Many self-publishing authors either do not understand the benefit of having their work professionally edited or consider it to be of little value. As an example of the latter reason, I was recently invited to submit a proposal to proofread a novel intended for self-publication, with the author offering $7 per hour. This may appear to be an extreme example, but it is not uncommon on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork.

Freelancers

Copyediting and proofreading are skills that must be learned and practised to gain the competency and experience needed to edit a broad range of documents in the five main dialects of English. Reference books and materials must also be purchased and kept up-to-date.

Most copyeditors and proofreaders are freelance workers in business for themselves; that is, they are not salaried.

How do freelancers calculate their rates?

A freelancer’s rates reflect not only the value added to the author’s writing, but also all the costs of:

• Holidays and sickness absence;
• National Insurance (or equivalent payroll tax if applicable);
• Pension provision;
• Continuing professional development (CPD);
• Office space and utility bills;
• Reference books and materials;
• Software and subscriptions;
• Marketing;
• Business equipment and supplies; and
• A reasonable rate of pay.

This means that a freelancer’s rates are not directly comparable with employee remuneration.

Average weekly earnings

The average weekly earnings of a full-time worker in the UK in July 2025 were $907 ($22.68/hour) before taxes, whereas in the USA, it was $1,165 ($29.13/hour) after tax.

Suggested minimum hourly rates

The UK’s Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading’s (CIEP) suggested minimum hourly rates for 2025 are:

• Proofreading – $41
• Copyediting – $48
• Substantial editing, rewriting, and development editing – $55

The rates were converted to US dollars at the time of writing.

The most up-to-date evidence of the rates charged by freelancers in the USA comes from the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA). Based on its Nov 2023-Jan 2024 survey data, the suggested rates are:

• Proofreading – $36–$45
• Substantive editing – $48–$57
• Technical editing – $53–$62

These rates would be higher in July 2025 because of inflation.

The CIEP and EFA point out that rates can be higher for experienced editors, specific genres, or urgent projects.

Comparing these suggested rates with the average weekly earnings shows that a freelancer needs to increase the average weekly earnings per hour, as shown above, by approximately 50% to cover the cost of running their business. That uplift could rise to as much as 65 to 70% for work obtained through freelance platforms such as Fiverr or Upwork. Many authors do not appreciate that freelancers incur these costs.

Freelancers often convert their hourly rate to a cost per word or per 1,000 words and may add a premium for urgent work. They may also give a fixed price for the job.

Why do some self-publishing authors undervalue their work?

Some authors write for recognition and credibility, while others write in the hope of making money from their work. Whatever the reason, writing incurs a cost: the lost opportunity to do something else. Instead of calculating the monetary value of their work, many self-publishing authors assign an emotional value to it.

The simplest way to calculate the value is to multiply the average hourly rate of pay applicable to the author’s location by the number of hours taken to research, write, and revise the piece of prose. The cost of research material, travelling expenses, and all other incidental costs must be added to this. To keep things simple, I will use the 50% enhancement freelancers need to cover the cost of running their business, but I will disregard the incidental expenses.

Let us say that a US-based author spends 144 hours researching, writing, and revising an original piece of prose. That is the approximate time, spread over two 9-day sessions, that it took Ray Bradbury to write the 46,118 words of Fahrenheit 451. The cost of doing so would be $6,292. The book has sold over 10 million copies.

Why then would they not be willing to pay a reasonable rate to have the fruits of their labours copyedited and proofread by an experienced editor? The reason is that many self-publishing authors do not cost their work, and consequently, they either do not know its value or they undervalue it. The trend toward using AI-generated content exacerbates a situation where the “author” invests little physical, mental, or emotional effort in their manuscript.

Having failed to value their work or undervalued it, many self-publishing authors place scant value on having it professionally edited. When they do, they are often only willing to pay an unrealistic rate for the work. This is tantamount to saying the prose they painstakingly created is not worth the few hundred dollars cost of having it professionally edited. This is false economy. Good authors know it and have their writing professionally edited, while many inexperienced authors, especially those who are self-publishing, do not value their work correctly or at all.