About these rates

The median rate ranges in the 2026 Rate Chart below are based on data from a survey administered to EFA members from November 2025 through mid-January 2026. Over 1,100 respondents, representing more than a third of the EFA’s membership, answered questions about the editorial services they provided and rates they charged for those services during the 2025 calendar year. Please note that because members were instructed to respond only to questions applicable to their own work, the number of responses for each question varied widely.

As a member association, the EFA neither sets rates nor advises members on what rates or rate types to use. Individual members’ rates may vary considerably, depending on multiple factors, including type of work, turnaround time, degree of expertise, local cost of living, training, and years of experience.

This site offers two ways to interact with the editorial rates reported in the 2025 EFA survey:

  1. Use the editorial rate estimator to obtain an estimated cost for a specific project.
  2. Refer to the 2026 Rate Chart to see an array of rates across a range of work types and genres.

Editorial rate estimator

This tool helps you estimate the cost of hiring an editorial professional for your job. It is designed to give you an idea of what the cost of a given project may be based on 2025 data we collected from our members. The estimated range you obtain may not be indicative of a given editorial professional’s rates, and those rates will vary, depending on years of experience, training, and multiple other factors (see “About these rates” for examples).

To use, click on “Per word” or “Per hour” for the type of estimate you want. To obtain your estimate, select the type of service you are seeking (editing, publishing, reading, consulting, etc.) and type or genre of your project (academic, fiction, nonfiction, etc.), and enter your total word count. Please note: The median value is determined by the median rate provided to us by members as part of our rate survey. The upper and lower estimates are determined by a percentage based on the average variations from the median rates.

✳️ Need to convert between different rate types (per hour/page/word)? Use the rate converter tool located below the Rate Chart.

⚠️ Remember: a median rate is the rate exactly in the middle of a given range, meaning that there is an equal number of values above and below the median value.

2026 Rate Chart

Download this chart: PDF| PDF (landscape)
Don’t understand the difference between different kinds of editorial services? Review our editorial service definitions.

CONSULTING PER WORD PER HOUR PER PAGE PAGES/HR PER PROJECT
(250 words) Mean Median
Coaching $75.00–100.00 $ 1,980.28 $ 1,000.00
Query Letter Coaching $70.00–77.50 $ 351.20 $ 300.00
Marketing and Promotion
Electronic media (non-social) $50.00–60.00 $ 1,470.00 $ 900.00
Print media $50.00–60.00 $ 1,525.00 $ 500.00
Social media $50.00–60.00 $ 1,440.00 $ 100.00
Project Management $65.00–75.00 $ 1,041.67 $ 1,250.00
Other Consulting (see No. 1, below) $87.50–135.00 $ 4,713.39 $ 1,125.00
NOTE: Consulting rates vary greatly and depend on project type and duration. The greater the difference between the mean and the median, the wider the range of rates.
1. Other Consulting Examples include brainstorming, dissertation development, grant writing, pitch development, proposal development, strategic communications, writing workshops

DESIGN PER WORD PER HOUR PER PAGE PAGES/HR PER PROJECT
(250 words) Mean Median
Graphic Design
Book covers $50.00–50.00 $27.50–40.00 10.0-10.0 $ 431.43 $ 350.00
Books and print media $50.00–50.00 $26.88–39.38 – $ 717.86 $ 500.00
eBooks and electronic media $37.50–42.50 $10.00–10.00 15.0-15.0 $ 451.00 $ 250.00
Signage $50.00–50.00 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Swag $50.00–50.00 n/a n/a
Websites $50.00–50.00 $15.00–20.00 20.0-20.0 $ 513.33 $ 500.00
Other media $45.00–54.00 n/a n/a $ 200.00 $ 200.00
Layout $0.00–0.00 0.0-0.0
Books and print media $50.00–55.00 $5.00–7.50 5.0-11.0 n/a n/a
eBooks and electronic media $45.00–55.00 $1.88–4.38 7.5-22.5
Websites $50.00–50.00 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Other media $45.00–54.00 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Other Design (see No. 2, below) $43.00–55.00 $5.00–12.50 4.8-7.0 $ 329.75 $ 191.50
2. Other Design Examples include desktop publishing, handouts, magazines, mapmaking, newsletters

