Quote:
Originally Posted by James_Wilde
I think what a lot of people in here, particularly the editors, are forgetting is that, at the same time as they want a fixed fee up front for their work, which is okay if you're approaching a big publishing company whose first run is, say 20000 copies, they're talking about the same deal from someone who doesn't know if he's going to sell any books at all, and will be selling them for $2.99 in ebook form, and for whom sales of 20000 are the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow.
I agree $50 is a good wage for an editor. I'd be happy to be so badly paid myself as the man who has written the product that the editor is going to work on. I reckon it takes me, say, 3 hrs a day 5 days a week for a year to prepare a book which the editor is going to tart up in ten hours At $50 an hour that would give me $37500.
If an editor can guarantee me that income from my book, I'll be happy to guarantee him $500 to edit it. Of course I need an editor, not just a copy editor, not just a proof reader, but possibly also a developmental editor, although I thought his job was what writing is about. But the economics of the situation are against it with the fixed fee business model.
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If you want developmental editing as well as copyediting, it's going to take more than ten hours. I'd actually argue that a good copyediting job on anything other than an exceptionally clean manuscript is going to take more than ten hours - but it's a nice round number to work with so we may as well leave it.
I understand that it may seem unfair that an editor would want to be paid when the book may not make enough to cover all costs, but that's part of doing business. Costs need to be paid, and there's no reason to expect a third party to share your risk.
Another thing to remember is that for the average indie writer, writing isn't their day job. They rely on something else to pay the bills. The editor is doing their day job, and this is how they pay their bills. They simply can't afford to work for free and still keep a roof over their heads.