I recently wrote a post explaining how I chose my editorial rate as a newbie freelance editor. I described how I calculated the pace at which I edit (manuscript pages/hour), finding an average over the past few projects I’ve worked on, and used the Editorial Freelancers Association’s (EFA) rate chart to determine what my rate should be. Turns out this is a common way to choose a rate, but not the greatest way.

After posting, I received valuable feedback from experienced editors. Considering their comments, I took away two things: (1) the EFA’s rate chart is outdated (I don’t see a date on the page, though, so I can’t say for certain how outdated it is) and (2) charging per hour is not the right way to go (of course, this is an opinion but a well-reasoned one from what I later learned … keep reading). Therefore, I felt it was my duty to write a follow-up post about why I decided to change my editorial rate.

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Before this, I thought I had it all figured out—I had numbers and a chart to tell me what I should charge for my services. Easy as pie! But the kicker was that I wasn’t thinking like a businessperson. I wasn’t accounting for non-billable hours—a crucial piece of the puzzle for freelancers—or the overhead costs of operating a freelance business from home. I learned this from reading Richard Adin’s five-part essay on the effective hourly rate (EHR), which you really should read if you’re a freelance editor.

Since my business knowledge is limited to basic economics courses in high school and graduate school, I realized how desperately I needed to shape up my businessperson outlook if I wanted to operate my own business. And, as you’ll see (really, go read Adin’s essay), there is a strong case for fine tuning your rate based on your individual reality as a freelancer. In other words, you have to consider x, y, and z about your financial standing—and where you want to stand—to know what you really should be charging. As you may have guessed, it’s bigger than a simple chart. But don’t take my word for it, go read about the EHR.

Really, go read it before you read the rest of this post because it’ll make a lot more sense if you do.

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After reading about the EHR and following along by doing the math on a scratch piece of paper, I saw very clearly that charging an hourly rate based on my pace meant that I was losing out. When I took into account my annual income goal and overhead costs (utilities count, people!), the rate I would need to charge to meet this goal and recoup the costs was astronomical—I could never comfortably ask for that amount. I know my skills are valuable, and that editorial skills are often undervalued, but still, that’s asking a lot! I pictured myself saying, “Yes, that is my rate,” as if needing to justify it. Might as well ask them to throw in an arm and a leg. Maybe some publishers would accept it, but being new, I already felt out of my league. This further convinced me that the hourly rate isn’t my best bet at finding and maintaining freelance work.

For the record, I did read several other blog posts about how to charge, but I still found Adin’s 5-part essay to be the most informative and convincing. I could see why the per-project rate made a lot of sense. By charging a per-project rate, you can integrate your pace and rate per page to reach your EHR, and you can be rewarded by being efficient. I will refrain from going in depth about that here since it’s already written in the essay and written well.

Of course, I recognize that I’m new to the field and need experience to help me figure out what my pace is, one that I can comfortably stand by (the pace I calculated for my last post seemed a little volatile, it being based on a mere three projects). Nonetheless, I still plan to use my newfound EHR and approximate pace to determine my per-page/per-project rates. It’ll take some practice to hold my resolve for charging a per-project rate when you can find freelance editors willing to charge low hourly rates, but operating a business takes as much practice of the mindset as it does of the craft. At least it will for me.

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It’s hard to know what to do or who to listen to when you’re just starting out. I do believe putting things in numbers helps, though. I had to do the EHR math to see for myself, and once I did, I couldn’t deny the logic. I highly encourage you to do the math too. Just follow the steps in the essay. I think you’ll see the logic too, or at least appreciate that there is another route to setting your rate!

Yes, I’m still a newbie, and I will leave the disclaimer for this post at just that—I’m new. Nonetheless, I believe numbers are numbers and business is business. It’s my business, but yours too. Because although the freelance editing field is crowded, I do think there is a spirit of collaboration. I’m grateful to have learned these helpful tidbits from seasoned editors, and this is me paying it forward. Take what you need, leave what you don’t, and keep going (I say this to myself as much as to you)!