Edit for Credit

As i start to cobble my copyediting career into being I'm faced with the decision of how to charge. Rear a book and it says to do it per page. Read a different book and it says to do it hourly. Consult an online editor and see that he does it by project. Or by word. Or in other ways as fits the situation.

I don't like the time model because while I have a pretty damn good work ethic, it's still designed to make me be more inefficient. The longer I take, the more I get. The per-project model is appealing, but I fear my lack of experience will have me hitting either way too high or way too low.  The per-page is persnickety as well, because different projects will have vastly different variety in the number of words per page.

So it seems that per word might be the way to go for me. I'm a fair and honest person, and I take pride in a  job well done. The project I have going on right now has had me going over the same chapter more than once as the authors revise after my initial pass, and you know what? I'm okay with that. We've even triple-dipped a few times and it doesn't seem to bother me at all. They seem pleased with the results and really, that's the point, right? Now if it were going to be my sole source of income the back and forth might be more of an issue, but then I'd have more time to give to it as opposed to the hours I steal here and there to stay slightly ahead of them. So it seems I'm getting my footing, and, as it turns out, I pretty much freaking love editing. Now this could be colored by the fact that the writing I'm working with is really interesting, but I feel it might be the case no matter what. hopefully I'll find more work in the future to find out.  In the meantime, I need to assemble a rate page. I'll do that in my spare time ::cue laughter::

Writing: oh right, that. 672 words as there was a little grooving and shaking going on. No, not for the characters, who are well and truly fucked. I meant with my writing mojo and just my life in general. Good things are heavily outweighing the bad lately and that makes Kit a happy writer.

not necessarily a good writer, but a happy one.