Proofreaders are usually paid by the hour. So what happens when you’re asked to quote a price for a job? How much time should you allow a review task or expect to claim from your customer?

Unfortunately there is no easy answer to this question. The amount of time a review job will take depends on at least three factors:

1. The nature of the text: Complex scientific material will clearly take longer to correct than a popular novel.

2. The number of errors: a text that is riddled with errors will take longer to correct than a book that has almost nothing wrong with it.

3. Your skills and experience: Different people work at different rates, and experienced proofreaders can obviously work a bit faster than those new to the field. Also, you’ll likely work faster when reviewing a text on a topic you’re familiar with rather than a topic you know nothing about.

As a very rough guide, you should expect to be able to review 2-5 pages in an hour. The actual number will depend on the three factors listed above, plus the number of words per page.

It follows that you should be very careful when quoting a price without first seeing at least a sample of the text. You should assess its complexity, how many proofreading is likely to be needed, and (in the case of nonfiction books) how familiar you are with the subject. Once you’ve evaluated this, and only then, you should be able to estimate the number of pages you can proofread in an hour and multiply that by your normal hourly rate to calculate a price you can quote.

As a new proofreader, it’s tempting to assume you can work faster than average so you can quote a competitive rate. However, it is almost always a mistake to do this. Proofreading is painstaking work, and your client won’t—or shouldn’t—expect you to rush it. And if you quote a rate that is unrealistically low, the client is likely to be put off by a quote that is unreasonably high.

When starting out, it’s best to keep your estimate of the number of pages you can read in an hour on the low side, and perhaps lower your target rates a bit to keep your rate competitive. As you gain experience you will undoubtedly get faster, and with experience you will also develop a “feel” for each job and how long it will take you.

Finally, if you’re still in doubt, you can always try asking your client if they have a budget in mind for the job, or even roughly how long they expect it to take. Some clients may feel it’s not their job to tell you this, but most won’t mind giving you a ballpark figure, if only to avoid any discomfort later.