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Emmy Aricioglu's colleague <<has been asked to quote a price for "light
editing" of a technical manual... The manual is
something like a policy/procedure manual with about 70% text and 30%
tables/figures. The total page count is about 850 and the complete project
will take about 3 months to finish (it is being re-designed, which means
working with a graphics designer, and then sent to a printer). The potential
client is asking for a "per page" price for light editing and
proofreading.>>
The going rate is highly variable, but 13 years of editorial experience
always sound the alarm klaxon whenever I see the words "light editing".
Inevitably, this is code for "we really aren't good enough writers to
understand that this is going to take one helluva lot more work by a
professional than we thought", and that's particularly true of marketing and
P&P material. The pages per day to complete seems reasonable given the time
period, but there are lots of gotchas that would make me strongly prefer an
hourly rate (to cope for the considerable extra work that is likely to be
required), and I'd write considerable "just in case" clauses into the
contract. For example, the project is going to take longer than they expect
(don't they always?), and you'll have to write in loopholes concerning
deadlines. Moreover, there's a lot more than editing work involved; if your
friend will be working with a graphic designer, there will be lots of back
and forth and compromise and renegotiation required, and perhaps lots of
hair pulling and ulcer medication. This is all going to eat up time and have
material costs too (e.g., hair replacement, antacid tablets).
"Technical writing... requires understanding the audience, understanding
what activities the user wants to accomplish, and translating the often
idiosyncratic and unplanned design into something that appears to make
sense."--Donald Norman, The Invisible Computer