EDITING PER WORD PER HOUR PER PAGE PAGES/HR
(250 words)
Copyediting
Academic, humanities (student) 3.0–4.5¢ $50.00–60.00 $7.50–11.25 5.0-8.5
Academic, humanities (faculty, publication) 4.0–5.0¢ $50.00–60.00 $10.00–12.50 5.0-9.5
Academic, STEM (student) 3.0–5.5¢ $45.00–60.00 $7.50–13.75 5.0-8.0
Academic, STEM (faculty, publication) 3.8–5.0¢ $50.00–65.00 $9.38–12.50 5.0-8.0
Academic, other 3.9–5.0¢ $50.00–60.00 $9.69–12.50 5.0-9.0
Business/marketing 3.0–4.0¢ $50.00–60.00 $7.50–10.00 5.0-10.0
Children’s Board Book 2.7–3.5¢ $45.00–45.00 $6.75–8.75 5.0-11.0
Children’s Middle-Grade Book 2.3–3.0¢ $40.00–45.00 $5.63–7.50 8.0-11.0
Children’s Picture Book 2.5–3.5¢ $50.00–60.00 $6.25–8.75 8.0-12.0
Children’s YA Book 2.0–3.0¢ $45.00–47.50 $5.00–7.50 6.0-10.0
Fiction 2.0–2.7¢ $40.00–50.00 $5.00–6.75 6.0-10.0
Graphic novels 2.7–2.9¢ $33.00–38.00 $6.75–7.25 7.5-10.5
Legal 3.0–4.5¢ $50.00–62.50 $7.50–11.25 8.0-10.5
Medical 3.0–5.0¢ $60.00–75.00 $7.50–12.50 4.5-9.0
Medicolegal n/a $55.00–75.00 $0.00–0.00 8.0-12.0
Memoirs 2.7–3.5¢ $49.00–55.00 $6.75–8.75 5.0-10.0
Nonfiction 3.0–4.0¢ $45.00–60.00 $7.50–10.00 5.0-9.0
Technical 3.4–4.5¢ $55.00–75.00 $8.38–11.25 5.0-10.0
Other 3.0–4.0¢ $50.00–62.50 $7.50–10.00 5.0-9.0
Developmental Editing
Academic, humanities (student) 4.0–6.0¢ $55.00–75.00 $10.00–15.00 5.0-8.0
Academic, humanities (faculty, publication) 5.0–7.3¢ $60.00–82.50 $12.50–18.13 4.0-7.0
Academic, STEM (student) 5.0–7.5¢ $50.00–75.00 $12.50–18.75 5.0-10.0
Academic, STEM (faculty, publication) 5.0–7.3¢ $60.00–80.00 $12.50–18.13 4.0-7.0
Academic, other 5.8–7.8¢ $60.00–85.00 $14.38–19.38 4.0-7.0
Business/marketing 4.5–6.0¢ $60.00–75.00 $11.25–15.00 5.0-10.0
Children’s Board Book 3.2–4.0¢ $55.00–65.00 $8.00–10.00 4.0-6.5
Children’s Middle-Grade Book 3.0–3.8¢ $55.00–70.00 $7.50–9.38 5.0-10.0
Children’s Picture Book 3.6–4.5¢ $60.00–65.00 $9.00–11.25 10.0-13.5
Children’s YA Book 3.0–3.5¢ $60.00–75.00 $7.50–8.75 5.0-11.0
Fiction 3.0–3.5¢ $52.50–70.00 $7.50–8.75 5.5-10.0
Graphic novels 4.0–9.0¢ $50.00–67.50 $10.00–22.50 6.0-12.0
Legal n/a $62.50–77.50 $0.00–0.00 3.0-6.0
Medical 5.3–6.8¢ $75.00–95.00 $13.13–16.88 3.0-5.5
Medicolegal n/a $65.00–82.50 $0.00–0.00 n/a
Memoirs 3.5–4.5¢ $60.00–75.00 $8.75–11.25 5.0-8.0
Nonfiction 4.0–5.0¢ $57.50–70.00 $10.00–12.50 4.0-8.0
Technical 2.8–3.8¢ $62.50–80.00 $6.88–9.38 3.5-6.5
Other 3.5–5.0¢ $57.50–70.00 $8.75–12.50 4.0-7.0
Formatting
Academic, humanities (student) 2.0–2.0¢ $50.00–67.50 $5.00–5.00 3.0-10.0
Academic, humanities (faculty, publication) 3.0–4.0¢ $55.00–65.00 $7.50–10.00 4.5-12.5
Academic, STEM (student) 1.0–2.0¢ $50.00–100.00 $2.50–5.00 3.0-7.5
Academic, STEM (faculty, publication) 2.0–3.0¢ $55.00–70.00 $5.00–7.50 3.0-10.0
Academic, other 2.0–3.0¢ $60.00–70.00 $5.00–7.50 3.0-10.0
Business/marketing 1.4–1.8¢ $60.00–63.50 $3.44–4.38 4.5-11.5
Children’s Board Book 25.0¢–1.00 $60.00–80.00 $62.50–250.00 n/a
Children’s Middle-Grade Book 1.5–1.5¢ $50.00–70.00 $3.75–3.75 29.0-107.5
Children’s Picture Book 13.3–25.8¢ $60.00–80.00 $33.13–64.38 50.0-200.0
Children’s YA Book 1.5–1.6¢ $55.00–70.00 $3.81–4.06 n/a
Fiction 1.1–1.4¢ $52.50–67.50 $2.81–3.44 10.0-20.0
Graphic novels 4.0–4.0¢ $47.50–55.00 $10.00–10.00 3.0-8.0
Legal 2.0–3.0¢ $50.00–60.00 $5.00–7.50 n/a
Medical 2.0–4.0¢ $50.00–67.50 $5.00–10.00 2.0-8.0
Medicolegal n/a n/a n/a n/a
Memoirs 1.3–2.0¢ $60.00–70.00 $3.13–5.00 10.0-17.5
Nonfiction 2.0–2.0¢ $60.00–70.00 $5.00–5.00 7.0-15.0
Technical 2.0–3.0¢ $69.00–100.00 $5.00–7.50 4.0-9.0
Other 2.0–2.5¢ $62.50–77.50 $5.00–6.25 4.0-8.0
Line Editing
Academic, humanities (student) 4.0–5.1¢ $50.00–65.00 $10.00–12.81 4.5-8.5
Academic, humanities (faculty, publication) 4.0–6.0¢ $50.00–70.00 $10.00–15.00 4.0-8.0
Academic, STEM (student) 3.6–5.7¢ $50.00–72.50 $9.00–14.25 5.0-9.0
Academic, STEM (faculty, publication) 4.0–6.0¢ $50.00–70.00 $10.00–15.00 5.0-8.5
Academic, other 4.0–6.0¢ $50.00–70.00 $10.00–15.00 5.0-8.0
Business/marketing 3.2–5.0¢ $55.00–75.00 $8.00–12.50 5.0-8.5
Children’s Board Book 4.0–5.0¢ $50.00–50.00 $10.00–12.50 5.0-10.0
Children’s Middle-Grade Book 2.8–4.0¢ $47.50–57.50 $6.88–10.00 5.0-10.0
Children’s Picture Book 3.5–5.0¢ $60.00–70.00 $8.75–12.50 6.0-10.0
Children’s YA Book 2.8–4.0¢ $50.00–70.00 $6.88–10.00 5.0-9.0
Fiction 2.7–3.5¢ $50.00–60.00 $6.75–8.75 5.0-9.5
Graphic novels 4.0–6.0¢ $40.00–62.50 $10.00–15.00 5.0-10.0
Legal 4.0–4.0¢ $50.00–65.00 $10.00–10.00 14.5-17.0
Medical 4.0–5.0¢ $60.00–85.00 $10.00–12.50 5.0-10.0
Medicolegal n/a $50.00–65.00 $0.00–0.00 8.0-12.0
Memoirs 3.0–4.0¢ $50.00–65.00 $7.50–10.00 5.0-8.0
Nonfiction 3.5–5.0¢ $50.00–65.00 $8.63–12.50 4.0-8.0
Technical 3.6–5.0¢ $50.00–75.00 $9.00–12.50 4.0-8.5
Other 3.0–5.0¢ $55.00–70.00 $7.50–12.50 5.0-8.0
Proofreading
Academic, humanities (student) 2.5–4.0¢ $40.00–55.00 $6.25–10.00 7.0-10.0
Academic, humanities (faculty, publication) 2.8–4.0¢ $41.00–50.00 $6.88–10.00 8.0-12.0
Academic, STEM (student) 2.5–4.0¢ $45.00–55.00 $6.25–10.00 6.0-12.0
Academic, STEM (faculty, publication) 3.0–4.5¢ $50.00–60.00 $7.50–11.25 6.0-11.0
Academic, other 3.0–4.5¢ $45.00–55.00 $7.50–11.25 7.0-10.5
Business/marketing 2.0–3.0¢ $45.00–60.00 $5.00–7.50 9.0-12.0
Children’s Board Book 2.5–3.5¢ $44.00–46.00 $6.25–8.75 10.0-17.5
Children’s Middle-Grade Book 1.3–2.0¢ $35.00–40.00 $3.13–5.00 10.0-15.0
Children’s Picture Book 2.3–4.3¢ $50.00–55.00 $5.63–10.63 10.0-12.0
Children’s YA Book 1.0–2.0¢ $35.00–39.00 $2.50–5.00 10.0-15.0
Fiction 1.2–2.0¢ $35.00–45.00 $3.00–5.00 10.0-15.0
Graphic novels 1.6–1.8¢ $29.00–33.50 $4.00–4.38 10.0-20.0
Legal 2.5–2.5¢ $50.00–57.50 $6.25–6.25 12.5-15.0
Medical 3.0–4.0¢ $55.00–65.00 $7.50–10.00 6.0-10.0
Medicolegal n/a $55.00–75.00 n/a 8.0-12.0
Memoirs 1.7–2.0¢ $40.00–50.00 $4.25–5.00 8.0-14.0
Nonfiction 2.0–3.0¢ $40.00–55.00 $5.00–7.50 7.0-12.0
Technical 2.0–3.5¢ $55.00–65.00 $5.00–8.75 5.0-10.0
Other 1.5–2.0¢ $45.00–60.00 $3.75–5.00 6.5-10.0
Other Editing (see No. 3, below) 2.8–2.8¢ $75.00–135.00 $6.94–6.94 2.8-5.5
3. Other Editing Examples include 508 accessibility, audiobooks, competitive analyses, picture book, plain language editing, resumes, white papers

