Because we’re worth it: 9 suggestions for getting a better rate

Yes, we edit because we love words, or books, or being able to wear pyjamas until midday if we feel like it. But we also do it because that’s how we earn a crust. And one of the issues that concerns almost any freelance editor is how to get paid more. It’s not about getting rich quick; it’s about earning enough money to feel good about what we do and not having to work 18-hour days just to scrape by. To be good at what we do, and enjoy it, we need to have the time and resources to do other things too.

1. Offer excellent value

It sounds obvious, but you can’t expect to get paid well if you don’t provide a good service. When I used to work in-house and commission people like me, I valued freelancers who got the job done on time, to a high standard and, most importantly, without creating all sorts of new problems in the course of doing their work. This all sounds simple, but it’s essential to get these basics right if you want repeat business from the clients you’d like to keep.

2. Turn work down if it’s not paid fairly

Turning work down can be scary, and this is also an area where many freelancers disagree. Some might argue that any paid work is better than none, and there is a case to be made for that. I’m not suggesting that you try to attain some kind of unrealistic rate on every job, and sometimes you might choose to accept work that pays less well if you especially like the client or the project. But in general, you need to calculate for yourself what you’re prepared to work for, and try to stick to it. If you accept work that pays what you consider to be peanuts, the chances are you’ll do a bad job on it, which isn’t helping anyone (least of all you). If you’re pouring all your energies into a poorly paid job, this is wasting time when you could be doing better paid work, or looking for better paid work.

3. Work faster

Whatever you do, don’t cut corners to try to make a job pay. You might get away with it, but you definitely shouldn’t, and often this is a surefire way to lose a client. Instead, think about how to do things in the most efficient way possible. People have all sorts of tactics for achieving this, and you need to find what works best for you. Just spend a little time thinking about all the tiny jobs you might do hundreds of times over that go to make up a project. Once you’ve identified them, consider how you can do them as quickly and accurately as possible. This could save you hours, or even days – which if you’re being paid a flat fee could make a big difference in terms of your rate.

4. Try to keep clients

This is related to the point above. If you do the same kind of work on many projects, you’ll get faster at it and you’ll know what pitfalls you’re likely to encounter. You’ll become more efficient and therefore able to make a better rate if you’re being paid a flat fee.

5. Look for new clients

Often – sadly – clients go on paying freelancers the same rate for years. They have no need to review their rates, as there’s a steady stream of freelancers looking for work who will take what they’re offering. It’s possible that the only way to get paid more in some cases is to find different clients.

6. Look for work in a different area

Some areas of publishing pay better than others, and many freelance editors swear by steering clear of publishers altogether and finding work with ‘non-publishers’ if you want to get paid a decent rate. Even within the same genre, publishers’ rates and preferred methods of calculation for paying freelance contributors differ wildly. Be prepared to look for work outside your comfort zone – though if you do, you may find you need to work on your marketing strategy. The values and methods of working that one type of client finds appealing might not do it for another. And if you’re selling yourself to non-publishers, bear in mind that they may not even realise they need you. (Come to think of it, not all publishers seem to know this, either.)

7. Train

I'm not suggesting that if you go on training courses and get qualifications you’ll automatically get paid more. If your existing clients were happy with you before you had the piece of paper they’re unlikely to suddenly feel the urge to shower you with cash just because you passed an exam. However, when you're approaching new clients, anything you have that will set you apart might make the difference between landing the job or not.

8. Work for a flat fee

Working for a flat fee can be a huge mistake. On a big project that might take longer than expected or entail all kinds of unforeseen problems, it could mean you end up working for the equivalent of minimum wage, or even less. However, for a short, fairly predictable kind of job, especially for a client you know well or on a familiar type of project, this can be the way to get paid best of all.

9. Ask for it

It’s always worth a try. If you’re working for a new client, negotiate. Don’t simply accept what they’re offering if you’re not happy with it, even if you’re desperate for the work ­– they don’t know that. If they’ve offered you the job, they’ve actively chosen you to do it, and they might be prepared to stretch the budget to keep you on board. If you’re working for a long-term client, you still need to review your rates at regular intervals. Inflation affects us all, and if you were on the payroll you’d hope for regular pay rises. As long as you’re realistic and polite, there’s nothing wrong with asking for more money; if you find it difficult, just remember that you’ve worked hard to get where you are and you should be paid fairly for your expertise.

