How Much Does Editing Cost?

The cost of editing is dependent on many factors, such as the strength of your writing, how much development the project has already gone through, and more.

To get an official quote for my services based on the current state of your manuscript, you’ll need to contact me. But the price estimation calculator below will give you an idea of what to expect each round of editing to cost and how much time it will take based on word count.

Why previous feedback matters

The calculator asks about previous feedback you may have received for your project. Whether you have or not won’t affect whether I’m willing to take your project. My favourite stages of editing are early in the process, and I love working with authors to take their projects from “diamonds in the rough” to sparkling gems worthy of a bookstore shelf.

For the purposes of this estimator, professional feedback is simply an indication of how polished your work is likely to be already.

What “professional feedback” means

“Professional feedback” might be a previous round of editing, feedback from a critique group of experienced authors, or an experienced beta reader.

If you’re an experienced author who writes very clean and you’ve already done revisions based on your prior knowledge but you haven’t had an editor go over your work already, you may still fall more in the range of someone who has received professional feedback.

Most queries I receive are from authors who have never worked with a developmental editor before—or an editor of any kind. For new and developing authors, going through the full process of editing will not only save you money on subsequent rounds of editing (and future projects), but—and this is important—you’ll end up with a better story overall in the end, and I promise that you’ll be a better writer.

For more about the editing process, and when and how you could consider skipping steps, please see this post on my Author Alchemist blog.

Important Caveats:

This is an estimate only. You will still need to send a sample of your work for me to assess in order to receive an accurate quote.

Your work may not be ready for the level of editing you request. In that case, I will recommend you start with a different type of editing. I will not do a type of editing work on your project that it’s not ready for, because I lack the ability to pass over things that need to be fixed. I will always give you an honest assessment of what I believe your work needs. You can make your decisions from there.

I can sometimes do rush work. If the project needs to be done in a shorter length of time than the estimator gives, let me know when querying, and I’ll let you know if I’m able to accommodate your needs.

I have options for lower budgets. While I need to charge a certain amount for my time in order to pay my bills, I also understand the needs of authors on a budget. (I’m one of those, too!)

If you want to improve your story and writing but can’t afford a full edit, consider a partial edit. You can learn an astonishing amount from having only part of your work edited. As you apply what you’ve learned, you’ll improve your entire project—and you’ll reduce the costs of future editing.

I have partial editing packages available on my Editorial Services page, or you can choose a custom number of words you want edited and I’ll quote you for that.

Also, sign up for my Word Wizard Academy newsletter for a free lesson about plot structure you can read in an hour or less and use to help you improve your story now.

My Editing Values

If you only want someone who will polish up your punctuation and spelling, use an AI-driven editor such as ProWritingAid to help you with that. (This is something I recommend anyway. The more polished you can make your prose before you send it, the more money you’ll save in other editing.)

If you want an editor who cares deeply about not only the story you’re telling, but about your success as an author, I’m your girl.

When you’re ready, I’d love to see how we can make your story and writing better, together.