PUBLISHING PER WORD PER HOUR PER PAGE PAGES/HR PER PROJECT
(250 words) Mean Median
Book Proposal
Book 11.0–11.0¢ $67.00–82.50 $27.50–27.50 8.0-10.0 $ 6,005.00 $ 6,005.00
eBook 80.0–80.0¢ $64.50–65.00 $200.00–200.00 10.0-10.0 $ 180.00 $ 180.00
Other media n/a n/a $0.00–0.00 – $ 8,000.00 $ 8,000.00
Indexing
Book 2.0–2.5¢ $55.00–60.00 $5.00–6.25 6.0-8.0 n/a n/a
eBook 1.5–2.7¢ $45.00–62.50 $3.75–6.75 8.0-14.0 n/a n/a
Website n/a $50.00–50.00 $0.00–0.00 10.0-20.0 n/a n/a
Other media n/a n/a n/a – n/a n/a
Permissions $50.00–50.00 $50.00–50.00 n/a n/a n/a
Research and Fact-Checking
Fact-checking $50.00–60.00 $60.00–72.50 25.0-25.0 n/a n/a
Research $47.50–60.00 $35.88–50.00 4.5-4.5 n/a n/a
Self-Publishing Assistance $0.00–0.00 $0.00–0.00 0.0-0.0 n/a n/a
Electronic $64.50–85.00 $0.00–0.00 0.0-0.0 $ 790.00 $ 800.00
Print $64.50–92.00 $0.00–0.00 0.0-0.0 $ 790.00 $ 800.00
Print & Electronic $69.00–85.00 $ 840.00 $ 800.00
Other media n/a
Other Publishing (see No. 4, below) $125.00–125.00 n/a n/a
4. Other Publishing Examples includecoaching, distribution assistance, journal submission management, picture research, press/market research, publisher research, reference checking and formatting

