How much does it cost to edit a book?
What editors and proofreaders typically charge per word, and what that comes to for a book of your length. These are typical ranges, not quotes: an editor will price your book after seeing a sample.
Rates from the EFA's 2026 rate chart and Reedsy's cost guide, updated in February 2026.
Cost for your book
Rates per word
In US cents a word. The EFA figures are its members' median rate ranges for fiction; nonfiction and specialist subjects often cost more. Many editors quote by the hour or a flat fee instead, and many have a minimum fee for short work.
| Edit | EFA (fiction) | Reedsy |
|---|---|---|
| Manuscript assessment | Not given | 1.8–2.9¢ |
| Developmental editing | 3.0–3.5¢ | 2.6–5.3¢ |
| Line editing | 2.7–3.5¢ | Not given |
| Copyediting | 2.0–2.7¢ | 2.0–3.2¢ |
| Proofreading | 1.2–2.0¢ | 1.4–2.1¢ |
What each edit is
- Manuscript assessment. An editor reads the whole draft and writes a report on what works and what does not: structure, pace, character, voice. No changes in the text. When: After a finished draft, before deciding how much revision it needs.
- Developmental editing. Big-picture editing of the story or argument: what to cut, move, add or rethink, with notes in the margins and a letter. When: Once you have revised on your own and cannot see the book any more.
- Line editing. Sentence by sentence: rhythm, word choice, clarity and voice, with changes and queries in the text. When: When the structure is settled and the prose is the work left.
- Copyediting. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, consistency and facts, against a style sheet the editor keeps for your book. When: On the final draft, before it is laid out.
- Proofreading. A last read of the laid-out pages for typos, missing words and layout errors. When: After layout, before the book is published.
Cover design
Reedsy reports an average of $880 across more than 9,600 cover projects on its marketplace in 2025, with most between $625 and $1,250. Fantasy, romance and science fiction covers, which are usually illustrated, tend toward the top of that range. A print cover costs more than an ebook cover: it adds a spine and a back cover. The spine's width depends on the final page count, so it is designed last. Premade covers, designed for a genre and sold once, cost far less.
Spending less without skipping the edit
- Revise first. Every pass you make yourself is one an editor is not paid for. A draft that has been through two or three of your own revisions needs a lighter edit.
- Use beta readers before a developmental edit. Readers tell you, for free, where they got lost or bored; an editor can then work on the problems readers could not name.
- Choose the edits the book needs. A manuscript assessment costs less than a full developmental edit and says whether you need one.
- Ask for a sample edit. Many editors edit a few pages for free or a small fee, which shows both their work and the level of edit your prose needs.
Sources
- Editorial Freelancers Association, 2026 Rate Chart. A survey of more than 1,100 EFA members, run from November 2025 to January 2026, of the rates they charged in 2025. Median rate ranges for fiction; the EFA says it does not set or recommend rates.
- Reedsy, book editing and cover design cost guides. Rates from editors on the Reedsy marketplace, in its editing cost guide as updated in February 2026, and more than 9,600 cover design projects there in 2025.
Rates change every year. We could not open the originals when we wrote this page, so the EFA figures were taken from EditFast's summary of the chart and the Reedsy figures from search excerpts of Reedsy's guide, and last reviewed on October 17, 2026. Check each source and an editor's own rates before you budget.
In Author Sweets
The style check in the manuscript header marks passive voice, adverbs, filler words, clichés and long sentences on your own device, so the obvious fixes are made before an editor is paid to find them. Save a version before you send the draft; as you bring the editor's changes in, compare each scene with it word by word. Share links with reader questions put the draft in front of beta readers first. When the edit is done, export a Word file in standard manuscript format for the editor, or EPUB and PDF for publishing.
The word goal calculator says how long the draft will take; read how to revise a first draft before you hire anyone.