About these rates

The median rate ranges in the 2024 rate chart below are based on data from a survey administered to EFA members from November 2023 through mid-January 2024. One thousand respondents, representing 30.3% of the EFA’s membership, answered questions about the editorial services they provided and rates they charged for those services during the 2023 calendar year. Please note that because members were instructed to respond only to questions applicable to their own work, the number of responses for each question varied widely.

As a member association, the EFA neither sets rates nor advises members on what rates or rate types to use. Individual members’ rates may vary considerably, depending on multiple factors, including type of work, turnaround time, degree of expertise, local cost of living, training, and years of experience.

This site offers two ways to interact with the editorial rates reported in the 2023 EFA survey:

1. Use the editorial rate estimator to obtain an estimated cost for a specific project.
2. Refer to the 2024 rate chart to see an array of rates across a range of work types and genres.

Editorial rate estimator

This tool helps you estimate the cost of hiring an editorial professional for your job. It is designed to give you an idea of what the cost of a given project may be based on 2023 data we collected from our members. The estimated range you obtain may not be indicative of a given editorial professional’s rates, and those rates will vary, depending on years of experience, training, and multiple other factors (see “About these rates” for examples).

To use, click on “Per word” or “Per hour” for the type of estimate you want. To obtain your estimate, select the type of service you are seeking (editing, publishing, reading, consulting, etc.) and type or genre of your project (academic, fiction, nonfiction, etc.), and enter your total word count. Please note: The median value is determined by the median rate provided to us by members as part of our rate survey. The upper and lower estimates are determined by a percentage based on the average variations from the median rates.

✳️ Need to convert between different rate types (per hour/page/word)? Use the rate converter tool located below the rate chart.

2024 rate chart

Download this chart: PDF | PDF (landscape)
Don’t understand the difference between different kinds of editorial services? Review our editorial service definitions.