READING PER WORD PER HOUR PER PAGE PAGES/HR PER PROJECT
(250 words) Mean Median
Beta Reading 0.5–0.8¢ $50.00–70.00 $1.25–2.00 16.0-40.0 $ 208.70 $ 150.00
Manuscript Assessment/Evaluation 1.5–1.8¢ $40.00–54.00 0.0-0.0 $ 855.56 $ 600.00
Sensitivity/Authenticity Reading 1.0–1.5¢ 14.5-22.5
Sensitivity 1.2–1.5¢ $50.00–60.00 20.0-30.0 $ 580.00 $ 300.00
Authenticity 1.0–1.5¢ $50.00–55.00 20.0-30.0 $ 933.33 $ 500.00
Sensitivity and authenticity 1.5–1.8¢ $40.00–52.50 10.0-20.0 $ 600.00 $ 600.00
Other Reading (see No. 5, below) 1.4–1.6¢ $50.00–59.00 10.0-25.0 $ 875.00 $ 525.00
5. Other Reading Examples includeaccessibility to non-academic readers, chapter guidance, cold reading, conceptual clarity, submissions reading

TRANSCRIPTION PER AUDIO PER HOUR PER PAGE AUDIO
MINUTE (250 words) MIN./HR
Transcription $1.50–1.75 $52.50–57.50 $90.00–105.00 20.0-20.0
NOTE: Transcription is charged in terms of per-audio minute, per hour, and audio minutes per hour

