Productivity Rates in Editing

(Archive share, updated.)

“How long will it take to edit this?”

The question comes up a lot. At first, estimating seems like a shot in the dark. The best bet is to do a few random pages and multiply your findings to take in the whole manuscript. Also, take 60 seconds to edit a sample and identify the most pressing changes that are needed. However…

[Page per hour guidelines follow.]

More than a decade of detailed invoicing has shown me that guidelines I once found in The Editorial Eye (see below) are pretty accurate. They even accounted for the ranges they gave. The publication is now out of print.

(Note that these rates can only be applied to a single selection of continuous prose. They do not apply to graphic texts nor can they be applied to the sum of all text on a series of slides, for example.)

proofreading

8–10 draft pg / hr (draft pg = 250 words)

Faster if: few errors, simple format, nontechnical or familiar content, clean copy, no style queries required

Slower if: many errors, complex format, copy marked up, style checks required, contains equations, symbols, or foreign characters (symbols, not foreigners

See the EAC definition and standards for proofreading.

copy editing

4–6 draft pg / hr

Faster if: few errors, nontechnical or familiar content, printout legible & double-spaced, no references or cross-references, no tables or figures

Slower if: many errors, content technical or unfamiliar, printout difficult to read or mark, working online*, reference style inconsistent, incomplete or don’t match text

See the EAC definition and standards for copy editing.

substantive editing

2–4 draft pg / hr

Faster if: well written and organized, nontechnical or familiar content, single author, no references or cross-references, no tables or figures, working online*

Slower if: poorly written or written by non-native English speaker, content technical or unfamiliar, multiple authors (but need one voice), hard copy edit*

*depending on skills, working online can speed a substantive edit but slow a copyedit

EAC splits substantive editing into structural and stylistic editing. See those defined as well as the standards for structural and stylistic editing.

More recently, I found a handy productivity chart put out by the Editorial Freelancers Association. It looks to be in the same ball-park, though it doesn’t explain the variability.

My advice on estimating for a new project is to use the high end of the scale, then add 10%. Or, if the client is inexperienced and the topic is unfamiliar, use the high end of the scale and double it.

Once, my final bill came in well under such an  estimate. Once. One substantive editing project in my recent past actually ended up with the rate of one page per hour. It was excruciating; dense, complex, and unfamiliar. In the future, I will recommend a colleague who is better suited to the subject and style of that particular client.

*This post appeared in the original blog on Valentine’s day, 2011. As it is by far the most popular post, I am giving it new life here.

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