Editorial Rates
The median rate ranges below are based on data generated by a survey administered to EFA members from November 2023 through mid-January 2024. One thousand respondents, representing 30.3% of the EFA’s membership, answered questions about the editorial services they provided and the rates they charged for those services during the 2023 calendar year. Because members were instructed to respond only to questions applicable to their own work, the number of responses for each question varied widely. Please note that this chart uses the industry standard of 250 words per manuscript page. As a member association, the EFA neither sets rates nor advises members on what rates or rate types to use. Individual members’ rates may vary considerably, depending on multiple factors, including type of work, turnaround time, degree of expertise, local cost of living, training, and years of experience.
CONSULTING		PER WORD	PER HOUR	PER PAGE	PAGES/HR	FLAT FEE
				(250 words)		Mean	Median
Coaching			$70.00–90.00			$740.25	$100.00
Query Letter Coaching			$65.00–80.00			$196.11	$145.00
Marketing and Promotion
	Electronic media (non-social)		$50.00–100.00			$ 89.00	$100.00
	Print media		$52.50–75.00			$2,074.17	$115.00
	Social media		$50.00–75.00			$74.00	$75.00
Project Management			$60.00–85.00			$850.94	$65.00
Other Consulting (see No. 1, below)			$72.50–112.50			$1,091.00	$142.00
	NOTE: Consulting rates vary greatly and depend on project type and duration. The greater the difference between the mean and the median, the wider the range of rates.
DESIGN		PER WORD	PER HOUR	PER PAGE	PAGES/HR	FLAT FEE
				(250 words)		Mean	Median
Graphic Design
	Book covers		$50.00–65.00	$20.00–40.00	5.0–15.0	$199.29	$50.00
	Books and print media		$50.00–60.00	$5.00–12.00	5.0–15.0	$32.50	$32.50
	eBooks and electronic media		$50.00–55.00	n/a–n/a	2.0–4.0	$475.00	$475.00
	Signage		$50.00–50.00	$3.00–5.00	5.0–10.0	$40.00	$40.00
	Swag		$45.00–50.00	$5.00–10.00	10.0–10.0	$45.00	$45.00
	Websites		$45.00–60.00	n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a
	Other media		$47.50–85.00	n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a	$3,000.00	$3,000.00
Layout
	Books and print media		$45.00–60.00	$4.00–8.00	5.0–20.0	$278.13	$275.00
	eBooks and electronic media		$45.00–55.00	$0.50–0.75	6.0–20.0	$262.78	$250.00
	Websites		$45.00–62.50	n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a	$2,000.00	$2,000.00
	Other media		$55.00–85.00	$50.00–50.00	3.0–3.0	$296.67	$250.00
Other Design (see No. 2, below)			$102.50–250.00	n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a
EDITING		PER WORD	PER HOUR	PER PAGE	PAGES/HR	FLAT FEE
				(250 words)		Mean	Median
Copyediting
	Academic, humanities (student)	3.0–5.0¢	$40.00–50.00	$7.50–12.50	4.0–8.0
	Academic, humanities (faculty, publication)	3.5–5.0¢	$45.00–60.00	$8.75–12.50	4.0–8.0
	Academic, STEM (student)	3.6–5.5¢	$45.00–60.00	$8.88–13.75	4.0–7.3
	Academic, STEM (faculty, publication)	3.8–6.0¢	$50.00–60.00	$9.50–15.00	4.0–7.0
	Academic, other	3.5–5.0¢	$50.00–60.00	$8.75–12.50	4.0–8.0
	Business/marketing	3.0–5.0¢	$50.00–60.00	$7.50–12.50	5.0–10.0
	Fiction	2.0–3.0¢	$40.00–50.00	$5.00–7.50	5.0–10.0
	Graphic novels	3.0–3.5¢	$38.00–55.00	$7.50–8.75	9.5–15.0
	Legal	4.0–14.8¢	$50.00–65.00	$10.00–36.88	5.0–7.0
