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Hello Nomesq,
I recommend you look at Rhadin's contribution and the articles he refers to regarding the true cost (in hours of work) of a full edit. It is expensive, but, if a writer is confident that he/she can pick up the typos etc, then perhaps an appraisal is what you want, and this should be significantly cheaper. I believe that an experienced editor needs an editor for his/her own writing in the same way that a doctor needs another doctor to dianose a personal illness. It's amazing how much I miss in a self-edit (not so much in the quantity of errors, but in a few screamingly obvious and very basic ones). I think the brain takes short-cuts at points where it's convinced it's got things 'right' over the previous hundred readings.
William, I suppose my point about ethics relates more to academic editing; perhaps a different word pertains to fiction writers, but I can't think of an appropriate one. One thing I believe is for certain, authors who who think they can go it entirely alone and still produce publishable books (that is, professionally published) are either geniuses, or are destined never to see their work in book form.
I've made a note of Sarah's book and shall definitely take a look at it.
MJ
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