level of proficiency and has some understanding of editing/proofreading procedures and 'best practice'. Training is especially relevant if the freelance does not yet have much work experience." Also of note here the fact that she felt that proofreading courses took away some of the risk of the unknown when taking on a new or inexperienced freelancer. Why training in itself is not enough …
Training in itself is not always enough, and some publishers feel they have had their fingers burned by relying too much on freelancers’ training credits. Increasingly publishers are using their own tests in order to evaluate competence.
Jo Bottrill was cautious of advanced membership and accreditation status within the CIEP/SfEP, feeling that these did not always ensure that a freelancer met his exacting standards. Instead, he's "put[ting] more emphasis on the assessment of our own tests and analysis of live jobs. Our quality control and reporting procedures have developed over the last couple of years to ensure we have an appropriate safety net." For Edward Elgar, "another factor when considering whether to work with a freelance is whether they have experience in a particular subject area, because many of our books are quite specialized. For instance, freelances working on our law books may have law qualifications or a background in legal work." Ian Antcliff, one of SAGE Publications’ senior production editors, stated that training, though important, is seen as an add-on. For him, in-house experience makes for an attractive prospect, not because the editors/proofreaders are better, but rather because "it usually ensures that they are sympathetic to and understand the pressure that in-house staff are under (especially with regard to budgets and deadlines)". Ashgate acknowledge that not every freelancer on their books has received formal editorial training – they do have people who were just exceptionally good at learning on the job and being an expert in a particular subject area is also a real plus. Polity’s production manager, Neil de Cort, takes a stronger line. For him, a speculative letter with a list of training courses is of no relevance. Like most publishers, Polity receive a large number of speculative letters every year from freelancers looking for work. Experience counts every time – Neil wants to see that a freelancer has experience of working in the social sciences, and references from other publishers are key. Completion of a training course alone simply won’t get you on their books. Confidence to take on the task
The training I’ve completed to date did indeed get me looked at by several clients when I was starting out. Polity, though, gave me work because of my knowledge of their field of publishing and a good reference from Salt Publishing. Constable & Robinson noticed me, despite the fact that I already met their minimum requirements, because of a recommendation from the Edward Elgar production team.
However, proofreading books published by the likes of Cambridge University Press, Polity and SAGE, who, like all of my clients, have precise and exacting publishing standards, can be daunting to the newbie. And expanding into new publishing genres, in my case from the social sciences to trade, is a different type of challenge. Externally assessed training under the wing of a skilled industry-recognized body gave me the confidence to take on these challenges and feel assured that I was ready for the task in hand. On-the-job CPD and upgrading skills
I’ve no doubt that further courses will provide me with new knowledge and provide excellent networking opportunities. But will I get more work? It depends on what that training is – if it involves ensuring that I can hone my stylistic line craft, then yes.
Ian Antcliff at SAGE emphasizes how essential it is for freelancers to have up-to-date skill sets "with regard to both onscreen editing and Word, and also with ancillary software generally – Adobe, etc. – increasingly so as we move towards onscreen mark-up of proof PDFs". Talking to clients (or reading their blogs and tweets) about what their needs are, how the market is changing, and new ways of delivering our service may be just as informative as any course, and is probably the first thing we should do before deciding where to spend our hard-earned training cash. Summing up
So all in all, the message from my clients was that initial basic editorial training is more likely to get us noticed by publishers, but that it’s not the sole factor in determining whether they place us on their books.
Experience counts for a lot, but so does flexibility over the formats in which we work. Continuing to update our skills in whatever way best suits the needs of our clients will give us the best chance of remaining their freelancers of choice. As for that £19.99 ebook course? It simply wouldn’t have cut the mustard. (With thanks to Edward Elgar, SAGE Publications, Ashgate, Polity, and Out of House Publishing for their generous contributions.) About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
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