1. What happens?
a) You send me the whole text or a representative sample.
b) I quote a fee which includes all the time required for the initial set-up, then the four-stage editing process. This is: i) proofreading onscreen with tracked changes, comments and questions; ii) proofreading again with the help of Grammarly; iii) you respond to my corrections, comments and questions; iv) we discuss your responses and then I produce the final version.
2. Calculation of fees
a) Admin start-up fee: £25 [up to 10,000 words] or £50 [over 10,000 words].
b) Rate per word: £0.012 – £0.036 (1.2p. – 3.6p.) ([= €0.014 to €0.043 at rate on 14.07.2022, which changes . . . ], depending on the difficulty of the task, dictated by the level of English and the clarity of expression.
For an 8,000-word text, examples would be:
– Poor English and/or very unclear, complex text: £25 + (8000 x £0.03) = £265
– Middling English, medium complexity and clarity: £25 + (8000 x £0.024) = £217
– Very good English and simple, clear text: £25 + (8000 x £0.019) = £177.
For theses and books the fee is reduced by 10% to reflect economies of scale.
Examples for an 80,000-word text would be
– Poor English and/or very unclear, complex text: (£50 + (80,000 x £0.03)) x .9 = £2,205
– Middling English, medium complexity and clarity: (£50 + (80,000 x £0.024)) x .9 = £1,970
– Very good English and simple, clear text: (£50 + (80,000 x £0.019)) x .9 = £1,570
3. Timing and methods of payment:
a) If the fee is less than £600 you pay after completion of the work, on receipt of an invoice;
b) If the fee is more than £600 there are three stages:
¼ in advance, ¼ half-way through the project and ½ on completion.
c) All fees are quoted in £ GBP Sterling and Euros at the current rate, and are payable by direct bank transfer to a £ or a € account.
d) Please note: I work as a freelance, not registered for VAT (IVA, TVA, MwSt). If this might cause problems for your institution please resolve them in advance.
4. Format of text submission:
Documents should be in MS Word or Rich Text Format, formatted as follows.
– 12 pt for normal text throughout;
– consistently-sized headings (use a maximum of three sizes: 12pt bold, 14 pt bold and 18pt bold);
– 1½-line spaced throughout the document;
– margins set at 2 cm all round throughout the document.
– a ‘footer’, in 8pt, on each page, with your name, the date, abbreviated title and page number.
[ . . . thank you for making my life easier . . . 🙂 ]
5. What do we do?
a) I produce the first draft, correcting text [‘tracked changes’] and – importantly – giving you comments and questions on the screen;
b) I go through it again, either by printing draft 1 and make further corrections on paper, or with an editing software, applying my judgement to further corrections, comments and queries;
c) I send you three files: One shows all the changes and comments, one has comments only, and one is ‘clean’;
d) You respond to my suggestions and inquiries by email;
e) I reply to your response 🙂;
f) ‘e’ above is repeated until we are happy, and then we make a final ‘clean’ version.
