I recently accepted an occasional job proofreading copy for an advertising agency–they put together course catalogs for a veterinary college. Is $20/hr reasonable/low/high?
As for a per-page rate, is $3.00 in the ballpark?
I was suprised at the different answers I got when I tried to research this via the Net.
In Japan, I proofread English-language educational materials and get paid between US$30-35 an hour.
IME $20 an hour is pretty good. I got $12 through a temp agency last year.
Yeah, it’s not bad.
$20 seems lowballing it to me. From what I’ve seen, $25-$50/hr seems about right. However, $3 per page seems just about right.
In 2000-2001 I got $20/hr for proofreading entries in a jazz encyclopedia. Today I’d probably ask for $30-45.
I usually charge $25-$30/hr.
Doesn’t this depend on your experience & qualifications, how esoteric or technical the material is, etc.? Hard to imagine that the people writing the stuff are getting $50/hr in many cases.
Thanks, all. CookingWithGas- yeah absolutely. I’m just a simple (minded) man who feverishly craves simple answers.
For advertising copywriting? You’re looking at $75/hr average.
Charge 'em $23 per hour and if they don’t blink, resubmit the bill at a $32/hr rate and tell them the first bill was a typo.
Sailboat
Not to hijack or anything but generally speaking, what qualifications does one need to be a proofreader? I’m looking for a second job.
Holiy sh*t I’m changing careers.
Well, you have to remember with freelance work you’re not working 40 hours a week usually. If I charge hourly, I charge $200/hr as a photographer. (But honestly, I almost never charge anything less than a day rate–I will make the occassional half-day exception.)
I’d be willing to freelance for that kind of money even if I couldn’t give up my day job. I am deadly good at that stuff–you wouldn’t think it from my posts here, due to the many fast-finger typos here.
How do you get started?
$20/hr. is on the low side. Just don’t take any less than that.
Freelance proofreader checking in here.
I freelance proofread for a major publishing company for over 7 years. We were paid per page – I was one of the highest paid and made 1.50 a page. As an experienced proofer with working knowledge of the company’s style guides. I averaged about 12-15 pages an hour. You do the math.
As to qualifications for proofreading – well, I have a degree in English (graduated in the top 5 percent of my class back in the day before grade inflation). You must have an excellent grasp of the language, grammar, spelling and usage, punctuation, and an eye for detail. You should also be able to tolerate tight deadlines (turning around 100 pages a day, on average), and be able to remember the publisher’s style, plus the conventions of the material you are proofing. Making a real living at it is difficult, as fewer publishing houses are using outside proofreaders, relying instead on spell check programs and overworked interns in production. Oh, and it can be incredibly boring, especially when you’re proofing technical manuals (I fell asleep on a book once. Literally.) And as a freelancer, you pay self-employment taxes, which will take roughly a third of your income every quarter.
Advertising proofreading is a PITA, IMO. I now work full-time at a newspaper (and sometimes take proofing work on the side), and it is appalling what comes in (and what almost goes out if I’m not looking). Remember to check everything against the original copy to see if the artists left anything out!
Well, all I can say is the proofreaders I know get paid at least $2/page, closer to $3. It all depends on who you’re working for, how regular the work is, etc. Looking around online for freelance rates seems to confirm that somewhere around $2.50 seems to be the average going rate.
Granted, if you work for a company that can provide you with a lot of hours every week, you’ll be paid less accordingly.
For a one-off or occassional project, $1.50 an hour seems a bit low to me.
I charge $60/hr for technical editing, but many of the edits I end up making are of the “MS word didn’t catch it” variety, which are very annoying. If I were employed as a full time editor at these firms, I would throw it back at the intern/writer, but as a freelancer, I fix everything myself because it is just easier that way. They are probably getting a deal, but I am an extremely fast reader and tend to catch all the mistakes as I go.
In my world, that’s a bit of an overestimate. SS tax is 15%; an employer normally pays half of that, but as your own employer you must cough up the whole amount. I chuck 30% off the top of each check into a savings account earmarked for taxes, and I pay about 20%-25% in total taxes every quarter. (I use the remainder for property taxes, house insurance, paying the tax preparer, etc.)
Don’t get excited about freelance hourly rates, either. Take off 25% for taxes, then consider that you must provide your own office, supplies, sick days, retirement, vacations, computer, advertising/marketing, etc., etc. As someone pointed out, you don’t (or a least aren’t supposed to, heh) work 40 billable hours a week; you need to spend time doing nonbillable things to keep yourself going.
Not to say that you can’t make a good living; it’s just that $30/hour (or whatever) does not go directly into your pocket. Cut it in half and you’ve got a better estimate.