How much to charge a family member

[Firiel]

Okay, so my uncle recently asked me to edit a book of his and offered to compensate me for my time. I looked up professional editing rates, and they are WAY more than I want to charge someone considering I am not a professional editor (yet!). The rates were something like 2-3 cents per word which would run up $720 for this manuscript (36,000 words). Yikes.

 

I want to give my uncle a good deal, but I also don't want to be making what ends up being $2 an hour. I think it will end up taking me sometime between 10 and 20 hours to do a thorough edit of the book, but again... I'm not sure. I was thinking of charging either between $75 and $100 or even just saying that I didn't know how long it would take, and I'd get back to him on compensation after I start the process. What do you all think?

[Fudgie]

Given the size of the work, I would say between $100-$200.

 

You may want to mention the prices of professional editors so he'll see what a great deal he's getting with you.

[abitbroken]

Well, I would have a meeting of the minds about expectations. Is he looking for a proofreader who will catch spelling errors, highlight where things are unclear in a sentence, or an editor who will do that but also suggest different choices in town, the elimination of chapters, etc. I think that you should be clear that you offering him PROOFREADING skills. Editing skills are something a family member should not offer because people are too emotionally connected to their work and it could cause tension. Also, an editor is looking to make the book saleable and will mercielessly dissect it. I always recommend people handing stuff like that off to a colleague

 

To me, I wouldn't charge him a dime for proofreading. Just ask he lists you as the proofreader and recommends you to others, etc., and maybe he has to take you out to dinner, or something or other. Or fix your car or whatever your uncle is good at aside from writing. Or write resumes and stuff for you. So you get a reward and experience.

[Maroney555]

I like abitbroken's ideas and what she said in her post.

 

I think you just need to negotiate what you both deem fair in this situation.

[Firiel]

He does want a little more than proofreading, though. I wouldn't say he's asking for a full edit such as a professional editor would do, but it's more than just catching errors and typos. Plus, the 2-3 cents a word was a low rate... one that is used for copy editing as opposed to sweeping context editing.

 

He does want to compensate me somewhat, I believe, because he was the one that brought payment up. An exchange of services is not really practical, either, as he lives accross the country. I am getting something out of this, though, even if I"m not paid because it will look good on future resumes, especially if the book is published (I'm not sure, but from the way he's spoken, it seems as if he already has a publisher).

 

So should I just tell him not to worry about paying me, then?

[lucasky]

Hi there,

 

I just recently graduated with a BA Honours in English from a prestigious university. I am very used to editing - though I am by no means a "trained" professional.

 

I think charging a normal editor's price (even if it is cheap) is not the best idea. My reason for thinking this is that I am guessing you (like me) are an undergraduate with little professional editing experience. Though you may be very attentive an do a great editing job (I know I do), unless you're established, he's not really getting any sort of guarantee like he would if he went to an editing company.

 

It will certainly look great on your resume though!

 

With regards to how much to actually charge - it is hard to say. For the amount of pages you will end up editing (I am guessing a little under 200), then I think that somewhere in the range of $100-$200 is reasonable if your uncle is familiar with editing price practices.

 

If this is really and off-the-cuff sort of thing, then I would probably charge very little (as someone suggested, maybe a dinner next time you are on his side of the country). I think this may be the best choice given a) he is family b) your lack of expertise.

[Firiel]

Oh yeah, I wouldn't even think of charging full editor price. I just emailed him and told him I'd get back to him once I find out how long it's going to take. I'll probably end up estimating what four or five dollars an hour would be...