I find it is best to offer a basic rate, with optional extras so that clients can prioritise the services to suit their pockets and the time they have. (If you don’t pay me to do it, you have to do it yourself – and you will do it more slowly and less well!)
For a basic document, the rate per word is 35 cents for both formatting and editing
I charge individuals R140 per page of 400 words, broken down into R40 for formatting and R100 for editing. This means that 100 pages would cost R14 000. That excludes any references, figures or tables.
Documents of less than 10 pages incur an extra R50 to cover the time taken to create an invoice and emails.
Please note that I will happily format without editing but I cannot edit without first formatting.
For references, the rate is R10 each
I charge individualsR10 per reference to format it and check its completeness. To check the use of citations in the text is another R10 per reference. I hyperlink each citation to its reference, with a screen-tip showing the text of the reference.
For figures and tables, the rate R10 each
I charge individualsR10 per figure, table, photograph, etc. to format it so that it stays where it is put in the text, and to create a caption with an automatic label and number that can be used in cross-references and to generate a List of Tables, List of Figures, etc. If a table runs on to more than one page, it is counted as an extra table for every extra page.
To insert cross-references in the text to the figures and tables (actually to their captions) is another R2 per caption.
Per page versus per word
Many editors quote per page and you need to be able to compare my quote with theirs; that is why I talk about pages above. However, I believe a rate based on a word count is fairer than a rate per page: A word rate excludes the space around figures and tables and counteracts differences in font and margin sizes.
Most universities specify that a thesis or dissertation should have 2,5-cm or 1-inch margins, 1½ line spacing and 12 pt Arial or Times New Roman font so I have used that as the basis for my calculation that one page is 400 words.
To count the words in your document: Select the parts of the document that will be edited – usually Chapters 1 to 5 of a thesis/dissertation. Exclude the front matter, the table of contents, and the appendices. The number of words selected will be shown as a fraction of the total number of words in your Status Bar, e.g., “Words: 30 012/40 010” (the display varies for different versions of Microsoft Office).
If a word count is not displayed in the Status Barat the bottom of your screen: Right-click in a blank part of the Status Bar; when the Customise Status Bar menu pops up, tick Word Count. The number of words in the whole document will then be displayed in the Status Bar, e.g., Words: 40 010. Click outside the Customise Status Bar menu.
Table of Rates
Note: I charge companies three times the individual ratebecause the quality of my work is worth more than most individuals can afford. This rate is in line with the average rate charged by editors according to the latest South African rates survey.
Click here for a PDF of my ZAR rates. GBP and USD rates depend on the current rate of exchange but you can click here to get an idea of my GBP rates and here for an idea of my USD rates.
Notethat all these times can only be approximations.
It averages an hour per page to edit and format a document with references.
It generally takes me 10 hours to format 100 pages, 20 hours to check 100 references, and 70 hours to do the editing. This is a total of 100 hours for a 100-page document with 100 references.
If you are writing a thesis or dissertation, you should let me format and edit your questionnaire and each chapter as soon as you and your supervisor finalise it. That would allow me to finish soon after you finalise your conclusions and recommendations and would make meeting the submission deadline much easier.
I would charge R1 000 for a one-day consultation, if it is possible to meet face-to-face and work on the documents in your office, plus R500 for the “call-out fee”. Once we know what we are working with, we can discuss where to go from that.
If you email me all your existing documents and phone me to tell me how you want to use them, the base cost would still be R1 000 to allow for the harder work involved in familiarising myself with the documents without seeing them in use.
