FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Editing: $25 per hour Proofreading: $20 per hour. When creating estimates for novels or books, I divide the total word count by 300 (words per manuscript). That gives me an estimated number of manuscript pages, which I divide by 10--most editors estimate 10 pages per hour of work.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
I ask these questions in a phone call or by online communication: 1) What is the purpose of your work? (Technical marketing, fiction, and so forth.) 2) Who is the intended audience? 3) What do you see as the appropriate reading level or the educational level of your readers? 4) If I am editing or writing materials for your business, I will ask if there is a web site I can visit to better understand what you do. Context is everything. 5) I will ask you how you'd like to handle suggestions and questions--by email, by Messenger, or by phone. I'm fine with any of these methods. 6) If you have a publishing deadline, I will need to know what that is and can develop a project timeline working back from that date.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I have a masters degree in English--I was trained at university as an editor at a series of academic journals and a student science fiction magazine and literary journal. In my professional career I have been a technical writer, computer magazine and business magazine editor, newsletter manager, and marketing/publication relations writer. I've enjoyed doing many types of editing and writing work!