Proofreading Rate Card Template
A rate card is not a price list you publish and defend forever. It is the internal structure you quote from, so that every job is priced the same way and the awkward cases, the rush job and the file that is much heavier than it looked, already have an answer rather than being negotiated from scratch each time.
See the coursesEverything on this page is yours to copy and adapt. The courses cover the decisions behind it: what to charge, what to promise, and what to put in writing.
What yours needs to cover
- ✓ A base rate derived from your own measured words per hour and your target hourly figure
- ✓ The conversion between per-word, per-page and per-hour, so a client can be quoted in their terms
- ✓ A heavy-text band for material that needs more than a proofread
- ✓ A rush multiplier, defined by a turnaround threshold rather than by mood
- ✓ A second-pass rate, priced separately because it is separate work
- ✓ A minimum charge, which is what makes very small jobs worth accepting at all
How to use it
- Work out your target hourly figure first, then derive everything else from it.
- Measure your real words per hour on the kind of text you actually intend to take.
- Set the bands as multipliers of the base rate, so raising the base raises everything coherently.
- Review it after twenty jobs against what those jobs actually earned per hour, and adjust.
Proofreading Rate Card Template FAQs
What is the going rate for proofreading?
Published ranges vary widely by country, specialty and who is doing the publishing, and any single figure quoted as "the" rate should be treated with suspicion. Use them as a sanity check on a number you derived from your own speed and your own costs, not as a substitute for deriving one. Nothing here is a prediction of what you will earn.
Should I publish my rates?
There are honest arguments both ways. Publishing filters out inquiries you would decline anyway and saves everyone time; withholding lets you price the job rather than the category. What matters more than the choice is that you quote consistently, which is what the rate card is for.
How often should I raise rates?
Review annually and raise with new clients first, where there is no relationship to renegotiate. Existing clients are then moved deliberately and with notice, which is a specific skill the course covers rather than something to improvise in an email.
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