	Medical	4.9–5.0¢	$50.00–65.00	$12.33–12.50	3.0–6.0
	Medicolegal	6.0–8.0¢	$40.00–50.00	$15.00–20.00	5.0–10.0
	Memoirs	2.5–3.5¢	$45.00–55.00	$6.25–8.75	5.0–10.0
	Nonfiction	3.0–4.0¢	$45.00–60.00	$7.50–10.00	5.0–8.0
	Technical	4.0–6.0¢	$50.00–60.00	$10.00–15.00	4.0–7.8
	Other	4.0–6.0¢	$50.00–62.50	$10.00–15.00	5.0–7.0
Developmental Editing
	Academic, humanities (student)	4.0–6.0¢	$50.00–60.00	$10.00–15.00	4.0–8.0
	Academic, humanities (faculty, publication)	4.0–5.0¢	$56.50–70.00	$10.00–12.50	4.0–7.0
	Academic, STEM (student)	5.0–7.0¢	$50.00–65.00	$12.50–17.50	3.0–7.0
	Academic, STEM (faculty, publication)	5.0–6.0¢	$55.00–70.00	$12.50–15.00	3.5–5.0
	Academic, other	4.0–6.0¢	$55.00–76.50	$10.00–15.00	4.0–7.5
	Business/marketing	4.0–6.0¢	$55.00–72.50	$10.00–15.00	4.0–10.0
	Fiction	3.0–4.0¢	$50.00–60.00	$7.50–10.00	5.0–10.0
	Graphic novels	3.3–5.0¢	$50.00–70.00	$8.25–12.50	10.0–15.0
	Legal	5.0–6.5¢	$70.00–82.50	$12.50–16.25	4.0–6.5
	Medical	5.5–7.0¢	$60.00–75.00	$13.75–17.50	2.5–4.5
	Medicolegal	n/a–n/a	$45.00–75.00	n/a–n/a	3.5–10.5
	Memoirs	3.7–5.0¢	$55.00–65.00	$9.25–12.50	4.0–8.0
	Nonfiction	4.0–5.0¢	$55.00–70.00	$10.00–12.50	4.0–7.0
	Technical	5.0–7.3¢	$58.00–65.00	$12.50–18.13	3.5–6.5
	Other	4.0–6.0¢	$60.00–70.00	$10.00–15.00	4.0–7.5
Formatting
	Academic, humanities (student)		$45.00–50.00	$40.00–50.00	7.0–11.0
	Academic, humanities (faculty, publication)		$50.00–60.00	$45.00–52.50	7.0–10.0
	Academic, STEM (student)		$45.00–55.00	$50.00–50.00	4.0–10.0
	Academic, STEM (faculty, publication)		$50.00–60.00	$50.00–55.00	4.0–10.0
	Academic, other		$50.00–60.00	$30.00–50.00	6.0–10.0
	Business/marketing		$50.00–65.00	$45.00–55.00	7.0–12.0
	Fiction		$50.00–60.00	$2.50–3.50	15.0–18.0
	Graphic novels		$51.25–66.25	$5.00–25.00	n/a–n/a
	Legal		$75.00–90.00	$5.00–n/a	8.0–14.5
	Medical		$55.00–60.00	$13.75–15.00	1.0–4.0
	Medicolegal		n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a
	Memoirs		$50.00–65.00	$2.50–5.00	7.0–12.0
	Nonfiction		$50.00–65.00	$2.65–5.30	7.0–11.0
	Technical		$61.25–75.00	$7.50–12.80	6.5–11.0
	Other		$70.00–76.50	$3.90–5.60	8.0–9.0
Line Editing
	Academic, humanities (student)	4.0–5.0¢	$45.00–60.00	$10.00–12.50	4.0–8.0
	Academic, humanities (faculty, publication)	4.0–6.0¢	$50.00–65.00	$10.00–15.00	4.0–7.3
	Academic, STEM (student)	4.0–6.5¢	$50.00–60.00	$10.00–16.25	4.0–7.5
	Academic, STEM (faculty, publication)	4.0–6.0¢	$50.00–60.00	$10.00–15.00	4.0–6.5
	Academic, other	4.0–6.0¢	$50.00–65.00	$10.00–15.00	4.0–7.3
	Business/marketing	4.0–6.0¢	$50.00–70.00	$10.00–14.88	5.0–8.0
	Fiction	2.5–4.0¢	$45.00–60.00	$6.25–10.00	5.0–8.0
	Graphic novels	2.5–4.0¢	$40.00–55.00	$6.25–10.00	10.0–15.0
	Legal	5.0–15.5¢	$60.00–75.00	$12.50–38.75	5.0–8.5
	Medical	4.0–6.0¢	$50.00–65.00	$10.00–15.00	3.0–6.0
	Medicolegal	7.0–9.0¢	$40.00–57.50	$17.50–22.50	5.0–10.0
	Memoirs	3.0–4.1¢	$50.00–60.00	$7.50–10.25	5.0–8.0
	Nonfiction	3.5–5.0¢	$50.00–65.00	$8.75–12.50	4.0–7.0
	Technical	4.0–6.0¢	$50.00–65.00	$10.00–15.00	4.0–7.0
	Other	4.0–6.3¢	$50.00–70.00	$10.00–15.75	4.0–6.0
Proofreading
	Academic, humanities (student)	2.0–4.0¢	$40.00–50.00	$5.00–10.00	7.0–10.0
	Academic, humanities (faculty, publication)	2.0–3.4¢	$40.00–50.00	$5.00–8.53	7.0–10.0
	Academic, STEM (student)	3.0–5.0¢	$42.50–55.00	$7.50–12.50	6.0–10.0
	Academic, STEM (faculty, publication)	3.0–5.0¢	$40.00–50.00	$7.50–12.50	6.0–10.0
