| Official Industry Standard Fee Scale as of 2017
Common editorial rates—regardless of whether a project is flat rate or hourly—tend to fall within the ranges indicated below. These should be used only as a rough guideline; rates vary considerably depending on the nature of the work, the time frame of the assignment, the degree of special expertise required, and other factors. The industry standard for a manuscript page, however, is a firm 250 words.
| Type of Work |
Estimated Pace |
Range of Fees |
| EDITING |
|
|
| Editing, basic copyediting |
5-10 ms pgs/hr |
$30-40/hr |
| Editing, heavy copyediting |
2–5 ms pgs/hr |
$40–50/hr |
| Editing, website copyediting |
|
$40-50/hr |
| Editing, developmental |
1–5 pgs/hr |
$45–55/hr |
| Editing, substantive or line |
1–6 ms pgs/hr |
$40–60/hr |
| FACT CHECKING |
|
$30-40/hr |
| INDEXING |
8-20 pr pg/hr |
$35-65/hr
$5.50-12/pr ind pg |
| LAYOUT |
|
|
| Layout, books |
6-10 pgs/hr |
$45-85/hr |
| Layout, newsletters |
1-4 pgs/hr |
$40-100/hr |
| Layout, websites |
|
$16-20/pg |
| MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION |
|
$45-55/hr |
| PERMISSIONS |
|
$40-50/hr |
| PROJECT MANAGEMENT |
|
$9-30/pr pg
$40-90/hr |
| PROOFREADING |
9-13 ms pgs/hr |
$30-35/hr |
| RESEARCHING |
|
$40-75/hr |
| TRANSCRIBING |
variable |
$2.50-$4/
audio minute |
| TRANSLATING |
300-500 wds/hr |
$40-50/hr |
| WEB DESIGN |
|
$50-75/hr |
| WRITING |
1-3 ms pgs/hr |
|
| Writing, fiction |
|
$40-50/hr
20¢-25¢/wd |
| Writing, ghostwriting |
|
$50-60/hr
26¢-50¢/wd |
| Writing, grants/proposals/sales/PR |
|
$50-60/hr
30¢-95¢/wd |
| Writing, journalism |
|
$40-50/hr
26¢-50¢/wd |
| Writing, medical |
|
$60-70/hr
80¢-95¢/wd |
| Writing, nonspecified |
|
$40-100/hr
20¢-$2/wd |
| Writing, technical/trade |
|
$50-60/hr
45¢-55¢/wd |
| NOTE ind = indexable page, ms = manuscript, pr = printed, pg = page, hr = hour, wd = word |
|