Editing for both sides of the pond

One of the things I often come across in the course of my work is having to Americanise (or anglicise) text. I’ve also been called on to create “universal” text at times, too, which can be something of a challenge (you try writing a 128-page non-fiction book for children on almost any subject without mentioning the word “colour” and you’ll see what I mean).

Now, I wouldn’t claim to be able to pass for an American anywhere other than in print (my accent is just a bit too Radio 4), but I think I have developed a bit of a sixth sense for divining the finer differences between the two Englishes on quite a few different topics. And while I will never learn to favour favor, I have come to love certain things about US English and genuinely enjoy the gentle pleasures of unravelling (or should that be raveling?) a piece of text for a whole different audience.

Some things are obvious. Everyone – editor or not – knows that colour, honour and so on lose their “u” on the transatlantic flight. But it took many years of getting it wrong and an American editor to point it out for me to realise that glamour is the same wherever you are in the world. (I never have claimed to know too much about glamour in any context. That’s why I work from home.)

Likewise, if it’s got an “ise” ending, just make it “ize” instead, right? Well, usually, yes. Just don’t get carried away, especially if you’re venturing into ‘Find and replace’ territory (more of which a little later). Did you ever see an American improvize or advertize anything?

I’m not going to say too much about commas, because everyone (every publisher, editor and schoolchild) has their own, probably equally valid, opinions about how commas work, whatever side of the Atlantic they’re on. Suffice to say that Americans (usually – not always) like the serial comma more than we do. Though I gather the serial comma is also big in Oxford.

Americans prefer double quotes, just as we, often, prefer single (though I quite like double; we learnt it that way at school). And yes, they do position them differently with regard to punctuation – always outside the comma or full stop (though not outside the colon or semicolon). “Like this,” “this,” “this,” or “this” (note the serial comma, too). It might look odd to a Brit at first, but it kind of grows on you.

As with every other aspect of editing and proofreading, I imagine that Americanisation is a prime example, to a layperson, of a task that could be accomplished perfectly adequately by a machine. There’s a “Find and replace” function in Word, or InDesign, isn’t there? In response to which I would cite my dismal experience, many years ago, of doing a global find and replace in a book about cake decorating. I substituted the word “pan” for “tin” and felt quite pleased about how much time I had saved with a single click, not to mention my mastery of American baking terminology. Only to read the whole thing through later on (before it went to print, thankfully) and feel a little puzzled by the malicious insertion of such made-up words as “continupang”, “interestpang” and “sitpang”. That took a little while to reverse.

Of course there are the unspaced em dashes where we would used spaced en dashes. But this is really venturing into the realms of high geekery in the eyes of most people, who view any kind of dash longer than a humble hyphen as impossibly esoteric and most definitely optional. (Back in the real world, even the days of the hyphen seem numbered.)

Happily, there are many resources on the Internet to help you when you’re Americanising or anglicising, whether the subject is knitting (do you cast off or bind off?), cookery (should you measure by volume or weight, and what the heck is cilantro?), jewellery/jewelry making (just how do you describe the thickness of wire?) or even just trying to get an idiomatic phrase right (does an event impact on the schedule, or simply impact it?).

There will always, as with any other publishing endeavour, be things to trip you up. Things you might not have thought of, unique to the particular project or type of project you’re working on. For instance, if you’re working on anything that is both alphabetical and illustrated (a children’s dictionary, say), you need to remember that you’re probably not going to be able to move the pictures for the new edition – only revise the text. So don’t illustrate anything that starts with a different letter in US English than it does in British English. Think of curtains/drapes, tadpole/polliwog (this whole post was really about giving me the chance to use the delicious word “polliwog”) or tap/faucet, for instance.

Finally, I don’t ever like to feel too purist about or defensive of British English. We can learn a lot about all sorts of things from the variations of our language, and not just at the level of simple curiosity. For instance, a very simple example is that I never really “got” time signatures in music, which I encounter regularly in my other life as a very amateur musician, until I learnt the American terminology for notes of different lengths. How much more straightforward and graphic is a “quarter note” than a “crotchet”, or a “sixteenth note” than a “semiquaver” when you’re trying to work out how many beats there are in a bar (or measure)? Thank you, US English.