TRANSLATION PER WORD PER HOUR PER PAGE PAGES/HR
(250 words)
From English 12.0–19.0¢ $60.00–75.00 $30.00–47.50 1.0-2.0
To English 6.0–18.0¢ $47.50–62.50 $15.00–45.00 2.0-5.0

WRITING PER WORD PER HOUR PER PAGE PAGES/HR
(250 words)
Curriculum Development
Curricula, primary school 5.0–25.0¢ $50.00–65.00 $12.50–62.50 10.0-25.0
Curricula, secondary school n/a $80.00–115.00 n/a –
Curricula, undergraduate 8.0–10.0¢ $80.00–122.50 $20.00–25.00 3.0-5.0
Curricula, graduate n/a $67.50–92.50 n/a –
Ghostwriting
Articles/essays 15.0–30.0¢ $75.00–100.00 $37.50–75.00 1.5-4.5
Blog posts 25.0–40.0¢ $75.00–100.00 $62.50–100.00 1.5-4.5
Business/marketing 50.0–$1.00 $87.50–125.00 $125.00–250.00 1.0-5.0
Fiction, full-length 25.0–50.0¢ $80.00–100.00 $62.50–125.00 6.0-11.5
Graphic novels 0.5–1.0¢ $75.00–100.00 $1.25–2.50 1.0-3.0
Journalism 23.0–29.5¢ $87.50–163.00 $57.50–73.75 n/a
Legal n/a $75.00–126.00 n/a n/a
Medical $1.00–1.50 $100.00–126.00 $250.00–375.00 4.0-6.0
Medicolegal n/a $75.00–126.00 n/a n/a
Memoir 50.0¢–$1.00 $80.00–100.00 $125.00–250.00 3.0-4.0
Nonfiction, full-length 33.0–50.0¢ $85.00–100.00 $82.50–125.00 3.0-5.0
Nonfiction, short-form 50.0–50.0¢ $72.50–188.00 $125.00–125.00 n/a
Scientific 3.0–4.0¢ $75.00–100.00 $7.50–10.00 1.0-3.0
Short story 27.5–50.0¢ $70.00–75.00 $68.75–125.00 1.0-3.0
Technical 87.5¢–$1.08 $75.00–126.00 $218.75–268.75 n/a
Other 50.0¢–$1.25 $77.50–100.00 $125.00–312.50 1.0-5.0
Work-for-Hire
Articles/essays 25.0–45.0¢ $70.00–100.00 $62.50–112.50 1.0-3.0
Blog posts 25.0–45.0¢ $74.50–87.50 $62.50–112.50 1.0-3.0
Business/marketing 32.0–87.5¢ $65.00–75.00 $80.00–218.75 1.5-4.5
Fiction, full-length 13.5–20.0¢ $80.00–100.00 $33.75–50.00 5.0-10.0
Graphic novels 10.0–15.0¢ $90.00–112.50 $25.00–37.50 3.0-4.5
Journalism 8.0–10.0¢ $100.00–126.00 $20.00–25.00 2.0-3.0
Legal 40.0–50.0¢ $75.00–85.00 $100.00–125.00 n/a
Medical n/a $75.00–126.00 n/a n/a
Medicolegal $1.00–1.50 $90.00–113.00 $250.00–375.00 4.0-6.0
Memoir n/a $75.00–126.00 n/a n/a
Nonfiction, full-length 11.5–20.0¢ $95.00–125.00 $28.75–50.00 2.0-3.0
Nonfiction, short-form $1.00–1.20 $87.50–113.00 $250.00–300.00 n/a
Scientific 8.0–10.0¢ $77.50–100.00 $20.00–25.00 3.0-6.0
Short story 30.0–30.0¢ $65.00–75.00 $75.00–75.00 1.0-4.0
Technical $1.00–1.00 $60.00–98.56 $250.00–250.00 3.5-8.0
Other 25.0–40.0¢ $65.00–82.50 $62.50–100.00 15.5-25.0
Other Writing (see, No. 6, below) 30.0–30.0¢ $70.00–100.00 $75.00–75.00 10.5-12.5
6. Other Writing Examples include book reviews, children’s board books, devotionals, exhibition materials, grant writing, press releases, query letters, screenplays/scripts, social media posts, speechwriting

Rate converter

This tool helps you convert between different rate types (per hour/page/word).

Questions about the Rate Chart or rate estimator? Contact us!

Looking for more?

If you’re a freelance editorial professional looking for other resources to help you in your work and aren’t already a member, join the EFA! Being an EFA member gives you access to discounts on our courses, affiliate discounts, access to the jobs list and member forums, and much more.