	Academic, other	2.0–4.1¢	$41.50–55.00	$5.00–10.25	6.0–10.5
	Business/marketing	2.0–4.0¢	$45.00–57.50	$5.00–10.00	7.0–10.0
	Fiction	1.2–2.0¢	$35.00–45.00	$3.00–5.00	8.0–14.0
	Graphic novels	1.5–2.8¢	$35.00–40.00	$3.75–6.88	9.5–17.5
	Legal	2.0–3.8¢	$40.00–51.00	$5.00–9.38	6.0–10.0
	Medical	5.0–5.0¢	$45.00–60.00	$12.50–12.50	6.0–10.0
	Medicolegal	n/a–n/a	$37.50–65.00	n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a
	Memoirs	2.0–2.5¢	$35.00–47.50	$5.00–6.25	8.0–12.0
	Nonfiction	2.0–3.0¢	$40.00–50.00	$5.00–7.50	7.0–11.0
	Technical	2.5–4.0¢	$45.00–57.00	$6.25–10.00	6.0–10.0
	Other	2.0–3.3¢	$36.00–51.00	$5.00–8.28	6.5–10.0
Other Editing (see No. 3, below)		1.3–2.0¢	$48.75–62.50	$3.31–5.00	16.3–23.5
PUBLISHING		PER WORD	PER HOUR	PER PAGE	PAGES/HR	FLAT FEE
				(250 words)		Mean	Median
Book Proposal
	Book	6.0–9.0¢	$60.00–90.00		5.0–6.0	$3,335.71	$575.00
	eBook	4.5–5.5¢	$55.00–77.50		1.0–3.0	$5,250.00	$5,250.00
	Other media	n/a–n/a	$55.00–80.00		n/a–n/a
Indexing
	Book	2.0–3.0¢	$50.00–60.00		5.0–10.0
	eBook	1.8–1.8¢	$50.00–80.00		8.0–n/a
	Website	n/a–n/a	$50.00–60.00		n/a–n/a
	Other media	15.0–20.0¢	$57.50–90.00		n/a–n/a
Permissions			$50.00–75.00	n/a–n/a		$48.00	$48.00
Research and Fact-Checking
	Fact-checking		$55.00–72.50	$4.00–4.00	2.0–4.0
	Research		$57.50–75.00	$4.00–4.00	2.0–4.0
Self-Publishing Assistance
	Electronic		$50.00–60.00			$185.91	$200.00
	Print		$50.00–75.00			$253.18	$200.00
	Other media		$50.00–61.25			$227.78	$200.00
Other Publishing (see No. 4, below)		n/a–n/a	$32.50–62.50	n/a–n/a	1.0–10.0	$347.50	$347.50
READING		PER WORD	PER HOUR	PER PAGE	PAGES/HR	FLAT FEE
				(250 words)		Mean	Median
Beta Reading		0.8–1.2¢	$31.00–45.00		10.0–17.5	$208.70	$150.00
Manuscript Assessment/Evaluation		1.5–1.5¢	$40.00–54.00		11.0–17.0	$855.56	$600.00
Sensitivity/Authenticity Reading
	Authenticity	1.5–3.8¢	$50.00–55.00		10.0–22.5	$933.33	$500.00
	Sensitivity	1.5–2.0¢	$50.00–60.00		10.0–15.0	$580.00	$300.00
	Sensitivity and authenticity	1.0–2.8¢	$40.00–52.50		10.0–30.0	$600.00	$600.00
Other Reading (see No. 5, below)		1.0–2.5¢	$50.00–59.00		10.0–15.5	$875.00	$525.00
TRANSCRIPTION		PER AUDIO	PER HOUR	PER PAGE	AUDIO	FLAT FEE
		MINUTE		(250 words)	MIN./HR	Mean	Median
Transcription		$1.25–1.38	$40.00–55.00		32.5–37.5
	NOTE: Transcription is charged in terms of per-audio minute, per hour, and audio minutes per hour
TRANSLATION		PER WORD	PER HOUR	PER PAGE	PAGES/HR	FLAT FEE
				(250 words)		Mean	Median
	From English	12.0–19.5¢	$57.50–75.00	$30.00–48.75	2.0–3.0
	To English	12.0–17.0¢	$50.00–70.00	$30.00–42.50	2.0–3.0
WRITING		PER WORD	PER HOUR	PER PAGE	PAGES/HR	FLAT FEE
				(250 words)		Mean	Median
Curriculum Development
	Curricula, primary school	5.2–7.8¢	$84.00–100.00	n/a–n/a	4.0–6.0	n/a	n/a
	Curricula, secondary school	52.6–1.04	$78.00–78.00	n/a–$260.00	3.3–4.5	n/a	n/a
	Curricula, undergraduate	5.2–7.8¢	$78.00–78.00	n/a–n/a	4.0–6.0	$1,000.00	$1,000.00
	Curricula, graduate	n/a–n/a	$67.50–75.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–3.0	$4,000.00	$4,000.00
Ghostwriting
	Articles/essays	20.0–24.0¢	$60.00–97.50	n/a–n/a	1.5–3.5
	Blog posts	20.0–24.5¢	$60.00–100.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–3.0
	Business/marketing	27.5–1.00	$75.00–100.00	n/a–$250.00	1.0–3.0
	Fiction, full-length	9.0–11.5¢	$55.00–110.00	n/a–n/a	3.0–5.5
