Author-services marketplace Reedsy last year created a snapshot of average prices for various services offered by its independent contractors. Now they’ve updated it with a live calculator in US dollars based on what editors and proofreaders are charging. You can set the filters to focus on your genre and word count.
A few parameters on usage:
- The vast majority of Reedsy’s user base is in the US: 64 percent. UK users are 16 percent, Canadians 4.5 percent, and Australians 3.6 percent.
- The average editing project submitted to Reedsy is 73,000 words long.
- Some 95 percent of the editors and designers bidding on projects have worked with Big Five publishers, the platform reports.
- The prices set for work are not being guided by Reedsy.
Not surprisingly, developmental edits are the most expensive of the services offered at Reedsy, and developmental edits and copyediting together add up to 30 percent of what users buy at the site.
Editing for romance is 10 percent less expensive than for other genres, while nonfiction edits cost as much as 40 percent more than other edits. Reedsy’s team says that’s because of the research that can go into the nonfiction work. Our tests using the calculator do see a sharp jump in the cost of services for nonfiction. A developmental edit on an 80,000-word book can cost $3,232, and a copyediting and proofreading bundle comes in at $2,840.
By contrast, a developmental edit for the same length book (80,000 words) in the romance, science-fiction/fantasy, and thriller/mystery genres will be in the $1,400 to $1,500 range, and the price is roughly the same for a copyediting and proofreading bundle.
Cover designers are getting an average of $400 to $600 on 32 percent of the projects submitted, with the $600-to-$800 range coming a close second, on 28 percent of projects. Award-winning designers, Reedsy says, are commanding rates of up to $2,000.
Bottom line: Remember that Reedsy isn’t used just by self-publishing authors but also by some publishing houses. As a guide for indie authors, Reedsy estimates that the 80,000-word book we tested on the calculator will cost between $2,500 and $4,000 to self-publish professionally.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
