Common editorial rates—regardless of whether a project is flat rate or hourly—tend to fall within the ranges indicated below. These should be used only as a rough guideline; rates vary considerably depending on the nature of the work, the time frame of the assignment, the degree of special expertise required, and other factors. The industry standard for a manuscript page, however, is a firm 250 words.

Type of Work	Estimated Pace	Range of Fees
Editing
Basic copyediting	5–10 ms pgs/hr	$30–40/hr
Heavy copyediting	2–5 ms pgs/hr	$40–50/hr
Website copyediting		$40–50/hr
Developmental editing	1–5 pgs/hr	$45–55/hr
Substantive or line editing	1–6 ms pgs/hr	$40–60/hr
Fact checking		$30–40/hr
Indexing	8–20 pr pgs/hr	$35–65/hr $5.50–$12/pr ind pg
Layout
Books	6–10 pgs/hr	$45–85/hr
Newsletters	1–4 pgs/hr	$40–100/hr
Websites		$16–20/pg
Manuscript evaluation		$45–55/hr
Permissions		$40–50/hr
Project management		$9–30/pr pg $40–90/hr
Proofreading	9–13 ms pgs/hr	$30–35/hr
Researching		$40-75/hr
Transcribing	variable	$2.50–$4/audio minute
Translating	300–500 wds/hr	$40–50/hr
Web Design		$50–75/hr
Writing	1–3 ms pgs/hr
Fiction		$40–50/hr 20¢–25¢/wd
Ghostwriting		$50–60/hr 26¢–50¢/wd
Grants/Proposals/Sales/PR		$50–60/hr 30¢–95¢/wd
Journalism		$40–50/hr 26¢–50¢/wd
Medical		$60–70/hr 80¢–95¢/wd
Nonspecified		$40–100/hr 20¢-$2/wd
Technical/Trade		$50–60/hr 45¢–55¢/wd