Hello, everyone! I hope all of you have been well and have stayed healthy and productive over the past year! 2020 was…quite a year, and I’m sure we’re all happy it’s over and are looking forward to things hopefully getting better over the coming months.

I’m making this post today regarding the rates I currently charge for copyediting and proofreading. It has been about two years since I assessed whether the rates needed to be adjusted to compensate for cost of living increases coupled with the time it takes to perform the services, and I’ve come to the realization that I need to make a minor adjustment to my current rates.

As of today, June 14, 2021, my copyediting rates have increased from $0.006/word to $0.0065/word. My proofreading rates have increased from $0.004/word to $0.0045/word.

I have attempted to keep these rate increases as minimal as humanly possible; indeed, the rate increases for both services amount to an additional 50 centers per 1,000 words.

This may not seem like much, but it does add up for me, especially since when I last adjusted my rates, I was not full-time self-employed as an editor, and expenses and such have changed pretty dramatically in the time since I began doing this business as my sole income.

This rate increase will apply immediately to all new projects going forward.

If you currently have a project in progress or scheduled with me, you will be charged at the old rate. Any projects that are not currently scheduled with me will be charged at the new rate.

Please let me know if any of you have any questions or concerns regarding this rate increase, and I will be more than happy to chat with you about it.

If you are concerned that you’ll be unable to afford my new rates—which, I once again stress, are the equivalent of a small, 50-cent increase per 1,000 words, which is the smallest increase I can manage at this time—I’d like to remind you that I do offer monthly payment plans as an option to spread out the cost of the project. You can find out more about those by clicking here.

I am grateful for every single one of you who utilize my services, and I am thankful for the support you continue to offer me as I do my absolute best work I can for you!

Yes, you read that right! I’m now offering proofreading and copyediting services for the newest craze in publishing: serialized fiction! Due to the short nature of the episodes, a lot of editors aren’t offering services (or the services are too expensive for the method of publishing), but seeing a need for it, I’ve come up with a plan to offer these services for you authors that need them!

Please note: this is restricted to copyediting and proofreading services ONLY. Due to the nature of developmental editing, I honestly don’t see an easy path to developmentally edit a serialized work.

So here’s how copyediting and proofreading of serialized fiction will work here at Edits by Jessica:

As with all other projects, you’ll contact me via the contact form on my website for your project. Just tell me a little bit about it, including the estimated/planned-for length of each episode, just so I can have a ballpark of not only how long each episode will take to work but also roughly how much it will cost per episode.

Rates for copyediting an episode will be $0.006/word. Rates for proofreading will be $0.004/word. This means a 1,000-word episode will cost $6 for copyediting and $4 for proofreading.

For example, if you send me one 1,000-word episode each week to be proofread, it will cost you $16/month to have your episodes proofread. If you send me two 1,000-word episodes each week, it will cost you $24/month. Obviously, this scales up or down depending on how many episodes you send me each month, but this should serve as a good baseline example.

Most importantly, there are no minimum charges involved. Rates are simply calculated on the word count of each episode.

When we work out the details of copyediting or proofreading the episodes, we’ll set a standing day or days for me to expect an episode in my inbox each week. (Episodes can be sent early; however, they may not be started until their scheduled day.) If these need to be changed or if you’re going to be late at any time, no problem. Just email me and we’ll tweak as necessary.

On the fifteenth of each month, I will send you an itemized invoice for the episodes I have copyedited or proofread for you throughout the month. Payment will be due on the last day of the month. There will be no service fees applied to serialized fiction invoices, since each episode will be treated as a separate project that is invoiced monthly.

Failure to pay can result in discontinuation of proofreading or copyediting services on your episodes until payment is made. Late fees of $10 will be assessed on the following month’s invoice if payment is not received by the end of the month.

If you have any questions, please get in touch, and I’ll be happy to answer them!

I am now accepting short-notice clients for the month of February due to a few cancellations that I’ve had! The first slot available begins on Wednesday, February 5, 2020! There are no additional charges for scheduling a short-notice project!

I am also currently accepting scheduled projects for several more slots in February, along with some in March and April (and beyond)!

You can check out more details on the different services I offer by clicking on the links above (along with my new portfolio/book list feature). If you’re interested in my services, please use the contact form to message me the details of your project, and I’ll get back to you ASAP!

I’ve added a new something on my website for those of you who are paying attention: a Book List!

I’ve been trying to come up with a way to showcase some of the projects I’ve worked on in the past nine years of doing this professionally, but I didn’t want to do just a list of books, because then it’d be an absolute wall of text. I didn’t think it would be a good idea to include the entire project list from the past nine years, either, because that…just seems a bit much. So I backed up to January 2017 and went from there.

So on my new book list page, you can see the book covers for the vast majority of the projects I’ve worked on in some way, shape, or form since January 2017, whether it be content editing, copyediting, or simple proofreading. If you click on the covers, it will take you to that book’s Amazon page. It’s still a little bit under construction (for example, the images for a particular client’s books are slightly taller than the covers for the rest, and I have no idea why because I set them to all be the same sizes), so I’ll have to make some minor formatting tweaks over the coming days. I’ll be updating the page once a month as books become available for purchase, too, so be sure to check back often!

I am now taking bookings for developmental editing, copyediting, and proofreading for the second half of August! In addition, there are multiple openings in September and October!

I will perform a 1,500-word sample edit at the level you are interested in hiring my services for free at your request.

If you’re interested in hiring me to work on your project, please check out the pages on the services you’re interested in for details on what exactly those services entail, how much they cost, and how payments are accepted, then go to my contact page and fill out the form and I’ll get in touch with you with twenty-four hours!

If you’re interested in the details on the monthly payment plans, you can check out the blog post I made detailing how those work right here!

I have had an exciting couple of months working with some new indie authors and really enjoying the projects they’ve had me editing and proofreading for them, and I’m really hopeful I’ll get to add even more great books to my list of projects!

Editing is expensive. I know that as well as anyone else, considering I am also a published author. Unfortunately, the price of editing can sometimes be financially prohibitive and can make an author feel disadvantaged from day one by having to choose to not get their book edited or proofread.

To do my part to help out, I am now introducing monthly payment plans!

So, how will these monthly payment plans work?

Depending on the cost of the editing project, you’ll have a range of time frames to pay for the editing of your project:

Projects totaling $101-$500: 3 months

Projects totaling $501-$1,000: 6 months

Projects totaling $1,001+: 12 months

*Note: editing fees that total less than $100 are not eligible for the monthly payment plans.

Fees will be calculated at the beginning of the project. Because of the additional time spent invoicing and managing the account, a surcharge of 10% of the total project fee will be added to the overall cost of the project. Monthly payment amounts will be outlined to you prior to the start of the project.

The fee will be divided into several payments as outlined above. (Please note: if you require an alternative arrangement, please discuss this with me at the beginning of the project.)

The first monthly payment will be due at the start of the project.

Remaining payments will be invoiced on the 10th of each month beginning on the following month.

Each payment will be due by the last day of that month.

In the event that a payment is not received on or by the last day of the month that it’s due, a late fee of $25 will be added to the following month’s invoice.

If you would like to discuss alternative arrangements from the above, please contact me and we’ll see what we can work out!