To my beloved copyeditors,

I was a copyeditor first, led copyediting teams for publishers with varied expectations, became a freelance and now have a team of copyeditors at my organization, Tholga. In other words, I have been on the different sides of the table that discussed the “cost” of a copyeditor. Let me retrace the steps from a cost point of view.

If you are a copyeditor working full-time, you have a productivity target – n number of pages per day times m number of days in a month. This can simply be reduced to how many pages you edit per hour. If you are a freelancer, you have a monthly billing target (if not, you should have; ask my editor friends Anupam Choudury or Michelle); again, this can be reduced to how many pages you can edit per hour.

In other words, how many pages you edit per hour determines your “worth” – be it to your boss or be it you are the boss. Let’s call it the hourly pages.

The question always is how you can maximize the hourly pages.

In the rest of the discussion, I will assume that you start out as a learner and graduate to finding your niche – in the editorial parlance, you move from a trainee to gradually becoming a level 1 editor, level 2 editor, level 3 editor, SME, etc. (of course, there is no consensus of these terms, but you intuitively understand what I mean).

At the beginning of your career, you edit a lot of projects that require level 1 editing. You edit n number of pages, generating some revenue and incurring some cost to the company. Your hourly pages are incrementally increased over the initial months/years – during which time, you also face your yearly appraisals. For the first couple of years, this is not a problem – your hourly pages increase and you get some increment. And then you plateau out in terms of the hourly pages, but would expect yearly increments. More often, there is disappointment.

So, how can you increase your worth? You learn techniques beyond grammar, usage, punctuation, standardization, and similar stuff. You focus on productivity; you try to learn to write (or at least use) Word macros, you buy a subscription to Editor’s Toolkit or PerfectIt, you learn wild cards in Word, etc. If you are associated with an organization, they invest in automation tools. But then you plateau out again, but the next appraisal cycle comes up soon.

The question remains: how can you increase your worth?

You move from basic editing. You learn the nuances – like how to polish the language of the manuscript. Your hourly pages slightly comes down, but you make it up by providing a higher value. (Any new technique will and should bring your current hourly pages down before it improves it.) You are valued by the new value you provide. You no longer fix the mechanical aspects of language, but start interacting with it. You also specialize in one of the few style manuals – CMS, AMA, APA, MLA, etc. A year or two later, you plateau out – again, and the next appraisal cycle comes up.

At this point, you realize that doing more and earning less is not a good strategy. You try to specialize, find a niche, and become a specialist editor – medical editor, social sciences editor, etc. You apply your subject knowledge to editing. You recommend high-level suggestions to the author: move this part to the previous section, can we include a table here?, is this info really necessary, etc. The number of pages comes down drastically. You no longer chase behind the number of pages; you start measuring your worth by the real value you provide. Those around you value you for the real benefits you bring in to the manuscript. You actually do a fraction of the hourly pages you edited in your peak (in terms of the number alone), but you earn much more proportionally. The per page revenue you bring is much higher.

You keep increasing your worth by taking membership(s) with the organization that help you in your career. You contribute to the community and the community pays you back – sometimes literally, often figuratively. Your visibility increases. But you keep learning. You keep growing organically. You get high-paying authors because they know about what you can do to their manuscript.

So, just remember that you are not paid for the number of years have been editing. Your so-called experience doesn’t have any value other than being the ego-boosting number. If you have not organically grown, you become obsolete. Organizations have a hundred other people who can do the lower-levels of editing at a competitive price; why should they keep giving you increments, when the revenues you are generating have become stagnant.

Another important point to remember. Imagine you are in a mall. You have a dozen food outlets around you – but you will eat from that one shop that somehow satisfies you. It could be the taste, the cost, the service, or something else. If you can find a shop that gives you as good a taste as your regular shop, but at a reduced cost, eventually you will switch your royalty to the new shop. The same happens in the editorial mall too. Why should your boss give you a higher price when she can get a similarly talented editor at a fraction of your cost?

Also remember this. Not all the shops in the mall are for you. You will simply do a window-shopping and go to the one shop you had in mind. Similarly, not all job opening announcements are for you. If it is below your worth/skills, move on; don’t try to get into an argument with them or lament. Apply just to those that matches your skills and expectations.

Finally, remember this. India’s domestic editing market is very small/shallow. Most Indian publishers don’t even edit. Most of the work is from authors or from publishers outside of India. The very reason you got an opportunity is that the publisher wanted to cut their costs. Don’t expect your boss to give you an hourly rate similar to that of an American editor.

The only questions, I believe, is, how are you going to improve your worth?