Editing Work - How Much is Normal?

[cranky laowai]

Copy editors don't charge by the page; they charge by the hour. Although some might say they charge by the page, unless they're masochists they base that "page" rate upon their real hourly rate after having looked at the manuscript and evaluating how much time it will take to finish. Otherwise you would charge the same for a manuscript you need to spend ages on as for something that needs but one extra comma.

And any definition of "page" needs to be clearly established in advance. Single-spaced 10-point Arial? Double-spaced 12-point Times New Roman? What about footnotes? Word count? Are additional Chinese characters words?

Do not trust clients when they say "It's just a couple of pages and should only take a few minutes to clean up." They might believe that, but it's seldom true.

Charge extra for last-minute jobs.

Establish whether you are responsible for checking facts.

While getting started, base your hourly rate upon what you would charge as a one-on-one English teacher.

[wix]

Work on an hourly rate. There are so many variables involved. A well written 5,000 word essay may take less than an hour to edit. A badly written 500 word essay could take all day if it proves to be possible at all.

[wolf_reinhold]

Freelance writers here usually get paid per word. For editing, get a sample of a hundred words or so if you don't know the source to judge the degree of mess you might be working with and then set your rate.
How much? How much can you ask and how specialized is the editing? "See Spot run," is hardly worth the same as a term paper on quantum mechanics.
You want to charge per hour? That's good too.
Look on that Internet thing for more info such as this:
http://www.copyediting.co.uk/noframes.htm#How

[Hartzell]

If they want you to finish the editing within 48 hours, it is reasonable to ask for double your normal NT$ rates.

This should be clearly stated on your "service sheet" or advertising circular.

[jplowman]

I'm thinking of doing some freelance editing. I've heard that advertising at Shi-Da and Tai-Da can get jobs editing students' work. Does anybody with experience in this sort of thing have an idea what the going rate is for freelance editing work? I assume it's per page, possibly with a minimum charge? Appreciate it-


(and I thought my English major was useless)

[ironlady]

"That agency's" translation rates haven't seemed to go up, so I doubt their editing rates have, either. They're crying extreme poverty at present...

[jeff]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ironlady:
<strong>"That agency's" translation rates haven't seemed to go up, so I doubt their editing rates have, either. They're crying extreme poverty at present...</strong><hr></blockquote>


Well, then I hope you're not still working with them!

By the way, you were the best translator they had at the time I was there. I only saw 1 of your projects, but it was far better than anything else I saw. Usually, I'd have to do a full edit on translation projects, but not with yours.

[jeff]

Hourly rates are best, for the reasons mentioned above. However, I've found that many clients are more comfortable with a per-page rate. For these clients, I offer a per-page rate that is signficantly higher than what I would normally charge, and then give a discount if minimal editing is required.

What's a fair per-page rate? That depends on the complexity of the material as well as your expertise in both editing and the specific topic. At an medical editing agency I used to work for, beginning editors were paid NT$100 per page (double spaced, 12-pt font, approx 250 words/page). More experienced editors were paid twice that, but were expected to perform CPR on the paper if necessary. (I could spend a full day on a troublesome 25-page manuscript.) The agency then tacked on a percentage to cover their expenses and clear a little profit, so clients were billed at about NT$200/page for light editing and NT$350/page for substantive editing. That was several years ago, so I imagine prices have gone up since then. When I left the agency, I billed my clients $300 to $400 per page, and increased the price for rapid turnaround.

[ironlady]

Gosh...caught! I'll *really* have to watch my grammar in future! [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Thanks for your "o-lo" [praise] as the Taiwanese speakers say.

I *was* still working for them occasionally until last month, when I did quite a large "irregular" job for them that had to do with a certain survey of a certain institution by a certain committee on a certain Beautiful Island ('nuf said!). Said Committee predictably contained a Member whose English was Better than that of Said Translator, and Said Member complained roundly that Said Translation was (quote): "Bad." Bad how or where, said Member would not say. However, Check for said Job had already been cashed before said Member managed to read said Translation, so said Translator is bearing up rather well under the circumstances. :-)


To kind of relate this to the original topic -- this is also a consideration in editing. Particularly if there is a mid- to upper-range Chinese professor involved, very often you will get people claiming to know more about English than the editor/translator. In some cases (unfortunately) the low language level of those permitted to be editors in Taiwan just based on their native language status means this is true. In other cases, it is just "face" for the professor in question.

I recorded 84 hours of audio tapes in 1996 or 1997 teaching the "Middle School English" textbook series in Chinese for the little tykes to listen to on their Walkmen (I will never forget the producer sitting out there and occasionally jumping up and waving his arms with great agitation when I'd made a particularly unbearable Chinese mistake!! x() Anyway, this textbook series was so BAD, there was at least an English error on every page, on average. I asked the producer about this, and he happened to know the committee in question. I'm told there was one foreigner of very long duration in Taiwan who sat on the committee, but he was completely overpowered by the Chinese professors and unable to get these very obvious errors corrected. (My favorite in the newer series was "The taxi bumped into a bus." I can just picture the vehicles in question saying, 'No, no, we don't need the police, dui bu qi, bu hao yi si' and driving off.)

When did you leave "said agency"?? Just curious!!
Terry

[jplowman]

This is all quite helpful. Thanks! (And I'll check back later to see if anyone else chimes in.) I've duly noted - here and from another inside source - that editors charge by the hour, not the page. And I like very much Richard's idea of charging double for service within 48 hours.
Thank you, folks!