Quality editing shouldn’t require detective work to figure out the price.
For 2025, I’ve structured my rates to be simple, transparent, and aligned with industry norms—but without the inflated agency markup. Everything below reflects the work involved, the time required, and the experience I bring to each project.
Whether you need a quick proofread or a deep structural evaluation, you’ll know exactly what you're paying for, with no surprises. Rates are based on two-day turnaround (Monday–Friday). Next day or overnight available at 150% and 200%, respectively.
✦ Proofreading—$0.014 per word
The final polish before your document goes out into the world. This includes:
- typos
- double words
- punctuation errors
- minor formatting inconsistencies
Proofreading assumes the document is already well-structured and well-written. If sentences need rewriting, that falls under copyediting or line editing.
✦ Legal Transcript Proofreading—$0.50 per page
Legal transcript proofreading is charged per page because the industry uses a standard format (monospaced type, fixed line counts). This service includes:
- typo correction
- misspellings of names, exhibits, and terminology
- verifying speaker labels
- correcting punctuation where appropriate for legal transcripts
Note: Legal copyediting and line editing are strongly discouraged in the legal profession—about as frowned upon as creative accountants. The goal is accuracy, not rewriting. Editors must preserve the record exactly as spoken.
✦ Copyediting—$0.025 per word
A deeper pass that improves clarity, correctness, and consistency. This includes:
- grammar and usage
- sentence-level corrections
- word choice improvements
- consistency across style and terminology
- fixing "echo words"
If you are not ready for printers proofs yet, this is likely to be the right choice for you. This is usually the last step before typesetting, proofreading, and printing.
✦ Line Editing—$0.045 per word
The artistry layer. Line editing refines the voice, tone, rhythm, and flow. This includes:
- sentence restructuring
- voice and phrasing
- dialogue polishing (for fiction)
- coherence and concision
If you want your writing to *sing*, this is the level that does it.
✦ Developmental Editing—$0.09 per word
Big-picture structure for manuscripts, reports, long-form content, or anything with multiple chapters or sections. This includes:
- organization
- logic and pacing
- argumentation (for nonfiction)
- plot, characterization, and scene order (for fiction)
Developmental editing comes first—before any proofreading or lower-level edits.
✦ Photo Editing—$28 per hour
Basic adjustments, blemish cleanup, color fixes, simple composites, and preparing images for web or print.
✦ Portrait Retouching—$42 per hour
Magazine-style retouching with natural, realistic results. No plastic skin, no uncanny valley.
✦ Desktop Publishing—$45/hour
High-precision layout and design for brochures, catalogs, reports, handbooks, marketing collateral, and long-form documents. This is the work that defined my career in the pharmaceutical industry—and the same skill set is on display in a multi-page product catalog I produced last year. Keep a secret? I made the cover model on the left out of thin air. The other two are real Russian models. The middle model's hair was overbleached and fried, so I gave her new hair. The model on the right had a huge earring that covered most of her neck.
This service includes:
- document layout and typographic design
- multi-page catalog or booklet creation
- brand-consistent formatting and visual hierarchy
- placing and styling images, charts, and tables
- exporting press-ready or web-optimized PDFs
Desktop publishing is ideal for clients who need professional, consistent, publication-ready materials—whether internal or customer-facing.
Why publish rates publicly?
Because transparency builds trust. You shouldn’t have to email five editors just to learn whether you can afford basic proofreading. And as a former corporate communications manager, my pricing reflects both industry norms and the value of delivering polished, professional work the first time.