	Graphic novels	n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a
	Journalism	33.0–35.0¢	$60.00–95.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–3.5
	Legal	25¢–$1.00	$55.00–85.00	n/a–$250.00	n/a–n/a
	Medical	n/a–n/a	$82.50–110.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–3.0
	Medicolegal	$1.00–2.00	n/a–n/a	$250.00–500.00	n/a–n/a
	Memoir	16.7–20.0¢	$75.00–100.00	n/a–n/a	2.0–4.0
	Nonfiction, full-length	20.0–27.0¢	$75.00–110.00	n/a–n/a	1.5–4.0
	Nonfiction, short-form	20.0–29.0¢	$70.00–110.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–3.0
	Scientific	24.0–24.0¢	$80.00–100.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–3.5
	Short story	9.5–13.5¢	$60.00–95.00	n/a–n/a	2.5–5.0
	Technical	20.0–26.5¢	$77.50–100.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–3.5
	Other	17.0–58.5¢	$85.00–105.00	n/a–n/a	3.0–4.0
Work-for-Hire
	Articles/essays	30.0–87.5¢	$60.00–75.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–3.0
	Blog posts	20.0–30.0¢	$50.00–79.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–3.0
	Business/marketing	22.5–69.5¢	$62.50–100.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–4.0
	Fiction, full-length	9.5–14.0¢	$50.00–92.50	n/a–n/a	2.5–6.0
	Graphic novels	n/a–n/a	$50.00–75.00	n/a–n/a	n/a–n/a
	Journalism	50¢–$1.00	$60.00–82.50	n/a–$250.00	1.0–4.0
	Legal	n/a–n/a	$50.00–55.00	n/a–n/a	5.0–6.0
	Medical	57.5–1.00	$70.00–85.00	n/a–$250.00	1.0–3.0
	Medicolegal	55.0–1.00	n/a–n/a	n/a–$250.00	n/a–n/a
	Memoir	22.5–39.5¢	$75.00–90.00	n/a–n/a	2.5–6.0
	Nonfiction, full-length	22.5–65.0¢	$75.00–90.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–4.0
	Nonfiction, short-form	30.0–81.0¢	$65.00–85.00	n/a–n/a	1.0–3.0
	Scientific	$1.00–1.12	$80.00–100.00	$250.00–280.00	1.0–4.0
	Short story	10.0–12.0¢	$60.00–75.00	n/a–n/a	2.5–6.0
	Technical	27.0–69.5¢	$67.50–97.50	n/a–n/a	1.0–4.0
	Other	21.0–62.5¢	$55.00–72.50	n/a–n/a	3.0–5.0
Other Writing (see, No. 6, below)		33.8–41.5¢	$62.50–92.50	n/a–n/a	4.0–6.0
OTHER SERVICES
	1. Other Consulting	Examples include brainstorming, dissertation development, grant writing, pitch development, proposal development, strategic communications, writing workshops
	2. Other Design	Examples include desktop publishing, handouts, magazines, mapmaking, newsletters
	3. Other Editing	Examples include 508 accessibility, audiobooks, competitive analyses, picture book, plain language editing, resumes, white papers
	4. Other Publishing	Examples include coaching, distribution assistance, journal submission management, picture research, press/market research, publisher research, reference checking and formatting
	5. Other Reading	Examples include accessibility to non-academic readers, chapter guidance, cold reading, conceptual clarity, submissions reading
	6. Other Writing	Examples include book reviews, children’s board books, devotionals, exhibition materials, grant writing, press releases, query letters, screenplays/scripts, social media posts, speechwriting
	7. Other Editorial	Examples include communications strategy, oral history interviews, production editing, query letter guidance and editing, research, resume writing/coaching, web architecture/taxonomy
Copyright © 2024 Editorial Freelancers Association							Updated 3/19/2024

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