On Writing : Hello I have a few questions! by Fonda J Kerr

I plan on self publishing my first of several books in a series because it makes financial sense for me. If I sign with a publishing company, they would only give me a small advance as a new writer. And until they recoup the advance and marketing investment I wouldn't see another dime. Without a multi book deal, there's no guarantee they would pickup my second book. I met with an old colleague from a subsidiary company that happens to be a publishing company to pick their brains and I was shocked to learn about the financial structure for authors. Last year I attended the BEA (Book Expo America) conference at Jacob Javits Center and after meeting editors, publishers, and authors I decided to self publish. Good luck!

When you say "editor" they come in two flavors: line and developmental. Each charges differently. They are different skills and you probably need both of them. Most editors follow the Editorial Freelancers Asso. guidelines for pricing (http://www.the-efa.org/res/rates.php) .. .but even if they don't it's good to know the rates so you can negotiate. Self-publishing has gotten complicated with subsidy publishers, hybrid publishers, POD services, etc., etc. Personally I just do it all myself, meaning I hire professional third parties to do book design (cover/interiors), edits, and social media promotion. I manage everyone... it's the "authorprenure" approach. If you pay a service company to do all this stuff it will cost you thousands in fees and you have to give them a cut usually of each book. Still better than traditional deals, but not as good as doing it all yourself. So, all depends on how much work you want to do, in addition to writing the bloody book! There are tons of great resources now online to help. But, I'd start with two sites: Jane Friedman's site (love her) and Hugh Howey's site. Just google them. Both give great advice and insights into the self-pub game. I have traditionally published books and self-published and plan on doing mostly self. But you need to do both. So, don't discount a traditional publisher... just know you will get screwed with your pants on and the payoffs are not necessarily financial.

With all but one of my books, I managed to get a friend of mine who is anal about grammar and spelling to do the proof-reading. It's a torturous route though, as his own political views and expectations of what I should have/shouldn't have included produced some comments which showed he didn't "get" the stories I was trying to tell. He's not a fan of horror, or popular fiction, so didn't get the pop culture references I had in the book and suggested I remove them (I didn't). A true editor is expensive. It can cost several hundred of pounds/dollars, even pushing that cost into the thousands. Whereas, a proof-reader who simply double-checks for grammar and spelling can be employed relatively cheaply - sometimes for no more than a few hundred quid. Be wary of those on sites like fiverr that promise to read 10,000 words for five quid. I suspect a lot of those simply use the spell-checker in Word. :-)

As far as editing prices go. I would say the cost would be 0 to infinity. If i were pricing a project, i would charge about $20 an hour. So hard to price this since you dont really know what your working with. I would post around on sites like this or youtube or look for students / partners to work with the editing. I hope that helps. Also try and a have an editor before you start the project.