Editing Cost Calculator

Total Cost is calculated only from Word Count times Rate per Word -- Edit Type has no effect on it at all. That's because real per-word rates already differ substantially by pass (proofreading runs cheaper per word than developmental editing), so this calculator expects you to enter the rate your editor actually quoted for the specific pass you're pricing, rather than trying to infer a rate from the pass type itself.

Turnaround (days) divides Total Pages by an assumed pages-per-day figure that drops sharply by pass: 50 pages/day for proofreading, 25 for copy editing, and just 10 for developmental editing. A developmental edit reworks structure, plot, and content at a much slower pace than a surface-level proofread, so the same manuscript's estimated turnaround can be roughly five times longer under Developmental Editing than under Proofreading.

Total Pages divides Word Count by 250 (a standard manuscript-page word count convention) and rounds up to the next whole page. A 50,000-word manuscript comes out to 200 pages under this convention, regardless of the actual page count your word processor or typesetting software would show, since manuscript-page conventions are a fixed word density rather than a literal formatted-page count.

Cost per Page divides Total Cost by Total Pages, converting your word-based quote into a per-page figure. This is useful for comparing against editors or services that quote by the page rather than the word, or for sanity-checking whether your negotiated Rate per Word lines up with typical per-page pricing for the Edit Type you selected.

No -- the roughly $0.01-0.02 (proofreading), $0.02-0.04 (copy editing), and $0.05-0.10 (developmental editing) figures are general industry ballpark ranges, not a quote from this calculator or any specific editor. Actual rates vary by editor experience, manuscript genre and condition, and market, so always enter the rate your own editor has quoted rather than relying on these ranges alone.