Need help with proofreading fee quote

[omni550]

A former instructor has contacted me and asked me to proofread/edit her materials. She asked me for a quote/proposal.

These are technical manuals. They are densely written (single-spaced with about 570 words per page, and the first manual is 200 pages long). Additionally, some pages have 'side-bar'-type inserts and some have diagrams. This manual has table of contents (3 pages of 2 columns/page) and index (10 pages of 3 columns of terms/page) as well.

During my career, I did a fair amount of proofreading and editing as part of my mega-corp job, as I was one of those [-]seemingly rare[/-] engineers who knew how to spell. So I never had to 'bid' on a proofreading job.

I'm wondering [-]if[/-] how I should bid this job....by word? by page? by hour? And what is a reasonable fee per "unit"?

Do any of you have any suggestions or experience with this?

Thanks,

omni

 

[Zoocat]

Check the Society for Technical Communication. This info from 2005, $30/hr low, $40/hr high for proofreading, more for editing. I would edit a few pages and give your client an estimate for the project as a whole.

http://www.stcrmc.org/salary/2005/2005%20STCRMC%20Salary%20Survey%20Results.pdf

 

[omni550]

Check the Society for Technical Communication. This info from 2005, $30/hr low, $40/hr high for proofreading, more for editing. I would edit a few pages and give your client an estimate for the project as a whole.

http://www.stcrmc.org/salary/2005/2005 STCRMC Salary Survey Results.pdf

Oldbabe,

Hey, thanks. This is perfect!

omni

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

A former instructor has contacted me and asked me to proofread/edit her materials....Additionally, some pages have 'side-bar'-type inserts...Do any of you have any suggestions

only one. stop hypenating sidebar.

 

[omni550]

only one. stop hypenating sidebar.

Will do.

<snicker> hyphenating? <j/k>

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

hey, who stole my h? proofreading is trickier than it looks. you fix one thing and something else screws up. good thing to keep in mind while pricing.

 

[aworkingrachel]

I do freelance editing and proofreading for several different companies. The standard for a book-length project seems to be to give the client an hourly rate with an estimated number of hours. Oldbabe's info is good.

You seem to be using editing and proofreading interchangeably, which many people do, but there's a difference when you're talking about "professional" editing. If the manual has not yet been typeset, you are editing rather than proofreading and should charge accordingly--maybe $45/50 per hour for technical work. Authors often say "proofread" when they really mean "light edit."